A People's History Of Civilization
- 311 pages
- 11 hours of reading
Has civilization been a good idea? Zerzan doesn't think so. We may need this critical perspective, as the nature of civilization becomes clearer--and more frightening!
An American anarchist, primitivist, philosopher, and author, his work critiques agricultural civilization as inherently oppressive. He advocates drawing upon the ways of life of hunter-gatherers as an inspiration for what a free society might look like. His criticisms extend to subjects such as domestication, language, symbolic thought including mathematics and art, and the concept of time.




Has civilization been a good idea? Zerzan doesn't think so. We may need this critical perspective, as the nature of civilization becomes clearer--and more frightening!
The infamous eco-anarchist John Zerzan whose books have resulted in recent interviews by Vice and Believer magazines, checks in with further provocative articles about the chaotic results of civilization and technology. Says novelist Lang Gore in his "The present collection of essays continues the overarching thrust of John's scholarship, unveiling the post-apocalyptic nature of our times by noting the apocalypse was yesterday, several thousand years ago, to be precise, and that nothing produced by civilization can ever redeem the systematic attempt it has undertaken these (very) few millennia to destroy or alienate any human connection with the earth. "In fact, when civilized Europeans imposed themselves everywhere on Earth, they created a terminal crisis for themselves by their very contact with indigenous societies. Suddenly, those with eyes to see and ears to hear could recognize that patriarchy, property and authority, and certainly slavery, were neither necessary nor desirable, let alone determined by 'human nature.'"
“Read it and you will never think of civilization in the same way again.”—Kirkpatrick SaleThis anthology about "the pathology of civilization" offers insight into how progress and technology have led to emptiness and alienation.