Originally posted on sciy.org by Ron Anastasia on Fri 18 Apr 2008 01:51 PM PDT
[ I just received an email from SCIY Editor Wm. H. Kotke announcing the publication of the first reprint of his underground classic: "The Final Empire: The Collapse of Civilization and the Seed of the Future," first published in 1993. I just downloaded the E-book version (for just $6.95) and after a quick scan through its 600+ pages, I'm convinced this is a significant read for those SCIY readers concerned about Earth's sustainability crisis. As an Amazon reviewer said:
"This is an incredibly well documented and prophetic book. Prophetic in the sense that when I first read it over ten years ago, I was skeptical of many predictions. They have all turned out to come true. This book is indigenous and inspiring in the sense that it offers practical earth friendly strategies that affirm the possibility that man is part OF nature, not apart FROM it. Well written! Real history and facts, vitally relevant, and hence empowering! Good medicine for all earthlings. A powerful gift! Thanks Bill!" ...
~ ronjon ]
ARROW POINT PRESS
P.O. BOX 351, Geyserville, CALIFORNIA 95441
https://www.angelfire.com1-707-857-1763
Dear Friends:
ANNOUNCING
The reprint of the underground classic,
The Final Empire: The Collapse of Civilization and the Seed of the Future.
It was thirteen years ahead of its time. Now it is even more relevant. The book that explains the cultural basis of the present planetary crisis.
Carolyn Baker in her national daily web site says; "Stunning" "A Masterpiece"
"William Kotke has brilliantly articulated what I would not only describe as an ‘encyclopedia of collapse’ but has skillfully depicted a vision of possibility imbedded within the core of apocalypse."
"The author painstakingly describes the history of the disintegration and the collapse of the ecosystems in such a manner that the reader cannot escape the reality that all of this is inherent in the very nature of civilization itself. In fact, he thoroughly convinces us that no project in the history of the human race has been so unequivocally doomed from its inception as civilization, its ultimate destiny being its demise and the obliteration of everyone and everything in its wake."
A review at Amazon.Com:
"This is an incredibly well documented and prophetic book. Prophetic in the sense that when I first read it over ten years ago, I was skeptical of many predictions. They have all turned out to come true. This book is indigenous and inspiring in the sense that it offers practical earth friendly strategies that affirm the possibility that man is part OF nature, not apart FROM it. Well written! Real history and facts, vitally relevant, and hence empowering! Good medicine for all earthlings. A powerful gift! Thanks Bill!"
Dan Armstrong, author of the populist novel, Prairie Fire, at the web site MudCityPress says:
"As radical as it may seem at first glance, The Final Empire is a necessary and sensible primer for the recovery of the planet."
First Printing: 1993, Second Printing: 2007. 638 pages, 500 footnotes, 50 illustrations.
Available at
www.thefinalempirebook.com , Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and independent bookstores everywhere.Telephone order #: 888-280-7715
ebook, $6.95, paper $20.00, Hardback, $30.00
Here's Kotke's introduction (in the E-Book version):
The crisis of the planet Earth is so profound that all of our lives will be caught up in it. Our lives will change because of it. Our lives will change because of the apocalyptic events happening now and the even greater dislocations to come. We cannot avoid these great trends of history but we can exercise awareness and skill in action in dealing with them. The tumult will be environmental and it will also be within the social body of civilization.
Book I begins with a straight-forward examination of our ecological situation on the planet. This is not pleasant knowledge but it is imperative that we understand the full dimensions of the problem before we invest our lives in a solution. Book I also includes an explanation of how we humans have arrived at such a point of personal and planetary suicide. In this section the cultural dynamics, the psychology and the history of our culture is examined in order to gain insight for the future. Book II is a plan of action for us to regain paradise. This section answers the question of how to live in balance with nature. This is not a theoretical answer. It involves an actual watershed, what its ecology is and what the food sources are. This section takes those much abused words, "sustainable" and "balance with nature," and puts them on the ground. We will be urged to immediately create a new ecologically sustainable land based culture that will take us through the future times. Those who can respond will be accepting an initiatory challenge such as has seldom happened to our kind. The challenge is to bring out of the greatest wave of death and destruction the earth has ever known, a new world of wholeness and relationship of all of the tribes that live in ecological sustainability. This era is the first time in two million years that all of the tribes can connect as a planetary whole in a geographical and material sense. When our great, great, great grandchildren look back at the crisis that their ancestors had lived through they will understand why we changed ourselves, our culture, our relationship with our mother the earth and our relationship with the spirit of the cosmos."
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