Living And Dying In Ancient Times

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The Life and Death of Ancient Cities

Author : Greg Woolf
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190618566
Total Pages : 512 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (96 download)

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Book Synopsis The Life and Death of Ancient Cities by : Greg Woolf

Download or read book The Life and Death of Ancient Cities written by Greg Woolf and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-04-08 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dramatic story of the rise and collapse of Europe's first great urban experiment The growth of cities around the world in the last two centuries is the greatest episode in our urban history, but it is not the first. Three thousand years ago most of the Mediterranean basin was a world of villages; a world without money or writing, without temples for the gods or palaces for the mighty. Over the centuries that followed, however, cities appeared in many places around the Inland Sea, built by Greeks and Romans, and also by Etruscans and Phoenicians, Tartessians and Lycians, and many others. Most were tiny by modern standards, but they were the building blocks of all the states and empires of antiquity. The greatest--Athens and Corinth, Syracuse and Marseilles, Alexandria and Ephesus, Persepolis and Carthage, Rome and Byzantium--became the powerhouses of successive ancient societies, not just political centers but also the places where ancient art and literatures were created and accumulated. And then, half way through the first millennium, most withered away, leaving behind ruins that have fascinated so many who came after. Based on the most recent historical and archaeological evidence, The Life and Death of Ancient Cities provides a sweeping narrative of one of the world's first great urban experiments, from Bronze Age origins to the demise of cities in late antiquity. Greg Woolf chronicles the history of the ancient Mediterranean city, against the background of wider patterns of human evolution, and of the unforgiving environment in which they were built. Richly illustrated, the book vividly brings to life the abandoned remains of our ancient urban ancestors and serves as a stark reminder of the fragility of even the mightiest of cities.

The Tibetan Book Of Living And Dying

Author : Sogyal Rinpoche
Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 1448116953
Total Pages : 468 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (481 download)

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Book Synopsis The Tibetan Book Of Living And Dying by : Sogyal Rinpoche

Download or read book The Tibetan Book Of Living And Dying written by Sogyal Rinpoche and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012-02-29 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 25th Anniversary Edition Over 3 Million Copies Sold 'I couldn't give this book a higher recommendation' BILLY CONNOLLY Written by the Buddhist meditation master and popular international speaker Sogyal Rinpoche, this highly acclaimed book clarifies the majestic vision of life and death that underlies the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. It includes not only a lucid, inspiring and complete introduction to the practice of meditation, but also advice on how to care for the dying with love and compassion, and how to bring them help of a spiritual kind. But there is much more besides in this classic work, which was written to inspire all who read it to begin the journey to enlightenment and so become 'servants of peace'.

How to Die

Author : Seneca
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400889480
Total Pages : 253 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (8 download)

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Book Synopsis How to Die by : Seneca

Download or read book How to Die written by Seneca and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2018-02-27 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Timeless wisdom on death and dying from the celebrated Stoic philosopher Seneca "It takes an entire lifetime to learn how to die," wrote the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca (c. 4 BC–65 AD). He counseled readers to "study death always," and took his own advice, returning to the subject again and again in all his writings, yet he never treated it in a complete work. How to Die gathers in one volume, for the first time, Seneca's remarkable meditations on death and dying. Edited and translated by James S. Romm, How to Die reveals a provocative thinker and dazzling writer who speaks with a startling frankness about the need to accept death or even, under certain conditions, to seek it out. Seneca believed that life is only a journey toward death and that one must rehearse for death throughout life. Here, he tells us how to practice for death, how to die well, and how to understand the role of a good death in a good life. He stresses the universality of death, its importance as life's final rite of passage, and its ability to liberate us from pain, slavery, or political oppression. Featuring beautifully rendered new translations, How to Die also includes an enlightening introduction, notes, the original Latin texts, and an epilogue presenting Tacitus's description of Seneca's grim suicide.

The Egyptian Book of Living & Dying

Author : Joann Fletcher
Publisher : Watkins Media Limited
ISBN 13 : 1844838056
Total Pages : 145 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (448 download)

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Book Synopsis The Egyptian Book of Living & Dying by : Joann Fletcher

Download or read book The Egyptian Book of Living & Dying written by Joann Fletcher and published by Watkins Media Limited. This book was released on 2012-01-18 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A unique, affordable guide to the diverse belief system of the ancient Egyptians. Historian Joann Fletcher traces the stages of life from conception to the existence beyond the tomb. She gives particular emphasis to the hazardous voyage of the soul and focuses on key themes such as creation, magic, ritual and eternity. Fully-illustated and printed on high-quality paper, the book provides an excellent introductoin to ancient Egyptian mythology and ritual encompassing the gods, creation, life, death and the afterlife. --Reveals the mysteries of the ancient Egyptians’ fascinating and amazingly diverse belief system, with its emphasis on funerary cults. --Displays a wealth of quotations from ancient Egyptian sources, including intriguing spells from the Book of the Dead and mystical ritual incantations. --Unfolds the rich tapestry of ancient Egyptian myth, from the powers of the gods and pharaohs to the journey in search of the eternal paradise. --Contains more than 90 evocative photographs of ancient Egyptian sites and artefacts plus more than 40 specially-commissioned colour artworks.

Death's Summer Coat

Author : Brandy Schillace
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1681770938
Total Pages : 267 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (817 download)

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Book Synopsis Death's Summer Coat by : Brandy Schillace

Download or read book Death's Summer Coat written by Brandy Schillace and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-01-15 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Death is something we all confront—it touches our families, our homes, our hearts. And yet we have grown used to denying its existence, treating it as an enemy to be beaten back with medical advances.We are living at a unique point in human history. People are living longer than ever, yet the longer we live, the more taboo and alien our mortality becomes. Yet we, and our loved ones, still remain mortal. People today still struggle with this fact, as we have done throughout our entire history. What led us to this point? What drove us to sanitize death and make it foreign and unfamiliar?Schillace shows how talking about death, and the rituals associated with it, can help provide answers. It also brings us closer together—conversation and community are just as important for living as for dying. Some of the stories are strikingly unfamiliar; others are far more familiar than you might suppose. But all reveal much about the present—and about ourselves.

Death and Immortality in Ancient Philosophy

Author : Alex Long
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107086590
Total Pages : 241 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (7 download)

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Book Synopsis Death and Immortality in Ancient Philosophy by : Alex Long

Download or read book Death and Immortality in Ancient Philosophy written by Alex Long and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-06-13 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides an accessible account of the variety and subtlety of Greek and Roman philosophy of death, from Homer to Marcus Aurelius.

Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt

Author : John H. Taylor
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 9780226791647
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (916 download)

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Book Synopsis Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt by : John H. Taylor

Download or read book Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt written by John H. Taylor and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2001-04 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Of all the ancient peoples, the Egyptians are perhaps best known for the fascinating ways in which they grappled with the mysteries of death and the afterlife. This beautifully illustrated book draws on the British Museum's world-famous collection of mummies and other funerary evidence to offer an accessible account of Egyptian beliefs in an afterlife and examine the ways in which Egyptian society responded materially to the challenges these beliefs imposed. The author describes in detail the numerous provisions made for the dead and the intricate rituals carried out on their behalf. He considers embalming, coffins and sarcophagi, shabti figures, magic and ritual, and amulets and papyri, as well as the mummification of sacred animals, which were buried by the millions in vast labyrinthine catacombs. The text also reflects recent developments in the interpretation of Egyptian burial practices, and incorporates the results of much new scientific research. Newly acquired information derives from a range of sophisticated applications, such as the use of noninvasive imaging techniques to look inside the wrappings of a mummy, and the chemical analysis of materials used in the embalming process. Authoritative, concise, and lucidly written, Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt illuminates aspects of this complex, vibrant culture that still perplex us more than 3,000 years later.

Western Attitudes toward Death

Author : Philippe Ariès
Publisher : JHU Press
ISBN 13 : 9780801817625
Total Pages : 134 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (176 download)

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Book Synopsis Western Attitudes toward Death by : Philippe Ariès

Download or read book Western Attitudes toward Death written by Philippe Ariès and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 1975-08-01 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: AriA]s traces Western man's attitudes toward mortality from the early medieval conception of death as the familiar collective destiny of the human race to the modern tendency, so pronounced in industrial societies, to hide death as if it were an embarrassing family secret. -- Newsweek

Death and Disease in the Ancient City

Author : Valerie M. Hope
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134611560
Total Pages : 211 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (346 download)

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Book Synopsis Death and Disease in the Ancient City by : Valerie M. Hope

Download or read book Death and Disease in the Ancient City written by Valerie M. Hope and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-11 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Death in Ancient Rome

Author : Catharine Edwards
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780300112085
Total Pages : 316 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (12 download)

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Book Synopsis Death in Ancient Rome by : Catharine Edwards

Download or read book Death in Ancient Rome written by Catharine Edwards and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the Romans, the manner of a person's death was the most telling indication of their true character. Death revealed the true patriot, the genuine philosopher, even, perhaps, the great artist--and certainly the faithful Christian. Catharine Edwards draws on the many and richly varied accounts of death in the writings of Roman historians, poets, and philosophers, including Cicero, Lucretius, Virgil, Seneca, Petronius, Tacitus, Tertullian, and Augustine, to investigate the complex significance of dying in the Roman world. Death in the Roman world was largely understood and often literally viewed as a spectacle. Those deaths that figured in recorded history were almost invariably violent--murders, executions, suicides--and yet the most admired figures met their ends with exemplary calm, their last words set down for posterity. From noble deaths in civil war, mortal combat between gladiators, political execution and suicide, to the deathly dinner of Domitian, the harrowing deaths of women such as the mythical Lucretia and Nero's mother Agrippina, as well as instances of Christian martyrdom, Edwards engagingly explores the culture of death in Roman literature and history.

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

Author : Sogyal Rinpoche
Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0061800341
Total Pages : 428 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (618 download)

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Book Synopsis The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by : Sogyal Rinpoche

Download or read book The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying written by Sogyal Rinpoche and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A magnificent achievement. In its power to touch the heart, to awaken consciousness, [The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying] is an inestimable gift.” —San Francisco Chronicle A newly revised and updated edition of the internationally bestselling spiritual classic, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, written by Sogyal Rinpoche, is the ultimate introduction to Tibetan Buddhist wisdom. An enlightening, inspiring, and comforting manual for life and death that the New York Times calls, “The Tibetan equivalent of [Dante’s] The Divine Comedy,” this is the essential work that moved Huston Smith, author of The World’s Religions, to proclaim, “I have encountered no book on the interplay of life and death that is more comprehensive, practical, and wise.”

Death in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times

Author : Albrecht Classen
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN 13 : 3110434873
Total Pages : 505 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (14 download)

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Book Synopsis Death in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times by : Albrecht Classen

Download or read book Death in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times written by Albrecht Classen and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2016-04-11 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Death is not only the final moment of life, it also casts a huge shadow on human society at large. People throughout time have had to cope with death as an existential experience, and this also, of course, in the premodern world. The contributors to the present volume examine the material and spiritual conditions of the culture of death, studying specific buildings and spaces, literary works and art objects, theatrical performances, and medical tracts from the early Middle Ages to the late eighteenth century. Death has always evoked fear, terror, and awe, it has puzzled and troubled people, forcing theologians and philosophers to respond and provide answers for questions that seem to evade real explanations. The more we learn about the culture of death, the more we can comprehend the culture of life. As this volume demonstrates, the approaches to death varied widely, also in the Middle Ages and the early modern age. This volume hence adds a significant number of new facets to the critical examination of this ever-present phenomenon of death, exploring poetic responses to the Black Death, types of execution of a female murderess, death as the springboard for major political changes, and death reflected in morality plays and art.

Dying Every Day

Author : James Romm
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0385351720
Total Pages : 328 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (853 download)

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Book Synopsis Dying Every Day by : James Romm

Download or read book Dying Every Day written by James Romm and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2014-03-11 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From acclaimed classical historian, author of Ghost on the Throne (“Gripping . . . the narrative verve of a born writer and the erudition of a scholar” —Daniel Mendelsohn) and editor of The Landmark Arrian:The Campaign of Alexander (“Thrilling” —The New York Times Book Review), a high-stakes drama full of murder, madness, tyranny, perversion, with the sweep of history on the grand scale. At the center, the tumultuous life of Seneca, ancient Rome’s preeminent writer and philosopher, beginning with banishment in his fifties and subsequent appointment as tutor to twelve-year-old Nero, future emperor of Rome. Controlling them both, Nero’s mother, Julia Agrippina the Younger, Roman empress, great-granddaughter of the Emperor Augustus, sister of the Emperor Caligula, niece and fourth wife of Emperor Claudius. James Romm seamlessly weaves together the life and written words, the moral struggles, political intrigue, and bloody vengeance that enmeshed Seneca the Younger in the twisted imperial family and the perverse, paranoid regime of Emperor Nero, despot and madman. Romm writes that Seneca watched over Nero as teacher, moral guide, and surrogate father, and, at seventeen, when Nero abruptly ascended to become emperor of Rome, Seneca, a man never avid for political power became, with Nero, the ruler of the Roman Empire. We see how Seneca was able to control his young student, how, under Seneca’s influence, Nero ruled with intelligence and moderation, banned capital punishment, reduced taxes, gave slaves the right to file complaints against their owners, pardoned prisoners arrested for sedition. But with time, as Nero grew vain and disillusioned, Seneca was unable to hold sway over the emperor, and between Nero’s mother, Agrippina—thought to have poisoned her second husband, and her third, who was her uncle (Claudius), and rumored to have entered into an incestuous relationship with her son—and Nero’s father, described by Suetonius as a murderer and cheat charged with treason, adultery, and incest, how long could the young Nero have been contained? Dying Every Day is a portrait of Seneca’s moral struggle in the midst of madness and excess. In his treatises, Seneca preached a rigorous ethical creed, exalting heroes who defied danger to do what was right or embrace a noble death. As Nero’s adviser, Seneca was presented with a more complex set of choices, as the only man capable of summoning the better aspect of Nero’s nature, yet, remaining at Nero’s side and colluding in the evil regime he created. Dying Every Day is the first book to tell the compelling and nightmarish story of the philosopher-poet who was almost a king, tied to a tyrant—as Seneca, the paragon of reason, watched his student spiral into madness and whose descent saw five family murders, the Fire of Rome, and a savage purge that destroyed the supreme minds of the Senate’s golden age.

Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome

Author : Donald G. Kyle
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134862725
Total Pages : 301 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (348 download)

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Book Synopsis Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome by : Donald G. Kyle

Download or read book Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome written by Donald G. Kyle and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-11-12 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The elaborate and inventive slaughter of humans and animals in the arena fed an insatiable desire for violent spectacle among the Roman people. Donald G. Kyle combines the words of ancient authors with current scholarly research and cross-cultural perspectives, as he explores * the origins and historical development of the games * who the victims were and why they were chosen * how the Romans disposed of the thousands of resulting corpses * the complex religious and ritual aspects of institutionalised violence * the particularly savage treatment given to defiant Christians. This lively and original work provides compelling, sometimes controversial, perspectives on the bloody entertainments of ancient Rome, which continue to fascinate us to this day.

Rituals of Death and Dying in Modern and Ancient Greece

Author : Evy Johanne Håland
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1443868590
Total Pages : 690 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (438 download)

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Book Synopsis Rituals of Death and Dying in Modern and Ancient Greece by : Evy Johanne Håland

Download or read book Rituals of Death and Dying in Modern and Ancient Greece written by Evy Johanne Håland and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2014-10-02 with total page 690 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Winner of the AFS Elli Köngäs-Maranda Prize 2016* Multidisciplinary or post-disciplinary research is what is needed when dealing with such complex subjects as ritual behaviour. This research, therefore, combines ethnography with historical sources to examine the relationship between modern Greek death rituals and ancient written and visual sources on the subject of death and gender. The central theme of this work is women’s role in connection with the cult of the dead in ancient and modern Greece. The research is based on studies in ancient history combined with the author’s fieldwork and anthropological analysis of today’s Mediterranean societies. Since death rituals have a focal and lasting importance, and reflect the gender relations within a society, the institutions surrounding death may function as a critical vantage point from which to view society. The comparison is based on certain religious festivals that are dedicated to deceased persons and on other death rituals. Using laments, burials and the ensuing memorial rituals, the relationship between the cult dedicated to deceased mediators in both ancient and modern society is analysed. The research shows how the official ideological rituals are influenced by the domestic rituals people perform for their own dead, and vice versa, that the modern domestic rituals simultaneously reflect the public performances. As this cult has many parallels with the ancient official cult, the following questions are central: Can an analysis of modern public and domestic rituals in combination with ancient sources tell the reader more about the ancient death cult as a whole? What does such an analysis suggest about the relationship between the domestic death cult and the official? Since the practical performance of the domestic rituals was – and still remains – in the hands of women, it is crucial to discover the extent of their influence to elucidate the real power relations between women and men. This research represents a new contribution to earlier presentations of the Greek “reality”, but mainly from the female perspective, which is highly significant since men produced most of the ancient sources. This means that the principal objective for this endeavour is to question the ways in which history has been written through the ages, to supplement the male with a female perspective, perhaps complementing an Olympian Zeus with a Chthonic Mother Earth. The research brings both ancient and modern worlds into mutual illumination; its relevance therefore transcends the Greek context both in time and space.

Death in Ancient Rome

Author : Valerie Hope
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134323093
Total Pages : 286 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (343 download)

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Book Synopsis Death in Ancient Rome by : Valerie Hope

Download or read book Death in Ancient Rome written by Valerie Hope and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-11-13 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presenting a wide range of relevant, translated texts on death, burial and commemoration in the Roman world,this book is organized thematically and supported by discussion of recent scholarship. The breadth of material included ensures that this sourcebook will shed light on the way death was thought about and dealt with in Roman society.

Learning to Die in the Anthropocene

Author : Roy Scranton
Publisher : City Lights Publishers
ISBN 13 : 087286670X
Total Pages : 146 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (728 download)

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Book Synopsis Learning to Die in the Anthropocene by : Roy Scranton

Download or read book Learning to Die in the Anthropocene written by Roy Scranton and published by City Lights Publishers. This book was released on 2015-09-07 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In Learning to Die in the Anthropocene, Roy Scranton draws on his experiences in Iraq to confront the grim realities of climate change. The result is a fierce and provocative book."--Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History "Roy Scranton's Learning to Die in the Anthropocene presents, without extraneous bullshit, what we must do to survive on Earth. It's a powerful, useful, and ultimately hopeful book that more than any other I've read has the ability to change people's minds and create change. For me, it crystallizes and expresses what I've been thinking about and trying to get a grasp on. The economical way it does so, with such clarity, sets the book apart from most others on the subject."--Jeff VanderMeer, author of the Southern Reach trilogy "Roy Scranton lucidly articulates the depth of the climate crisis with an honesty that is all too rare, then calls for a reimagined humanism that will help us meet our stormy future with as much decency as we can muster. While I don't share his conclusions about the potential for social movements to drive ambitious mitigation, this is a wise and important challenge from an elegant writer and original thinker. A critical intervention."--Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate "Concise, elegant, erudite, heartfelt & wise."--Amitav Ghosh, author of Flood of Fire "War veteran and journalist Roy Scranton combines memoir, philosophy, and science writing to craft one of the definitive documents of the modern era."--The Believer Best Books of 2015 Coming home from the war in Iraq, US Army private Roy Scranton thought he'd left the world of strife behind. Then he watched as new calamities struck America, heralding a threat far more dangerous than ISIS or Al Qaeda: Hurricane Katrina, Superstorm Sandy, megadrought--the shock and awe of global warming. Our world is changing. Rising seas, spiking temperatures, and extreme weather imperil global infrastructure, crops, and water supplies. Conflict, famine, plagues, and riots menace from every quarter. From war-stricken Baghdad to the melting Arctic, human-caused climate change poses a danger not only to political and economic stability, but to civilization itself . . . and to what it means to be human. Our greatest enemy, it turns out, is ourselves. The warmer, wetter, more chaotic world we now live in--the Anthropocene--demands a radical new vision of human life. In this bracing response to climate change, Roy Scranton combines memoir, reportage, philosophy, and Zen wisdom to explore what it means to be human in a rapidly evolving world, taking readers on a journey through street protests, the latest findings of earth scientists, a historic UN summit, millennia of geological history, and the persistent vitality of ancient literature. Expanding on his influential New York Times essay (the #1 most-emailed article the day it appeared, and selected for Best American Science and Nature Writing 2014), Scranton responds to the existential problem of global warming by arguing that in order to survive, we must come to terms with our mortality. Plato argued that to philosophize is to learn to die. If that’s true, says Scranton, then we have entered humanity’s most philosophical age--for this is precisely the problem of the Anthropocene. The trouble now is that we must learn to die not as individuals, but as a civilization. Roy Scranton has published in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Boston Review, and Theory and Event, and has been interviewed on NPR's Fresh Air, among other media.