The New York Times bestselling coauthor of Sex at Dawn explores
the ways in which "progress" has perverted the way we live--how we eat,
learn, feel, mate, parent, communicate, work, and die--in this
"engaging, extensively documented, well-organized, and
thought-provoking" (Booklist) book.
Most of us have instinctive evidence the world is ending--balmy December
days, face-to-face conversation replaced with heads-to-screens
zomboidism, a world at constant war, a political system in disarray. We
hear some myths and lies so frequently that they feel like truths:
Civilization is humankind's greatest accomplishment. Progress is
undeniable. Count your blessings. You're lucky to be alive here and
now. Well, maybe we are and maybe we aren't. Civilized to Death
counters the idea that progress is inherently good, arguing that the
"progress" defining our age is analogous to an advancing disease.
Prehistoric life, of course, was not without serious dangers and
disadvantages. Many babies died in infancy. A broken bone, infected
wound, snakebite, or difficult pregnancy could be life-threatening. But
ultimately, Christopher Ryan questions, were these pre-civilized dangers
more murderous than modern scourges, such as car accidents, cancers,
cardiovascular disease, and a technologically prolonged dying process?
Civilized to Death "will make you see our so-called progress in a
whole new light" (Book Riot) and adds to the timely conversation that
"the way we have been living is no longer sustainable, at least as long
as we want to the earth to outlive us" (Psychology Today). Ryan makes
the claim that we should start looking backwards to find our way into a
better future.
