A leading environmental thinker explores how people might begin to heal their fractured and contentious relationship with the land and with each other. From the coalfields of Appalachia and the tobacco fields of the Carolinas to the public lands of the West, Purdy shows how the land has always united and divided Americans.
Rebels, Reactionaries, and the Making of American Freedom
Exploring the evolution of the American concept of freedom, the book delves into its complexities through the lives of notable figures such as Frederick Douglass and Ralph Waldo Emerson. It raises essential questions about the interplay between capitalism and liberty, the meaning of freedom in relation to tradition and personal choice, and the balance between individuality and community. This historical analysis encourages readers to reflect on their understanding of freedom and its implications for contemporary society, making it a thought-provoking examination of a foundational American principle.
An Artforum Best Book of the Year A Legal Theory Bookworm Book of the Year Nature no longer exists apart from humanity. Henceforth, the world we will inhabit is the one we have made. Geologists have called this new planetary epoch the Anthropocene, the Age of Humans. The geological strata we are now creating record industrial emissions, industrial-scale crop pollens, and the disappearance of species driven to extinction. Climate change is planetary engineering without design. These facts of the Anthropocene are scientific, but its shape and meaning are questions for politics—a politics that does not yet exist. After Nature develops a politics for this post-natural world. “After Nature argues that we will deserve the future only because it will be the one we made. We will live, or die, by our mistakes.” —Christine Smallwood, Harper’s “Dazzling...Purdy hopes that climate change might spur yet another change in how we think about the natural world, but he insists that such a shift will be inescapably political... For a relatively slim volume, this book distills an incredible amount of scholarship—about Americans’ changing attitudes toward the natural world, and about how those attitudes might change in the future.” —Ross Andersen, The Atlantic
Jedediah Purdy calls For Common Things his "letter of love for the world's possibilities." Indeed, these pages--which garnered a flurry of attention among readers and in the media--constitute a passionate and persuasive testament to the value of political, social, and community reengagement. Drawing on a wide range of literary and cultural influences--from the writings of Montaigne and Thoreau to the recent popularity of empty entertainment and breathless chroniclers of the technological age--Purdy raises potent questions about our stewardship of civic values.Most important, Purdy offers us an engaging, honest, and bracing reminder of what is crucial to the healing and betterment of society, and impels us to consider all that we hold in common.
Exploring America's complex global identity, Jedediah Purdy delves into the nation's duality of being both admired and resented. Through his insightful analysis, he examines the cultural, political, and historical factors that shape this relationship. Purdy's erudition and distinctive viewpoint solidify his status as a prominent public intellectual, making a compelling case for understanding America's role on the world stage.
Mit seinem ersten Buch „Das Elend der Ironie“ hat sich Jedediah Purdy als Zeitkritiker einen Namen gemacht, der das Selbstverständnis der Spaßgesellschaft seziert. In Das ist Amerika geht er nun daran, Bild und Rolle Amerikas in der Welt zu erkunden. Im Winter 2001 reist er nach Ägypten, Indonesien und Indien und dokumentiert die schillernde Faszination, die der amerikanische Lebensstil gerade auf junge Leute ausübt. Doch während Traditionen brüchig werden, erwacht bei vielen die Sehnsucht nach einer alten Ordnung, die Würde und Sinn verspricht und den Westen in seine Schranken weist. Fundamentalismus erscheint plötzlich attraktiv. Diesen Widerspruch nimmt Purdy zum Anlass, über das Selbstverständnis Amerikas und seine politische Kultur nachzudenken. Die USA als eine Nation von Einwanderern verkörpern exemplarisch das Dilemma der Moderne: Hier ist jeder ein Fremder, hier findet sich Geschichtsvergessenheit neben Toleranz und Gemeinschaftssinn, hier muss der einzelne und die Nation immer wieder neu erfunden werden. Ein pragmatischer Liberalismus amerikanischer Prägung ist für Purdy durchaus attraktiv: ja geradezu das Gegengift zu einer fundamentalistischen Weltsicht, die sich im Kampf Gut gegen Böse erschöpft.