The Climate Swerve

Download or read book The Climate Swerve written by Robert Jay Lifton and published by The New Press. This book was released on 2017-10-10 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Longlisted for the PEN America/E.O. Wilson Prize for Literary Science Writing "Well worth the read. . . . [A] prescient handoff to the next generation of scholars." —The Washington Post From "one of the world’s foremost thinkers" (Bill Moyers), a profound, hopeful, and timely call for an emerging new collective consciousness to combat climate change Over his long career as witness to an extreme twentieth century, National Book Award-winning psychiatrist, historian, and public intellectual Robert Jay Lifton has grappled with the profound effects of nuclear war, terrorism, and genocide. Now he shifts to climate change, which, Lifton writes, "presents us with what may be the most demanding and unique psychological task ever required of humankind," what he describes as the task of mobilizing our imaginative resources toward climate sanity. Thanks to the power of corporate-funded climate denialists and the fact that "with its slower, incremental sequence, [climate change] lends itself less to the apocalyptic drama," a large swathe of humanity has numbed themselves to the reality of climate change. Yet Lifton draws a message of hope from the Paris climate meeting of 2015 where representatives of virtually all nations joined in the recognition that we are a single species in deep trouble. Here, Lifton suggests in this lucid and moving book that recalls Rachel Carson and Jonathan Schell, was evidence of how we might call upon the human mind—"our greatest evolutionary asset"—to translate a growing species awareness—or "climate swerve"—into action to sustain our habitat and civilization.

Download or read book Losing Reality written by Robert Jay Lifton and published by The New Press. This book was released on 2019-10-15 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A definitive account of the psychology of zealotry, from a National Book Award winner and a leading authority on the nature of cults, political absolutism, and mind control In this unique and timely volume Robert Jay Lifton, the National Book Award–winning psychiatrist, historian, and public intellectual proposes a radical idea: that the psychological relationship between extremist political movements and fanatical religious cults may be much closer than anyone thought. Exploring the most extreme manifestations of human zealotry, Lifton highlights an array of leaders—from Mao to Hitler to the Japanese apocalyptic cult leader Shōkō Asahara to Donald Trump—who have sought the control of human minds and the ownership of reality. Lifton has spent decades exploring psychological extremism. His pioneering concept of the "Eight Deadly Sins" of ideological totalism—originally devised to identify "brainwashing" (or "thought reform") in political movements—has been widely quoted in writings about cults, and embraced by members and former members of religious cults seeking to understand their experiences. In Losing Reality Lifton makes clear that the apocalyptic impulse—that of destroying the world in order to remake it in purified form—is not limited to religious groups but is prominent in extremist political movements such as Nazism and Chinese Communism, and also in groups surrounding Donald Trump. Lifton applies his concept of "malignant normality" to Trump's efforts to render his destructive falsehoods a routine part of American life. But Lifton sees the human species as capable of "regaining reality" by means of our "protean" psychological capacities and our ethical and political commitments as "witnessing professionals." Lifton weaves together some of his finest work with extensive new commentary to provide vital understanding of our struggle with mental predators. Losing Reality is a book not only of stunning scholarship, but also of huge relevance for these troubled times.

Download or read book Swerve written by Aisha Tyler and published by Plume Books. This book was released on 2005 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gorgeous and gutsy, Tyler has made an unmistakable name for herself in the entertainment world. Now she applies her on-target insight and brazen wit to tackling the old-fashioned mentalities that keep women from living their lives to the fullest.

Download or read book Stomp and Swerve written by David Wondrich and published by Chicago Review Press. This book was released on 2003-08 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The early decades of American popular music--Stephen Foster, Scott Joplin, John Philip Sousa, Enrico Caruso--are, for most listeners, the dark ages. It wasn't until the mid-1920s that the full spectrum of this music--black and white, urban and rural, sophisticated and crude--made it onto records for all to hear. This book brings a forgotten music, hot music, to life by describing how it became the dominant American music--how it outlasted sentimental waltzes and parlor ballads, symphonic marches and Tin Pan Alley novelty numbers--and how it became rock 'n' roll. It reveals that the young men and women of that bygone era had the same musical instincts as their descendants Louis Armstrong, Elvis Presley, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, and even Ozzy Osbourne. In minstrelsy, ragtime, brass bands, early jazz and blues, fiddle music, and many other forms, there was as much stomping and swerving as can be found in the most exciting performances of hot jazz, funk, and rock. Along the way, it explains how the strange combination of African with Scotch and Irish influences made music in the United States vastly different from other African and Caribbean forms; shares terrific stories about minstrel shows, "coon" songs, whorehouses, knife fights, and other low-life phenomena; and showcases a motley collection of performers heretofore unknown to all but the most avid musicologists and collectors.

Download or read book Massive Swerve, Book One written by Robert Valley and published by . This book was released on 2008-06 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A full color collection of drawings, comics & stories by the Vancouver based animator, Robert Valley.

Download or read book Carbon Criminals, Climate Crimes written by Ronald C. Kramer and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2020-04-17 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Carbon Criminals, Climate Crimes analyzes climate change from a criminological perspective. Four state-corporate crimes are examined: continued extraction of fossil fuels and rising carbon emissions; political omission related to the mitigation of emissions; socially organized denial; and climate crimes of empire. The final chapter reviews policies to achieve climate justice.

Download or read book Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Anxiety written by Britt Wray and published by The Experiment, LLC. This book was released on 2023-10-03 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Generation Dread is a vital and deeply compelling read.”—Adam McKay, award-winning writer, director, and producer (Vice, Succession, Don’t Look Up) “Read this courageous book.”—Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything “Wray shows finally that meaningful living is possible even in the face of that which threatens to extinguish life itself.”—Dr. Gabor Maté, author of When the Body Says No When we’re faced with record-breaking temperatures, worsening wildfires, more severe storms, and other devastating effects of climate change, feelings of anxiety and despair are normal. In Generation Dread, Britt Wray reminds us that our distress is, at its heart, a sign of our connection to and love for the world. The first step toward becoming a steward of the planet is connecting with our climate emotions—seeing them as a sign of our humanity and empathy and learning how to live with them. Britt Wray, a scientist and expert on the psychological impacts of the climate crisis, brilliantly weaves together research, insight from climate-aware therapists, and personal experience, to illuminate how we can connect with others, find purpose, and thrive in a warming, climate-unsettled world.