Threshold: The Crisis of Western Culture
An urgent look at our world's looming crises and what we must do to avert them\ In Threshold, writer and Air America host Thom Hartmann looks at the deteriorating state of our planet, where the dynamics of environmental, economic, and population change are boiling over the limits within which society can function. In clear and impassioned prose, Hartmann busts the myths and ideologies of religious fundamentalism, capitalism run amok, male domination, and militarism that are draining our world...
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An urgent look at our world's looming crises and what we must do to avert themIn Threshold, writer and Air America host Thom Hartmann looks at the deteriorating state of our planet, where the dynamics of environmental, economic, and population change are boiling over the limits within which society can function. In clear and impassioned prose, Hartmann busts the myths and ideologies of religious fundamentalism, capitalism run amok, male domination, and militarism that are draining our world of its natural and human resources and engendering the suffering of millions for the benefit of the few.No mere jeremiad, Threshold examines cultures that have thrived, from the mother city of Caral, Peru, to modern Denmark, and targets five areas of policy-national, religious, economic, corporate, and environmental-for specific and immediate reform. Radical in its scope and boldness but simple in its commonsense logic, Threshold illustrates the mistakes we have made-as a culture, as a country, and as individuals-and provides the inspiration and motivation readers are looking for to build a better, more sustainable world for all. Part prophecy, part call to arms, part policy prescription, Threshold is, for readers of Jared Diamond, Thomas Friedman, and Paul Hawken, the wake-up call our society so badly needs. Publishers Weekly What begins as skillful (and scary) prognostications about climate change's impact devolve into an unfocused mishmash in this mélange of history, philosophy, science and anthropology. Air America Radio Network host Hartmann (The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight) marshals solid research to demonstrate how overpopulation, pernicious trade policies, rampant consumerism and other excesses are devastating the Earth. The utopia he envisions, which owes much to Scandinavian social democracies, is unimpeachable, what with its emphasis on gender equality, ecological consciousness and a renewed spirit of democracy. Unfortunately, the author cannot direct his ire, and the book buckles under breathless plaints that leap from the history of lacrosse to neurology to our relationships with animals in the span of a few pages. The result is a frustrating, hard-to-follow conclusion that obscures the valuable arguments that distinguish the book's striking opening. (July)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Threshold Preface\ Introduction. Darfur\ Part I. The Thresholds\ Chapter 1. The Environment\ Chapter 2. The Economy\ Chapter 3. Population\ Part II. The Four Mistakes\ Chapter 4. Unnatural Selection\ Chapter 5. Free Market Fools\ Chapter 6. The XX Factor\ Chapter 7. Gunboat Altruism\ Part III. How Not to Fail\ Chapter 8. Denmark: A Modern Beacon\ Chapter 9. The Maori: Eating Themselves Alive\ Chapter 10. Caral, Peru: A Thousand Years of Peace\ Part IV. Crossing the Threshold\ Chapter 11. The Band-Aids\ Chapter 12. The Good Stuff\ Acknowledgments Notes Index
\ Publishers WeeklyWhat begins as skillful (and scary) prognostications about climate change's impact devolve into an unfocused mishmash in this mélange of history, philosophy, science and anthropology. Air America Radio Network host Hartmann (The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight) marshals solid research to demonstrate how overpopulation, pernicious trade policies, rampant consumerism and other excesses are devastating the Earth. The utopia he envisions, which owes much to Scandinavian social democracies, is unimpeachable, what with its emphasis on gender equality, ecological consciousness and a renewed spirit of democracy. Unfortunately, the author cannot direct his ire, and the book buckles under breathless plaints that leap from the history of lacrosse to neurology to our relationships with animals in the span of a few pages. The result is a frustrating, hard-to-follow conclusion that obscures the valuable arguments that distinguish the book's striking opening. (July)\ Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.\ \ \ \ \ Kirkus ReviewsRadio talk-show host Hartmann (Cracking the Code: How to Win Hearts, Change Minds, and Restore America's Original Vision, 2007, etc.) applies his gung-ho populism to the global ramifications of mankind's loss of balance with nature. The author begins with an awkward metaphor-that the world is "right now tottering atop three major thresholds." These include an overtaxed environment that cannot sustain human life; a "free market" economy, manipulated by "1 percent of us," that has "bled [the nation's] industrial base into the gutter of cheap labor countries"; and a population explosion. A big-picture thinker, Hartmann offers plenty of dire forecasts supported by swaths of impressive statistics, beginning with a bleak snapshot of the Darfur region of Sudan. Gripped by civil war and the greed that the discovery of oil has wrought, and barely breaking through the threshold from hunger to safety and protection, Darfur represents a microcosm of the larger issues that beset the world in terms of future survival. Man's self-removal from "the web of life" is the root cause of these respective crises, and Hartmann presents a series of remedies-reintroducing worms into the body for medicinal cleansing; rejecting the "sociopathic paychecks" of CEOs; embracing altruism over ownership; adopting the economic example of Denmark, where "higher taxes equals greater overall quality of life;" seeking agricultural answers through anthropological experiments among the Maori people of New Zealand and the ancient Peruvian civilization of Caral. Hartmann puts forth a wide-ranging collection of mostly engaging ideas, but his slogan-ridden, somewhat scattershot screed may not resonate with many readers beyondthe disgruntled, armchair-pounding TV-news watchers. A mishmash of good intentions. Agent: Bill Gladstone/Waterside Productions\ \
