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Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the Worldby Paul Hawken
Staff Pick
Feeling crushed beneath the weight of ominous news, borderline-apocalyptic statistics, and global warming alerts that offer no recourse but panic? Paul Hawken's Blessed Unrest is the book you've been waiting for. Here is a call to arms with concrete suggestions on how to fix our wounded planet, from environmental issues to social justice. A must-have for the social activist who wants to get active! Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:The New York Times bestselling examination of the worldwide movement for social and environmental change.
Paul Hawken has spent more than a decade researching organizations dedicated to restoring the environment and fostering social justice. From billion-dollar nonprofits to single-person dot.causes, these groups collectively comprise the largest movement on earth, a movement that has no name, leader, or location and that has gone largely ignored by politicians and the media. Blessed Unrest explores the diversity of the movement, its brilliant ideas, innovative strategies, and centuries of hidden history. A culmination of Hawken's many years of leadership in the environmental and social justice fields, it will inspire all who despair of the world's fate, and its conclusions will surprise even those within the movement itself. Review:"Hawken (Natural Capitalism) traces the formation of the environmental and social justice movement from the beginnings of natural science across years and continents in this rousing and 'inadvertently optimistic' call to action. Though it's argued that globalization; extinction of species, languages and cultures; and economic policies advantageous to the rich have degraded quality of life worldwide and engendered large scale feelings of fear, resentment and powerlessness, Hawken remains surprisingly hopeful. Strength, he contends, lies in the many thousands (if not millions) of nonprofits and community organizations dedicated to environmental protection and social justice that collectively form a worldwide movement geared toward humanity's betterment. A combination of history, current events, motivation and vision for the future, Hawken's book does a lot of work in its relatively few pages, though his perspective comes across in some passages as naïve (the thousands of protestors at the 1999 Seattle World Trade Organization meeting merely wanted to 'hold WTO accountable'). The book isn't likely to convert members of the World Bank, but readers already sympathetic to Hawken's position will find much here to chew on." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"Writing with zest, clarity, and a touch of wonder...Hawken offers a fascinating history of our perception of nature and human rights. Hawken also presents an unprecedented map to this new 'social landscape.'" Booklist (Starred Review) Review:"Blessed Unrest is exciting, compelling, and very important....Paul Hawken states eloquently all that I believe so passionately to be true — that there is inherent goodness at the heart of our humanity, that collectively we can — and are — changing the world. Please read and share Blessed Unrest, a celebration of the awakening of the human spirit. It will inspire and encourage millions more to take action." Jane Goodall, UN Ambassador for Peace Review:"If you have lost a sense of direction in your life, if despair dogs your every step, pick up a pencil and pick up this book. Paul Hawken, without a trace of self-importance, impales a very dark room on the beam of a very bright light here. In his hands, the civil society movement reveals itself as the action that has replaced the talk." Barry Lopez, author of Resistance and Arctic Dreams Review:"This is the first full account of the real news of our time, and it's exactly the opposite of the official account. The movers and shakers on our planet aren't the billionaires and the generals — they are the incredible numbers of people around the world filled with love for neighbor and for the earth who are resisting, remaking, restoring, renewing, revitalizing. This powerful and lovely book is their story — our story — and it's high time someone's told it. Nothing you read for years to come will fill you with more hope and more determination." Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy and The End of Nature Review:"Blessed Unrest is a beautiful, soulful, crucial book. It is a manifesto of hope for the 21st century grounded squarely in the hearts of engaged people around the planet. Paul Hawken chronicles and testifies on behalf of this 'movement with no name' with his charismatic intelligence and insight. This book makes the invisible visible. I believe Hawken when he says we are part of the Earth's immune system each time we exercise our active compassion in the name of social justice and ecological health. I love this book. It is a field guide for all that is possible." Terry Tempest Williams, author of The Open Space of Democracy Review:"Many books describe the world in ways that break our hearts. Blessed Unrest invokes a heartbreak from which light pours. Paul Hawken is stupendously well informed. He is also critical without rancor, intuitive without woo woo, and poetic or hard-minded as the case requires. His narrative flows from a harrowing litany of 'free market' abuses and desecrations to the countless life-saving actions and organizations that now envelope the earth in response. This is a work of enormous love and consequence. Every compassion-driven soul who reads it will be stunned by the scope and power of the movement we've inadvertently formed. When, inevitably, my daughters someday feels their hearts broken by the wounded world they have inherited, I will be handing them this and a precious few other books." David James Duncan, author of The Brothers K and God Laughs & Plays Review:"For the first time since life evolved, one species is now altering the physical, chemical, and biological features of the planet on a geological scale. Scientists tell us of a litany of ecological disasters — climate change, toxic pollution, species extinction, marine depletion, deforestation — the depressing list can paralyze one with hopelessness and despair. Fear can motivate immediate action in the short-run, but hope can be sustained. Paul Hawken's writings are always at the cutting edge of environmental thought, original, surprising and shot through with optimism. Blessed Unrest is an uplifting perspective, engendering wonder and hope. For all of us that are squirreling away in our individual small ways, it is inspiring to realize that millions of us can add up to an irresistible force. Read this book and shout 'Hallelujah!'" David Suzuki, author of The Sacred Balance Review:"Paul Hawken is at the top of his storytelling art in Blessed Unrest. By revealing the twin heart of the environmental and social justice movements, he helps us know ourselves in a new way — as competent members of the natural world, intent on recovering from our stumble as a species. Each page yields surprise and 'of course!' recognition for what has been swelling beneath our collective ground for over 100 years. I read it in a single sitting, hungry for the next piece of the puzzle, the next 6-degrees-of-separation coincidence. Hawken makes these invisible truths obvious through impeccably researched tales told in the bell-clear prose of a statesman poet. In this chronicle of the groundswell with no name, we have found our Tocqueville, our Twain, and our Sinclair." Janine Benyus, author of Biomimicry Review:"On one side the four horsemen of the apocalypse; on the other a vast and nameless uprising of peoples and organizations fighting for justice, places, communities, diversity, and health — the planetary immune system. Paul Hawken's Blessed Unrest is not just a good book, it is a necessary book, wise, eloquent, perceptive, sober, and timely but above all, hopeful. A landmark!" David Orr, author Design on the Edge and The Last Refuge Synopsis:One of the world's most influential environmentalists — the author of Natural Capitalism — reveals a worldwide grassroots movement of hope and humanity to defend life on Earth. About the AuthorPaul Hawken is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and bestselling author of six previous books. He is the architect and leading proponent of reform with respect to ecological practices. He currently operates a nonprofit organization. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
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