The American Replacement of Nature

by William Irwin Thompson

In a philosopher's pioneering examination of the marketplace, Thompson shows us new ways of understanding the commodities of late 20th-century capitalism such as time, space, sound, and more.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385420250
• ISBN13: 9780385420259
• Release Date: September 1991
• Publisher: Doubleday Business
• Length: 159 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

absolutely essential

Ever felt vaguely creeped out by the utter ubiquity of all things Disney in American life? The corporate behemoth's famously draconian work rules for employees? Its numbing insistence that "it's a small world after all" -- and they've got it all sanitized, packaged and on display for your consumption in the cultural mecca of Orlando, Florida? Its maniacally grinning elevation of "fun" above all other values and goals in the well-lived life? If so, read this book. I've had three copies and have given them all away to friends and acquaintances who've said, "Yeah, I always wondered about that." I agree with the other reviewers that the prescriptive second half of this slim volume is much weaker than the descriptive first half, but those first 80-or-so pages are easily worth the price of admission.

Fun As Hell To Read!

An other reviewer mentioned Chomsky. The truth is, Thompson is a brilliant cultural critic/mythopoeic sociologist/poet observer but he is not superior to Chomsky if what you desire is a clearheaded and real world analysis of the forces and powers that are shaping our world. Chomsky is coming from the Enlightenment and Humanist traditions and knows exactly where his knowledge ends and continually informs the reader as to why he is saying what he is saying (he makes himself as transparent as possible). Thompson, by contrast, does the exact opposite. He entertainingly composes poetic banners of thought that are dense with aphoristic insight and cutting philo-historic observations. This is the only book of Thompson's that I've thus far read but I would like to read at least one more. He has a cool style and makes many points that intrigue or promote pondering. This book may best be described as a cross between thoughtful new age and pop philosophy.

Just read it !

Reading this book you will be able to undertand America and its myths. Thompson reads America from many perspectives: cognitive sciences, buddhism, continental philosophy,ciberpunk's novels, and keen observations about Epcot and Disney joins in a very intersting way to see America. Neither Baudrillard, nor Virilo, nor Chomsky, nor Lipovestky are so powerful as Thompson is.