About this title: Interweaving political, historical, philosophical, and deeply personal perspectives, Jensen attempts to understand the atrocities that characterize so much of our culture, from lynchings in early 20th-century America to death squads in South America to the destruction of the natural world. Illustrations.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Context Books
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9781893956285ISBN:1893956288
Description: New. NEW BOOK Shelfwear. We individually inspect and grade each book. Our books are professionally packaged and processed quickly. read more
Description: Fine. 1893956288 Great copy in standard used condition with minor shelfwear, appears to have been perused only. No writing/highlighting. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Chelsea Green Pub Co
Date Published: 2004-03-01
ISBN-13:9781931498579ISBN:1931498571
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9781931498579. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Context Books, New York
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9781931498579ISBN:1931498571
Description: New. No dust jacket as issued. Signed by author. brand new, may have minor shelf wear to exterior, light pencil notation to upper corner of 1/2 title page, signed by Jensen on title page, scarce in this early pre-Chelsea Green printing, I get these... Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 701 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. Also available: signed Context copies of Listening to the Land and many other Jensen titles signed! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Chelsea Green
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9781931498579ISBN:1931498571
Description: Good. --All NEW items are exactly as provided by the publisher. All USED items are in Good condition or better, and copies may contain store stickers, highlighting, etc from normal use by previous owner(s). One-time use supplements (e.g., access codes, tear-out flash cards, reference cards, etc) provided with new copies are NOT guaranteed. --Professional booksellers: inquiries always welcome. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Context Books
Date Published: 2002-03
ISBN-13:9781893956285ISBN:1893956288
Description: Good. 2002 Context Books (NY) Trade Paperback; Edition Not Stated (w/full number line); text clean/UNMARKED; color cover mild rubbing w/few minor surface scratches (mostly on back)/edges + corners smooth; spine strong + uncreased; NOT x-library; No remainder mark; Not book club; 703 pages + 12 preliminary pgs; illustrations; preface; 31 chapters; footnotes; bibliography; author biography w/b+w photograph; front cover b+w photo by Jerry N. Uelsmann w/wrap-around color design by Julie Burke; ... read more
Description: PB, 8vo, 701 pp. Tight and unmarked, with moderate wear to wrapper edges and corners, slight waving from moisture to last several pp. (but not stained). read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: CHELSEA GREEN PUB CO
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9781931498579ISBN:1931498571
Description: New. Derrick Jensen takes no prisoners in "The Culture of Make Believe, " his brilliant and eagerly awaited follow-up to his powerful and lyrical "A Language Older Than Words, " What begins as an exploration of the lines of thought and experience that run b... read more
"Wow, one of the more intense books I have ever read. If you're prone to depression, I recommend taking this one in very small amounts, maybe a chapter a week. I read the whole thing in about a week and spent the last few days in a very pessimistic fog about our prospect as a species. Jensen has the strangest way with words when describing some of the most horrific historical events imagineable. He is eloquent and forceful without being too in-your-face. He does come off as a little arrogant at times, but I think anyone who is convinced that their radical (and under-represented) opinion is correct would do the same.
Ultimately, he takes thoughts and ideas that I have vaguely floating around in my head and organizes them elegantly into strong arguments. His treatment of the subject is a little diffuse: he starts out on a quest to define "hatred" and never really arrives at a concrete definition, but the journey is fascinating nonetheless. It normally bothers me quite a bit when an author offers all critique without any sort of feasible solutions, but here it seems appropriate -- Jensen honestly doesn't think there is hope for our civilization, and for him, the faster we help destroy it, the better. I look forward to reading the two Endgame volumes, hopefully for more ideas on what I can do to help. But I'm going to take a Jensen-free sabbatical for a couple weeks at least, until I can build up enough optimism to have it once more rudely ripped away (in a good way more or less)."
What a simplistic way to sum up a 600 page historical and philosophical tome exploring the roots, meaning, and causes of white supremacy. But that's all he attempts to do in this book: peal away the layers of falsehoods that we as individuals and societies create to shield ourselves from inconvenient (barbaric) truths. Despite being meticulously researched, Jensen says nothing here that we don't (shouldn't?) already know, and perhaps little that hasn't been said by someone else, elsewhere. But in its very obviousness, The Culture of Make Believe is one of the most radical and complicated books I've ever read."
"This book left me sad and hopeful and rethinking everything I thought I knew about Western culture. And I consider myself a tremendous skeptic, especially about this country we call America. But Jensen interweaves economics, religion, history, media (just to name a few) and shows why the way we live now - as "civilized" Americans, or Westerners - is, not to put too fine a point on it, destructive. Destructive to our humanity. Destructive to other cultures and races and people. Destructive to the planet. I think the main thing Jensen, whose research is amazing and who writes movingly and absorbingly, has accomplished here is not simply to point out destructive periods in American (and/or Western) history but to convincingly show that this destructiveness extends from a system - a rational, though manifestly stupid and immoral - system ruled by people who value economics and efficiency and power and utilitarian goals and objects and consumption - who value "civilization" as we know it and have experienced it thus far - above the natural world and the animals and plants and trees in it, above human beings, above subjectiveness, above the particular. This system and its rulers (not to mention some of its subjects who, though they are slaves to the system, also benefit just enough from it not to go around questioning it) value these things at all costs. They're not giving it up. They're not giving it a second thought. In fact, they'll kill to defend it. The first thing Jensen suggests we who are willing do is to speak out about it. If, as he writes, the first rule of the dysfunctional family is "Don't talk about it," then the first rule of stopping the destruction is "Do." Do talk about it. Don't let assumptions go unquestioned. Then, once you've started talking, start acting. I will speak and act and think and perceive differently because of this book. Unforgettable."
"That civilization and our sedentary lifestyle appears to have inadvertently put the human species on a fast track to extinction. That there is a moral imperitive to reduce the destruction of our habitat and slow down the process, if not for ourselves, for the other species which inhabit the earth."
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