Strangely Like War: The Global Assault on Forests (Politics of the Living Books) [Paperback]

Derrick Jensen (Author), George Draffan (Author)

Book Description

Series: Politics of the Living Books | Publication Date: October 1, 2003

"It was strangely like war. They attacked the forest as if it were an enemy to be pushed back from the beachheads, driven into the hills, broken into patches, and wiped out. Many operators thought they were not only making lumber but liberating the land from the trees. . ." from The Last Wilderness, by Murray Morgan, 1976

Derrick Jensen, prize-winning author of A Language Older than Words and The Culture of Make Believe, and George Draffan, activist, researcher, and co-author with Jensen of Railroads & Clearcuts, collaborate again to expose the escalating global war on trees. Ever since Gilgamesh cut down the ancient cedar forests of Mesopotamia, civilizations and empires have foundered and collapsed in the wake of widespread deforestation. Today, with three quarters of the world’s original forests gone and the pace of cutting, clearing, processing, and pulping ever accelerating, Jensen and Draffan lay bare the stark scenario we face—we being not only people, but the nonhuman fabric of life itself—unless deforestation is slowed and stopped. A must-read for anyone who wants to understand the relationship between deforestation and our ecological crisis as well as an essential "handbook" for forest and anti-globalization activists.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Jensen (The Culture of Make Believe) and Draffan (A Primer on Corporate Power) are both pessimistic and angry about the state of the world's forests. In the U.S. only five percent of native forest remains; forests on a global level are also under attack, with one estimate claiming that two and a half acres are cut every second. International deforestation causes the extinction of plants and animals in addition to driving human forest dwellers, like the Karen of Burma, the Mapuche of Chile and the Penan of Malaysia, from their homelands. The destruction of forests also results in flooding, erosion and landslides. Production of paper products releases highly toxic chemicals into both the air and water. The authors provide many instances of collusion between industry and government, which has led to a U.S. commercial timber and logging industry permitted to destroy forests almost without restriction. Environmental agencies such as the Sierra Club or the Environmental Defense Fund, according to Jensen and Draffan, are more interested in raising money than in raising discomfort among the economically powerful. Globalization, they argue, is a network of financial, legal and political structures that operate for the benefit of the economic elite, allowing those in power to consume the natural resources of other nations. Although the text is occasionally overwrought, the authors have carefully documented worldwide deforestation, as well as the serious environmental and human consequences, and point a finger at those responsible.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Must reading for anyone concerned with either the fate of future generations or, indeed, the planet itself. -- Ward Churchill, author of Struggle for the Land and A Little Matter of Genocide

Strangely Like War exposes the crisis of the large-scale destruction of the world’s forests ... this significant work is highly recommended. -- Library Journal, November 1, 2003

Thank you, Jensen and Draffan. You awaken our hearts and common sense at the same time. -- Frances Moore Lappe, co-author of Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet

[Derrick Jensen's] analysis of our culture’s predilection for hatred and destruction will rattle your bones. -- Daniel Quinn, author of Ishmael

[The authors] open our eyes to the terrorist assault on our living guardians and the destruction of our real security. -- from the foreword by Vandana Shiva

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Chelsea Green (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931498458
• ISBN-13: 978-1931498456
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,134,627 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Take it from a logger., December 16, 2003

By 

Huby7 "Curt" (Springbrook, Wi United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strangely Like War: The Global Assault on Forests (Politics of the Living Books) (Paperback)

Like the reviewer before me I'm going to post Jensen and Draffan's challenge on page 6. "The truth lies on the ground. Go out and walk the clearcuts for yourself. Rub the dried soil between your fingertips. Walk the dying streams; listen to the silence in the skies (except for the whine of chainsaws and roar of distant logging trucks). Walk among ancient ones still standing, trees sometimes two thousand years old. Put your hands on their bark, on their skin. Taste the difference in the air. Smell it. Reflect on the beauty of what's still there, and on what has been lost--what has been taken from us."

I've walked many clear cuts. I used to be a logger. I was the "good german" who followed orders put forth by my foreman, county forester, state forester, and the corporations (Louisiana Pacific, Georgia Pacific, Potlach, Johnson Timber...etc) telling me which trees to cut and how much. The management practices that I followed didn't make much sense to me than, and REALLY don't make sense to me now after reading Jensen's, Strangely Like War: The Global Assault On Forests.

When I first started logging I was led to believe that I was actually "improving" the forests by cutting down trees that were going to die anyway. Or I was creating "habitat" for Whitetail Deer and Ruffed Tailed Grouse. Or I was helping out our economy and contributing to society. All "claims to virtue" that Jensen and Draffan debunk in Strangely Like War. Jensen also debunks the claims in his other works. The fact of the matter is that the forests aren't being managed with the diversity of wildlife as the management plans first priority. The forests are being managed for the optimum production of the desired species set forth by the transnational corporations who want them. The lawmakers, foresters, and contractors than follow suit. And what is really SAD is that the management practices don't make fiscal sense either! Jensen and Draffan have pointed this out better than any authors that I have read on this issue.

Also, as a hunter I have walked clear cut forests and "dog haired" Aspen regeneration. If you have ever had the chance to walk in a "old growth" forest and a "dog haired" Aspen regeneration you will understand why the arguments and facts set forth by Jensen and Draffan make sense.

Last winter I almost died in the hospital in Duluth, Minnesota. The sickness started out with flu like symptoms and I eventually passed out while urinating at my parent's house. I broke a rib and smashed the back of my parents toilet. I ended up in the emergency room. The doctors could not make a for sure diagnosis, they ended up treating me for Lymes Disease at my recommendation.

For those of you who don't know what Lymes Disease is, it is a tick borne disease. Ticks live on warm blooded animals. In Wisconsin we have an over abundance of ticks because of the lack of predation of White footed mice and Whitetail Deer, the prime carriers of ticks. ONE of the reasons why there are to many Whitetail Deer and Whitefooted mice is because of our treatment of the forests. Two examples of many is: Owls eat a lot of White Footed mice in mature forests where there is a canopy, but can't get to the mice in a "dog haired" regeneration patch. To sum it up the over abundance of Ticks in Wisconsin is a direct result of our forest management practices. Whitetail Deer thrive in fragmented forests which are a direct result of our forest management practices.

Getting back to my near death experience. A few days past and I wasn't getting any better. I was having terrible headaches, my testicles swelled up three times there original size and I had spots on the palms of my hands and the bottoms of my feet. I went back to my local doctor, he claimed he had never seen anything like it. He immediately sent me to ST. Marys in Duluth, Minnesota.

After four days in the hospital, a lot of intervenious antibiotics and support from my girlfriend and family I pulled out of it. The Infectious Disease Specialist said it had to be three tick born diseases at once. She also said, she had never seen anything like it. I'm just glad to be alive...:-)

I know from experience that my body didn't like waking up day after day to go kill trees. And I KNOW the trees and the rest of the life that inhabited the forest couldn't have liked it either. In my dealings with federal, state, county and corporate foresters there management practices didn't make sense. Trying to hunt animals in clear cuts and regeneration patches don't make much sense to me either. Almost dying because of a over abundance of ticks wasn't at the top of my list of experiences I want to go through either. Reading Jensen and Draffan's Strangely Like War broke the camels back, it makes absolutely NO SENSE to be doing what we are doing to the forests.

If you want to do something about the destruction of the planet's forests this is the handbook for you.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Global Chainsaw Massacre, December 28, 2003

By 

J.W.K (Nagano, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strangely Like War: The Global Assault on Forests (Politics of the Living Books) (Paperback)

A concisely worded, hard-hitting, well-researched book, Strangely Like War reveals the obscured and absurd connection between rabid consumption, relentlessly extractive industrial forestry, and the consequent genocide of those who are pushed from the land to which they belong. Already well-versed in this subject, authors Draffan and Jensen have provided us with a sobering expose of global deforestation, the political corruption that aids and abets it, and a stirring portrait of various indigenous peoples who have suffered (and still suffer) genocide as a result. Arguing from a position outside strict environmentalism, Strangely Like War levels a broader critique of globalization: "this parasitic, monetized, commodity-driven, inequitable, monocultural socioeconomic system", sometimes referred to simply as Western Civilization (altho geography no longer has anything to do with it). Along side everything else Jensen has every written, this book is a soulfully critical masterpiece that should not be overlooked.

A MUST READ

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent handbook for forest education!!!, January 28, 2004

By 

"bridbee33" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strangely Like War: The Global Assault on Forests (Politics of the Living Books) (Paperback)

I am impressed with how concise, clear, and well researched this book is. I have bought it for all of my friends and I recommend it to forest activists everywhere. This book covers the worldwide forest crisis and how that impacts everyone from the most endangered species to the drinking water in your home. It also covers the entire history of deforestation from the rise of civilization in the Middle East through the present day. The authors' directness and honesty are refreshing. Most writers who pretend to be confronting these problems shy away from spelling out the connections between the corporations and those in government that not only allow but also encourage the destruction to continue. Thank you Jensen and Draffan for this beautifully written tool for forest education!