From Apocalypse to Way of Life: Environmental Crisis in the American Century

by Frederick Buell

From Apocalypse to Way of Life is a comprehensive and in depth survey of environmental crisis as it has been understood for the last four decades. Buell recounts the growing number of ecological and social problems critical for the environment, and the impact that the growing experience with, and understanding of, them has had on American politics, society and culture.

Genres: Nature

408 pages, Paperback

First published February 24, 2003

Reviews

[Nick Mather]

Buell examines the history of environmentalism in the United States and argues that we have failed to heed the warnings over the past 50 years and have come to live in a place where environmental apocalypse is now a way of life. He demonstrates how conservative politicians, think tanks and big businessess have attempted to control the environmental narrative and downplay or flat out deny environmental concerns. The text also examines how environmental apocalypses and post-apocalyptic worlds are represented in fiction in an attempt to understand how the American psyche is coming to terms with a poisoned and toxic world.

[LaUra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A terrifying account of our present world and what is to come if we keep on the same path we are on.
"Living on through loss seems by contrast as bad or worse (than an Apocalypse); it means experiencing environmental deterioration, steady decline in human well-being, and increasing constraint on future human action consciously and slowly while realizing that they are likely to continue for generations after one is gone (78)."