Beyond Civilization: Humanity's Next Great Adventure - Softcover

Quinn, Daniel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0609805363 ISBN 13: 9780609805367

Publisher: Crown, 2000

Synopsis

In Beyond Civilization, Daniel Quinn thinks the unthinkable. We all know there's no one right way to build a bicycle, no one right way to design an automobile, no one right way to make a pair of shoes, but we're convinced that there must be only one right way to live -- and the one we have is it, no matter what.

Beyond Civilization makes practical sense of the vision of Daniel Quinn's best-selling novel Ishmael. Examining ancient civilizations such as the Maya and the Olmec, as well as modern-day microcosms of alternative living like circus societies, Quinn guides us on a quest for a new model for society, one that is forward-thinking and encourages diversity instead of suppressing it. Beyond Civilization is not about a "New World Order" but a "New Personal World Order" that would allow people to assert control over their own destiny and grant them the freedom to create their own way of life right now -- not in some distant utopian future.

About this title

Review:

"Beyond Civilization is the most solid, real, practical, and you-can-really-do-it book you'll ever find on how to save the world. Daniel Quinn has again proven he is one of our century's greatest and most insightful thinkers. The re-tribalization of the world: what an extraordinary possibility!"
-- Thom Hartmann, author of The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight

"As always with Quinn, his argument is crystalline and reads like a thriller. He shows us that getting 'beyond' the mess of civilization doesn't mean changing human nature or setting off a revolution. We need only breathe new life into an ancient human strategy for survival. Quinn's plan is inspiring and devilishly clever."
-- John Briggs, author of Seven Life Lessons of Chaos

Synopsis:

Now in trade paperback, Beyond Civilization is poised to reach the huge audience that catapulted this author's Ishmael onto the paperback bestseller lists. In his first work of non-fiction to build on the ideas of his "Ishmael" books, Daniel Quinn argues provocatively that civilization - a system to which we cling as it carries us toward global catastrophe - is an idea whose time has past. If humanity is to survive, we must move beyond civilization, not back to the tribal cultures that sustained our species for millions of years, but forward to a new tribal way of life that is right for our age. This new tribal culture is best exemplified by a circus whose members all work toward the same goal. In Beyond Civilization, Quinn argues persuasively that this is no utopian dream. It is a vital necessity that we must begin moving toward today.

About this edition

• Publisher: Crown
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0609805363
• ISBN 13: 9780609805367
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208