On Fire
The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal
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4.0 • 15 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
#1 New York Times and internationally bestselling author Naomi Klein makes the case for a Green New Deal in this “keenly argued, well-researched, and impassioned” manifesto (The Washington Post).
An instant bestseller, On Fire shows Klein at her most prophetic and philosophical, investigating the climate crisis not only as a profound political challenge but also as a spiritual and imaginative one. Delving into topics ranging from the clash between ecological time and our culture of “perpetual now,” to the soaring history of humans changing and evolving rapidly in the face of grave threats, to rising white supremacy and fortressed borders as a form of “climate barbarism,” this is a rousing call to action for a planet on the brink.
An expansive, far-ranging exploration that sees the battle for a greener world as indistinguishable from the fight for our lives, On Fire captures the burning urgency of the climate crisis, as well as the fiery energy of a rising political movement demanding a catalytic Green New Deal.
“Naomi Klein’s work has always moved and guided me. She is the great chronicler of our age of climate emergency, an inspirer of generations.” —Greta Thunberg, climate activist
"If I were a rich man, I’d buy 245 million copies of Naomi Klein’s 'On Fire' and hand-deliver them to every eligible voter in America…Klein is a skilled writer." —Jeff Goodell, The New York Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Klein (This Changes Everything) makes a case for a Green New Deal in a treatise high on passion, but low on specifics. It consists largely of reprinted writings reporting, think pieces, public talks with brief notes providing updates. After an account of speaking at a 2015 Vatican press conference on Pope Francis's climate change encyclical, Klein comments that the Church's encouraging gesture now seems overshadowed by a lack of accountability over its sexual abuse crisis. These retrospective pieces lack the urgency of the book's lengthy introduction about fostering "economies built both to protect and to regenerate the planet's life support system and to respect and sustain the people who depend on them." In the brief epilogue, Klein returns to the book's main thrust and argues the Green New Deal still has a "fighting chance." But even that formulation acknowledges the difficulties involved, and her more extravagant proposals for instance, transforming every post office in her native Canada into a "hub for green transition" don't encourage confidence in her ambitious program. Klein's cri de coeur ("when the future of life is at stake, there is nothing we cannot achieve") will galvanize some and depress others.)
Customer Reviews
On Fire, Naomi Klein
The author pushes your thinking to understand that the world can have more than one giant goal if those goals are taking us in the same direction. Climate change and social justice can take us down a better path, and as an accountant/economist I say we can afford & cost justify this path. We need to take this better path.