Customer Reviews

The Spirit of Disobedience: Resisting the Charms of Fake Politics, Mindless Consumption, and the Culture of Total Work

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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If you get very tired of what passes for debate in this country, try this book on for size. White calls it like it is -- Democrats and Republicans claim to be so different, but they are basically both about keeping society this way it is, "good for business"; capitalism is bankrupt spiritually, leading to an unsustainable work/life balance for families, and a lousy car-centric suburbia landscape that has alienated ourselves from ourselves. I really liked his critiques of familiar pop-culture artifacts like the Simpsons and Office Space because often in a book like this, these pieces, accessible to general audiences, are ignored disdainfully. He also leaves you with some hope, which most critics don't get around to. Turn off the tube and give yourself some stimulation, read the book.

I recommend you read this book. I very much agree with the basic premise to not blindly accept the status quo and to always question. Curtis White is a very interesting critic, though I am not sure he would be a lot of fun to be around, he is so CRANKY. Lighten up Curtis. Its not all bad!!

This book is ofcourse fantastic. Like the Middle Mind, it unhinges you from being ok with being a zombie. Superb in the thickets, if I may steal. How do you live when you can't honestly live a happy and decent life these days without taking out the horse blinders is the only thing worth thinking/reading about.
Also- I had no idea Curtis White had written another non fiction book. Even his Harpers article didn't mention that he was about to come out with a new book- actually I got the article off of Lexis Nexis so perhaps thats the kind of garbling I didn't pay for.

this is a fierce and passionate
and scathing indictment
of the left from the left.

curtis heats up his argument by tapping
into that pyre of true revolutionary fire as voiced by
shakespeare-blake-ruskin-emerson-thoreau-whitman-
proust-pound-weil(simone)-ginsberg-zizek-frank(thomas).

in the introduction he sets his argument thus:

"The tragedy is that in the present context
the secular left believes that its advocacy of justice is
independent of spirit... the truth is that
there is no spirit in the absence of justice
and no justice that is not first spiritual."

READ IT AND BECOME A FLAME!

I bought this book from Amazon for a college course since Amazon offers excellent deals on text books. I loved the book so much that I decided to keep it forever instead of trying to re-sell it.

I thoroughly appreciated and enjoyed this book. Curtis White speaks with a voice that is well-informed, thoughtful, analytical, and righteously wounded by the degraded state of our culture. As a former Christian who long ago left the fold, I appreciated his perspectives on what an authentically Christ-informed spirituality might look like. And as a worker in the field of restorative justice, as I read the book I kept thinking "This is an important work for my colleagues and I." I am sharing it with others.

The last chapter, which has three interviews with important thinkers, was a great ending. In fact, the book is worth it for just this chapter alone, although I think the introduction is also reason enough to purchase the book.

Any one who wants to live life deliberately instead of going about the business of life as laid out by others of whom you may never be aware needs to read this book.