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"Wade Davis is a true wayfinder, and these essays offer new insight into his visionary approach to culture, landscape, and the planet he loves as fiercely as any writer working today."—John Vaillant, author of Fire Weather
A timely and eclectic collection from one of the foremost thinkers of our time, "a powerful, penetrating and immensely knowledgeable writer" (The Guardian).
The essays in this collection came about during the unhurried months when one who had traveled incessantly was obliged to stay still, even as events flared on all sides in a world that never stops moving. Wade Davis brings his unique cultural perspective to such varied topics as the demonization of coca, the sacred plant of the Inca; the Great War and the birth of modernity; the British conquest of Everest; the endless conflict in the Middle East; reaching beyond climate fear and trepidation; on the meaning of the sacred. His essay, "The Unraveling of America," first published in Rolling Stone, attracted five million readers and generated 362 million social media impressions. Media interest in the story was sustained over many weeks, with interview requests coming in from 23 countries.
The anthropological lens, as Davis demonstrates, reveals what lies beneath the surface of things, allowing us to see, and to seek, the wisdom of the middle way, a perspective of promise and hope that all of the essays in this collection aspire to convey.
"Wade Davis has a gift for saying the unsayable. He's a fearless explorer in the intellectual world, as in the physical. His refusal to embrace conventional wisdom on climate change, for example, and instead think through the issue for himself, is a model of independent thinking. Even when I disagree with Wade, as with some of his bleak comments about the United States, I'm grateful for his voice. We usually live on the surface of ideas when we talk about issues such as war and racism; Wade takes us far deeper."—David Ignatius, columnist and associate editor, Washington Post
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
April 30, 2024 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781778400438
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781778400438
- File size: 2116 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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February 15, 2024
An acclaimed essayist takes a deep dive into cultural issues at home and around the world. Aside from being a professor of anthropology at the University of British Columbia, Davis held the interesting title of Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society from 2000 to 2013. The essays in his latest book, following Magdalena, reflect his extensive travels and investigations, ranging across subjects as diverse as the history of the coca leaf to spiritualism in India. The author wrote most of the pieces during the pandemic, "the unhurried months when one who had traveled incessantly was obliged to stay still." One of his best-known essays, "The Unraveling of America," first published in 2020, is a lengthy contemplation on how the pandemic fits into the larger picture and history of the country. He sees the pandemic as a critical turning point, although this idea seems less strong as the crisis recedes in the rearview mirror. The best pieces display Davis' expertise as an anthropologist, the area where he seems most at home. "The anthropological lens allows us to see, and perhaps seek, the wisdom in the middle way, a perspective of promise and hope," he writes. Regarding climate change, he is scathing about the way that the dogma of the prevailing narrative has suppressed debate and compromise, replacing the development of viable, cost-effective solutions with meaningless, doom-laden rhetoric. Davis accepts the inherent validity of non-Western cultures and religions, although sometimes his desire to see all sides of a question means that he fails to arrive at any answer at all. Ultimately, this book is more about consideration than finality, tension rather than coherence. It is not for readers who want straightforward conclusions, but Davis offers plenty of food for thought. Davis knits history, sociology, faith, and scientific inquiry into a colorful, meditative tapestry.COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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March 1, 2024
Global explorations of anthropological and ethnobotanic intent seeded Davis' many previous books, including Magdalena: River of Dreams (2020). The essays collected here report on the world traveler's at-home journeys through books and memories during the COVID-19 pandemic. A writer of breathtaking precision, Davis is as intrepid and original a thinker as he is an astute observer. In these moving works born of stillness and reflection, he delves into some of the world's most catastrophic paradoxes, from the racism at the root of American society to the religious complexity of Jerusalem and the region's tragic, perpetual violence. Versed in ecological, spiritual, and social forces, Davis brings a deeply informed and holistic perspective to every subject, whether he's providing a truly shocking account of trench warfare in WWI or offering startling new insights to the ongoing ripple events of the atomic bomb. He praises anthropology and its valuing of every culture as "a unique expression of the human imagination and heart,"" a viewpoint that propels his chronicling of the traditional use of coca leaves; his recounting of his experiences in India, "one vast mandala of the sacred;" and his analysis of proposed climate-change solutions. For all the darkness Davis enters, he concludes this mind-whirling, earth-circling collection by expressing his faith in human creativity, "the energy of illumination," and our "essential connectedness.COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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