Endgame

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Hailed as the philosopher poet of the ecological movement, best-selling author Derrick Jensen returns with a passionate forecast of how industrial civilization, and the persistent and widespread violence it requires, is unsustainable. Jensen’s intricate weaving together of history, philosophy, environmentalism, economics, literature and psychology has produced a powerful argument that demands attention in the tradition of such important books as Herbert Marcuse’s Eros and Civilization and Brigid Brophy’s Black Ship to Hell.

In Volume I: The Problem of Civilization, Jensen lays out a series of provocative premises, including “Civilization is not and can never be sustainable” and “Love does not imply pacifism.” He vividly imagines an end to technologized, industrialized civilization and a return to agragrian communal life.

If Volume I lays an insightful framework for envisioning a sustainable way of life, Volume II: Resistance catapults this discussion into a passionate call for action. Using his premises as guidelines for exploring real-world problems, Jensen guides us toward concrete solutions by focusing on our most primal human desire: to live on a healthy earth overflowing with uncut forests, clean rivers, and thriving oceans that are not under the constant threat of being destroyed.

Praise

“‘At the risk of sounding ridiculous,’ Che Guevarra once and rather famously declaimed, ‘let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by feelings of great love.’ To my mind, he might well have been describing Derrick Jensen. No other writer has so clearly and consistently captured the essense of Guevarra’s intent, illuminating it in ways of which Che himself never dreamed. That Endgame embodies Jensen’s finest work to date says all that needs saying about why it simply MUST be read.”
—Ward Churchill, author of Since Predator Came and Struggle for the Land

“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

“Derrick Jensen is a force for the common good. His books are mandatory reading in the study of culture and social change. Derrick Jensen is a contemporary philosopher with his feet firmly on the ground.”
—Terry Tempest Williams, author of The Open Space of Democracy

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“[Endgame is] remarkable in its consideration of the present system of exploitation, destruction of the natural world, and indeed, self-destruction…. Jensen raises vital questions that must be asked, and moreover, that must be answered. In this mad venture, we are all complicit, if only in our silence. Jensen shatters this silence.”
—Mumia Abu-Jamal

“Jensen has proven himself a formidable thinker unafraid of showing us, with unsettling precision, the countless ways we are allowing ourselves and our planet to be killed.”
—The San Francisco Chronicle

“Derrick Jensen’s meditation on the state of the human and other species…opens windows in the mind to thinking about familiar problems in new and hopeful ways, calling for urgent action.”
—Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of Red Dirt: Growing Up Okie

“Jensen paints on a huge canvas…an emotionally compelling and devastating critique of the intellectual, psychological, emotional and social structure of Western culture…that demands attention.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Endgame has the power to rock the foundations of even the most grizzled activist veteran. Don’t take my word for it, buy the book or steal the book or borrow it from your library and see for yourself. Do it now…it’s later than you think.”
—Mickey Z.

“…intelligent, in-depth, even-keeled musings on the inherent dysfunction of mass society that, through savage honesty, guide us to the brink of our ability to tolerate.”
—Chellis Glendinning, author of Off the Map: An Expedition Deep into Empire and the Global Economy

“Derrick Jensen is a gifted and lyrical writer on a wide range of critical issues. He is unrelenting in his commitment to the environment and justice.”
—Winona LaDuke

“Derrick Jensen connects all the right dots to present compelling portraits, not simply of what is wrong with America, but how we might set about fixing it.”
—Ward Churchill

Contents and Excerpts

Volume I: The Problem of Civilization

Volume II: Resistance

Reviews

May 2013, from Pages of Julia’s Blog
Winter 2007/08, from Vegan Voice
August 2007, by Brian Hokanson
June 2007, from The Review
April 2007, from In the Wake
February 2007, by Kevin Kjonaas at Satya Magazine
January 2007, from HopeDance
January 2007, by Andreas
October 2006, from Informage.net
September 2006, by MediaMouse
August 2006, from Midwest Book Review (very short)
August 2006, by Adam Engel
June 2006, by Mickey Z.
March 2006, from Utne

Published Excerpts

Excerpts of Endgame appeared in The Order of the Earth in each monthly issue from August 2007 through June 2009, and in December 2009.

2007: “Ongoing Holocausts” and “Endgame” appeared in Public: Art/Culture/Ideas.

Fall 2006: “The Lost Star Wars Script” in Alternative Press Review

Fall 2006, “Irredeemable” in On Edge

Summer 2005, “To Change Darth Vader’s Heart, We Must First Change Our Own: Words of Wisdom from the Lost Star Wars Script,” in Lip

Translations