Overview

David Boyle guides us through the next big thing in Western living – the determined rejection of the fake, the virtual, the spun and the mass-produced, in the search for authenticity. The charms of the global and virtual future we were all brought up to expect, where meals would be eaten in the form of pills and machines would do all our work, have worn rather thin. It's not that we don't want all the advantages of progress, we just want a future that manages to be local and real too. Tracking the struggle for reality from Japanese theme parks to mock-Tudor villas and from Byron to Big Brother, ‘Authenticity’ explains where our reactions against spin and fakeness come from – and where they are going. The current revival of real food, real business, real culture flies in the face of expert opinion from politicians, economists, advertisers and big business – and they're having to run to keep up as our hype attention-span gets ever shorter. Optimistic, witty, highly thought-provoking and packed with fascinating stories, Boyle’s search asks whether coolness is dead, how real reality is and whether realpolitik can ever change into real politics. He puts authenticity firmly on the map, lifting the lid on all the other symptoms of this powerful new phenomenon – revealing the unexpected force that looks set to change all our lives.

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9780007179640

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Reviews

'A beguiling vision of hope for the future.' Time Out 'Authenticity has always been seeping out of our lives!and yet![it] has a habit of fighting back. David Boyle walks the front lines of the way between real and fake.' Financial Times 'Boyle joins a long line, from Plato to Keynes, who argue that our view of reality, whether the figurative shadows on a cave wall, or the numbers called on a trading floor, is a speculative froth that distracts us from a superior reality.' Telegraph 'An insightful, ambitious argument.' Independent 'A book beginning here could easily be another polemic against consumer capitalism, superficial politics and the influence of a cynical media. Though Boyle criticises all three, his argument is subtler than bestselling broadsides like Naomi Klein's No Logo or Michael Moore's Stupid White Men !The guts of the argument are that we need to find a new set of relationships between democracy, individualism and capitalism! its wide range, well-written examples and lively style offer something for us all.' Management Today 'A bold attempt to pull together a thousand strands of modern nostalgia and unease and present them as a unified whole.' Scotsman

'A beguiling vision of hope for the future.' Time Out 'Authenticity has always been seeping out of our lives...and yet...[it] has a habit of fighting back. David Boyle walks the front lines of the way between real and fake.' Financial Times 'Boyle joins a long line, from Plato to Keynes, who argue that our view of reality, whether the figurative shadows on a cave wall, or the numbers called on a trading floor, is a speculative froth that distracts us from a superior reality.' Telegraph 'An insightful, ambitious argument.' Independent 'A book beginning here could easily be another polemic against consumer capitalism, superficial politics and the influence of a cynical media. Though Boyle criticises all three, his argument is subtler than bestselling broadsides like Naomi Klein's No Logo or Michael Moore's Stupid White Men ...The guts of the argument are that we need to find a new set of relationships between democracy, individualism and capitalism... its wide range, well-written examples and lively style offer something for us all.' Management Today 'A bold attempt to pull together a thousand strands of modern nostalgia and unease and present them as a unified whole.' Scotsman

Anyone feeling bewildered by modern society's focus on 'virtuality' and 'globalisation', and the extremes it has created, should read this book. The two most lucrative markets in the western world today are 'consumer technology' and 'the escape from consumer technology', and both are growing exponentially. Boyle gives a lucid explanation of how this seeming contradiction has arisen. Technological progress, particularly the development of labour-saving devices such as irons, washing machines and microwaves, has changed our lives, but it has also created worldwide, seemingly all-powerful corporations and a sense that we are alienated from the natural world and each other's needs. Brand, imaging and advertising are everywhere, to the extent that American families are naming their children after brands for cash, and Pepsi have plans to project their logo onto the moon. In reaction people are increasingly demanding something 'real', not 'fake-real' or 'virtual-real', terms Boyle explains, but 'authentic-real'. Hence the rise in demand for 'natural childbirth, natural health, natural pest-control'. But even authenticity is a contested term - the 'authenticity of the past' that many today hanker after usually went hand in hand with prejudice and discrimination, making it both undesirable and impossible to return to. This is a fascinating and provocative discussion of 21st-century ills, and a brilliant guide to alleviating their symptoms. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

David Boyle has been writing about the past and the future, and new ideas in economics, for more than a quarter of a century. He is a fellow of the New Economics Foundation and has just completed an independent review for the Cabinet Office. He is the author of The Tyranny of Numbers, The Human Element and Authenticity: Brands, Fakes, Spin and the Lust for Real Life. He lives in London.

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