War & the Noble Savage
At first it was a part of a talk given early this year at Metageum in London. Then I thought I’d develop it into an essay. Then it seemed long enough to print as a nice pamphlet. It’s ended up being a slim book.
It’s my effort to analyze and contribute to the recent debates about the “Noble Savage”. Are pre-civilized cultures more peaceful than we are? Do they live in greater harmony with the environment? Of late, people such as Steven Pinker, Lawrence Keeley and Steven LeBlanc, who aren’t overt bigots—indeed, who generally seem to be fine, well-meaning liberal folks—have been answering these questions with a resounding “no”. In War & the Noble Savage I’ve surveyed this recent literature, and tried to dig beneath the polarized surface of the debate using some less popularized anthropological and historical scholarship.
It went to the printers just today, and should be ready to send out by the end of next week. I’m taking pre-orders now if anyone wants to dive in. (Please note that I’ve also revamped my PayPal integration, and I’ve included options to buy different Dreamflesh publications together and save money on postage.)
October Gallery talk
Coinciding with the release of the book, I’m pleased to have been invited to speak in the October Gallery‘s ‘Ecology, Cosmos & Consciousness’ lecture series on Tuesday 27th October. For more details and booking information see the October Gallery website. I’ll be presenting the book’s main ideas there, and leaving plenty of time for discussion—please bring your questions and ideas along! Copies of the book will of course be on sale, at a specially reduced price.
Review copies
If anyone’s interested in reviewing this, please get in touch.
Related material
At the bottom of the book’s page you’ll find a compilation of related material—my book reviews and blog posts covering similar area, plus a collection of links to the websites, articles, and videos I drew on in my research.
Feedback
If anyone who reads the book wants to respond to anything in it or ask questions, please use the comments here…
About the ‘noble savage revisionism’
OK, I haven’t read the book, or your essay, but feel the need to say this:
Isn’t it ironic that it is the ‘sons’ of the genocidal invaders of indigenous peoples, and the ones who have causing the very destruction of the Web of Life, who are ‘scholarly’ presenting this ‘resounding no’??!
MU - 21st October 2009 @ 8:37
I don’t think you can go as far as saying that Pinker and Keeley are causing the destruction of the web of life! There’s no irony there. They’re not at all sinister in their views of indigenous people—it’s just that their arguments are slanted and distorted in ways that can unwittingly support more sinister views.
Among other things, studying this has taught me that (1) the issue of current Western views of archaic and indigenous peoples—unlike the issue of whether or not we should have slaughtered them—is very complex, and (2) you really have to read what people are saying before you lay into them. Properly read them, with an open heart as well as an acute mind. You can see how Pinker and Keeley aren’t out-and-out adversaries in my reviews of their books—check out my list of related material.
Gyrus - 21st October 2009 @ 11:29
Just wanted to say thanks for posting the screencast of your talk on the ‘Noble Savage’- very interesting and enlightening!
Guy - 23rd November 2009 @ 21:13