My Name is Chellis and I'm in Recovery from Western Civilization - Softcover

Glendinning, Chellis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1897408056 ISBN 13: 9781897408056

Publisher: New Catalyst Books, 2007

Synopsis

By documenting the entanglement of the ecological crisis with modern addictions, My Name is Chellis and I'm in Recovery from Western Civilization gives an unusual glimpse into matters of culture, history, politics, and personal consciousness; and by helping us make sense of the senseless abuses in the world today, it inspires the remembrance of new/old pathways towards healing.

About this title

Review:

"You and I are not people who live in communion with the earth," Chellis Glendinning begins. "We exist instead dislocated from our roots by the psychological, philosophical, and technological constructions of our civilization, and this alienation leads to our suffering: massive suffering for each and every one of us, and mass suffering throughout our society."

Whether you believe the full ramifications of Glendinning's connections between addictive behavior and the ecological crisis depends entirely on whether you accept the premise that one can be "addicted" to civilization. But her call for a return to a nature-based culture, one in which people live "as if [we] were responsible for building the culture that the rocks and trees and birds of this place expected of human beings," is a compelling proposal, elaborated from the heart.

About the Author:

Chellis Glendinning is a psychotherapist and award-winning author whose works include the acclaimed Off the Map: An Expedition Deep into Empire and the Global Economy and Chiva: A Village Takes on the Global Heroin Trade-both of which won National Federation of Press Women book awards. She also wrote When Technology Wounds, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. A pioneer in the field of ecopsychology, Glendinning's specialty is the ecological and human costs of technological progress. She lives in rural New Mexico where she works for environmental justice and cultural preservation.

About this edition

• Publisher: New Catalyst Books
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1897408056
• ISBN 13: 9781897408056
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 260