Description
Book SynopsisA toxic ideology rules the world - of extreme competition and individualism. It misrepresents human nature, destroying hope and common purpose. Only a positive vision can replace it, a new story that re-engages people in politics and lights a path to a better world.
George Monbiot shows how new findings in psychology, neuroscience and evolutionary biology cast human nature in a radically different light: as the supreme altruists and cooperators. He shows how we can build on these findings to create a new politics: a 'politics of belonging'. Both democracy and economic life can be radically reorganized from the bottom up, enabling us to take back control and overthrow the forces that have thwarted our ambitions for a better society.
Urgent, and passionate,
Out of the Wreckage provides the hope and clarity required to change the world.
Trade ReviewGeorge Monbiot, with the clarity and straightforwardness that is his trademark, has managed to lay out our dilemma and our possibilities - this book strikes the necessary balance between visionary and practical, and does it with real grace. -- Bill McKibben, author of
EnoughInspired and inspirational, George Monbiot's call to act gives new coherence to a movement that is changing as it learns. So much has to change that the scale of the task can feel overwhelming. But we have changed our lives as fast and fundamentally before. -- Danny Dorling, author of
Inequality and the 1%A dazzling command of science and relentless faith in people . I never miss reading him. -- Naomi Klein
What most impresses in Monbiot's clever, elegant writing is the way he strives to think beyond protest towards realistic, representative solutions to the problems of world politics and trade. * The Times *
His passion for social and ecological justice is undimmed by twenty-first-century cynicism. His desire for knowledge across the widest gamut of subjects (scientific, historical, political and cultural) enables him to reach places which are foreign territory to many of us. * Herald (Glasgow) *
A writer of eloquence and passion. * the Observer *
This is a highly contemporary book, potentially offering the left a set of implements with which to win arguments on terrain often dominated by the populist right. ... Monbiot's hopeful, practical energy is precisely what the left needs right now. -- Will Davies * Guardian *
This remarkable book sees George Monbiot - long recognised as one of our most acute and perceptive commentators - bringing together the whole breadth of his intelligence and experience to propose a new politics: new goals, new strategies, and, most of all, a new story. If you're tired of the tiny seesaw that politics seems to have got itself stuck on, you'll want to read this. There's so much to think about here, and it's presented with clarity and coherence. It's an inspiring and optimistic vision for the future, and - best of all - a wholly practical one. It can happen. Better, it's starting to happen. This is a future we can all be part of, a future which grows directly out of our participation. Please read this book. -- Brian Eno
Monbiot's proposals are often visionary but never disconnected from pragmatic realities, and are delivered in prose that is always pithy and elegant. This is a book that should be read by everyone who hopes we can find a way out of the wreckage of the present to a better tomorrow. -- Ashley Dawson * Publishers Weekly *
