Truths Among Us: Conversations on Building a New Culture

by Derrick Jensen

Overview

From Derrick Jensen, acclaimed author of Endgame and The Culture of Make Believe, comes a prescient, thought-provoking collection of interviews with ten leading writers, philosophers, teachers, and activists.

To function in this society, we are asked to live by lies: that humans have the right to take what they want from the earth without giving back, that knowledge is limited to that which can be quantified, that corporations and governments know what is best for our future. Our instinctive outrage at environmental collapse, political conspiracy, and corporate corruption is stifled by the double-speak of popular opinion telling us that the “progress” of civilization demands unquestioning allegiance to those in power. But the brave voices in Truths Among Us seek to help us acknowledge the values we know in our hearts are right—and inspire within us the courage to act on them.

Among those who share their wisdom here is acclaimed sociologist Stanley Aronowitz, who shows us that science is but one lens through which we can discover knowledge. Luis Rodriguez, poet and peacemaker, asks us to embrace gang members as people instead of stereotypes, while the brilliant Judith Herman helps us gain a deeper understanding of the psychology of abusers in whatever form they may take. Paul Stamets reveals the power of fungi, whose intelligence, like that of so many nonhumans, is often ignored. And writer Richard Drinnon reminds us that our spiritual paths need not be narrowed by the limiting mythologies of Western civilization.

Following How Shall I Live My Life? and Resistance Against Empire, Jensen's third collection of interviews reinforces a simple premise with which he has long challenged his readers: if we shut our ears and eyes to the cacophony of consumption-oriented distractions and pause to listen to the wisdom of our own hearts, the truths among us will reveal themselves.

Interviewees include: George Gerbner, Stanley Aronowitz, Luis Rodriguez, Judith Herman, John Keeble, Richard Drinnon, Paul Stamets, Marc Ian Barasch, Martín Prechtel, and Jane Caputi.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781604862997
Publisher:	PM Press
Publication date:	09/01/2011
Series:	Flashpoint Press
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Hailed as the philosopher-poet of the ecological movement, Derrick Jensen is the widely acclaimed author of Endgame, A Language Older Than Words, and The Culture of Make Believe among many others. Jensen's writing has been described as “breaking and mending the reader's heart” (Publishers Weekly). His books with PM include How Shall I Live My Life?: On Liberating the Earth from Civilization, Resistance Against Empire, and the novels Songs of the Dead and Lives Less Valuable. Author, teacher, activist, and leading voice of uncompromising dissent, he regularly stirs auditoriums across the country with revolutionary spirit. Jensen holds a degree in mineral engineering physics from the Colorado School of Mines, and has taught at Eastern Washington Universityand Pelican Bay Prison. He lives in Crescent City, California.

Table of Contents

George Gerbner 11

Stanley Aronowitz 33

John Keeble 59

Luis Rodriguez 73

Richard Drinnon 99

Judith Herman 123

Marc Ian Barasch 147

Jane Caputi 173

Paul Stamets 207

Martin Prechtel 231

Editorial Reviews

Jensen (A Language Older Than Words) shares scintillating interviews with 10 leading philosophers, social scientists, and writers including Stanley Aronowitz, Jane Caputi, George Gerber, Judith Herman, and John Keeble, who all address, among other themes, finding harmony with the environment and society, and learning to listen to the stores of knowledge and intuition within us. The late media analyst Gerber takes on television’s potential to engender “withdrawal and insecurity” in viewers, to produce passive citizens for a corporate state. Feminist Caputi argues that “pornography is the core story underlying militarism, planetary destruction, as well as violence against women.” The discussion of rape reaches its pained, powerful apex when she writes, “the whole of patriarchy is caught up in four letters: it’s the paradigmatic verb of this culture.” Although the book offers a compelling account of the thoughts of these scholars, on rare occasions the book takes a personal twist. For instance, before presenting his interview with Judith Herman, author of the seminal Trauma and Recovery, Jensen discloses that his own father battered his family, serving as the impetus for his “many questions” to Herman about trauma and the role of memory, lending this thought-provoking series of interviews an intimate dimension. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

The book offers a compelling account of the thoughts of these scholars, (and) on rare occasions the book takes a personal twist… lending this thought-provoking series of interviews an intimate dimension.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Derrick Jensen is a rare and original voice of sanity in a chaotic world. He has wisdom and wit, grace and style, and is a wonderful guide to a good life beautifully lived.”
—Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States

“Derrick Jensen is the green thinker and writer who’s out to tell us not what we want to hear but what we need to hear.”
—Utne Reader, “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World”

“Derrick Jensen is a man driven to stare without flinching at the baleful design of our culture… His analysis of our culture's predilection for hatred and destruction will rattle your bones.”
—Daniel Quinn, author of Ishmael

From the Publisher