Overview

Marxism and Witchcraft is a vitally important book, a tremendous resource for anyone interested in the question 'How did we get into this mess?' At this time of environmental meltdown, Kubrin's careful analysis of how and why the mechanistic model was imposed on science, philosophy and Western culture is vital to our understanding what we must do to transform it. To see the world as alive again, infused with vitality and spirit, we must also confront the violence with which that worldview was stamped out -- the Witch persecutions that assaulted women's power and traditional modes of healing, the genocide against indigenous people in the Americas and dehumanizing African slave trade all worked together to break peoples' ties to land, culture and a relational world view. Such understanding is vital for those striving to develop an intersectional critique of racism, sexism and structural oppression. Kubrin's extensive knowledge of the history of science and the underlying politics behind the adoption of the mechanistic paradigm is a unique and valuable contribution. Kubrin has had a huge influence on my own writing and thinking ever since I heard him lecture on this topic more than forty years ago. Now, with this new book, he has deepened and expanded his thesis to made an enormous contribution to all who seek to change the world. Thanks--it is truly a massive piece of work, fascinating and vitally important for this political moment. -- Starhawk

Full Product Details

9781570272899

Table of Contents

Reviews

David Kubrin's Marxism & Witchcraft is a majestic, innovative, and thoroughly engrossing analysis of the root causes of today's ecological crisis. Kubrin argues that Marxism, by omitting the significance of the world's spiritual, animistic past (imbedded in the term witchcraft ), inherently supports the advance of capitalism. Only through new ways of seeing the world, and by transcending capitalist and Marxist views of nature alike, can we recover from the ecological destruction wrought by industrial pollution, toxic contamination, and biotechnological alterations of living beings. Anyone interested in the history and future of life on earth will want to read and engage with this pioneering work. -- Carolyn Merchant, author of The Death of Nature; Ecological Revolutions; and Autonomous Nature: Problems of Prediction and Control from Ancient Times to the Scientific Revolution It was in 1983 -- when David Kubrin and I (among a thousand others) were incarcerated at Santa Rita Jail for a couple of weeks after committing civil disobedience at Lawrence Livermore Lab, where nuclear weapons were being designed -- that I was first exposed to Kubrin's arguments. He and I ended up teaching a workshop together for our fellow inmates on 'The Theory and Practice of Genocide.' My part focused on the practice, based on my work on the secret operational planning for nuclear war; his was an abbreviated version of Marxism & Witchcraft. We had a captive audience, but there was a great interest in our presentations and I personally learned a lot from listening to David. I was, and still am, intrigued by his argument, including his analysis of Newtonianism as a fulcrum of world history, with profound implications for today's ecological crisis. Especially given the gravity of our alarming fall into widespread environmental dregrdation, I am excited that his framing of the problem will be able to get the significant audience it deserves. -- Daniel Ellsberg

Author Information

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available