The Unabomber Manifesto: Industrial Society and Its Future [Paperback]

The Unabomber (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1595948155 | ISBN-13: 978-1595948151 | Publication Date: November 20, 2008

In 1971 Dr. Theodore Kaczynski rejected modern society and moved to a primitive cabin in the woods of Montana. There, he began building bombs, which he sent to professors and executives to express his disdain for modern society, and to work on his magnum opus, Industrial Society and Its Future, forever known to the world as the Unabomber Manifesto. Responsible for three deaths and more than twenty casualties over two decades, he was finally identifed and apprehended when his brother recognized his writing style while reading the 'Unabomber Manifesto.' The piece, written under the pseudonym FC (Freedom Club) was published in the New York Times after his promise to cease the bombing if a major publication printed it in its entirety.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The Unabomber Manifesto, which is arguably one of the most controversial writings in recent history, is an interesting rant on the viewpoint that technology will lead to the downfall of the human race. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Theodore Kaczynski is nationally recognized for using brutality and death as a vehicle for delivering demogogery on technology as the downfall of the human race. Ted Kaczynski is known as The Unabomber due to his use of bombs as a method of terror. This work is the culmination of his writings which has been published largely in major newspapers and magazines. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 100 pages
• Publisher: WingSpan Classics (November 20, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595948155
• ISBN-13: 978-1595948151
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #275,372 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive critique on humanity and modern society, June 25, 2010

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vaneXXa (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Unabomber Manifesto: Industrial Society and Its Future (Paperback)

Mr. Kaczynski writes a very well-elaborated essay on Industrial or modern-day society. He makes very intellectual and sincere observations on the modern world regarding its focus on technology and the associated economic and political systems created around it, which together he defines as "the system". He goes on to explain how the system has infiltrated core human activities such as our jobs, our entertainment, and our concept of mental health. He then explains how the shift from our instinctual survival-based existence to one of pure technological advancement came about. He describes this in terms of goals related to human behaviour and contentment. In essence he states that technology came about to aid our survival needs, but (perhaps once our needs were being sufficiently met) technology eventually evolved as a goal in itself. The focus shifted from how can we meet our human needs to how can technology keep evolving. New systems were created in economy and politics, for example, to govern this new quest of technology. As a consequence of this shift from the human to the industrial, he discusses, there comes a new wave of problems in government and lack of intellectual stimulation. The system therefore has created new problems which the system then tries to control via methods such as the entertainment industry, psychotropics, and military groups. Mr. Kaczynski's premise is that none of these problems would be problems if the basic focus had remained on the human and meeting his instinctive goals. He then calls forth a revolution on this modern society in order to create a paradigm shift that will bring us closer to what it is to be human in the flesh. However, unlike traditional revolutionaries, he does not propose a change in governmental head or even governmental method, but rather a complete absolution on what we've come to regard as Industrial Society.

It is hard to flaw this piece of writing from a literature point of view. It is reasonably well-researched, broad, and cohesive. Strikingly, it is very sincere, though one may want to flaw Mr. Kaczynski's views (especially considering those that brought about his crimes and subsequent imprisonment), his arguments are so well elaborated that they are difficult to refute if only because he makes it so easy to follow his train of thought.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Off kilter: Inside the mind of a genius or madman?, February 1, 2010

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Scott Hill (Redondo Beach, Ca USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Unabomber Manifesto: Industrial Society and Its Future (Paperback)

First let me state that I in no way support, condone or admire any of the terrorist actions taken by the author as the Unabomber, I was intrigued enough by the Wikipedia posting of this pamphlet to get the hard copy, so as to sit down and spend some time inside the mind of someone outside the realm of our normal everyday life. And I realize that as a result of buying this, I am now, no doubt, on at least one Government watch list, such is the world we now live in, but information is information and for the moment at least, I have the right to read what I want to.

This is not an easy pamphlet to read, it really does meander all over (endless footnotes and citings), as Kaczynski's mind seems to have and yet I found myself in unwilling agreement with some of his arguments (or rants, if you prefer) against the effects of a technological society on the rights and well being of the individual and the planet. Now the reader must bear in mind that this "work" was done over some time, but started long before the Green Movement was most Westerners new religion, so to say that the author was in some ways prescient about the global tipping point we find ourselves at and the true root of it all (technological society/Big Business) at least in Kaczynski's mind, is troubling, after all, isn't he criminally insane? How can he be "right" or "correct" about anything, or more to the point, how can his "manifesto" find any resonance with those of us professing to be sane in an increasingly insane world?

Perhaps this work called to the Luddite or the closet conservative in me, but regardless of it's origins, I thought it worth the read.

Enter at your own risk... here there be dragons.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important Text, January 17, 2010

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Checkcard - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Unabomber Manifesto: Industrial Society and Its Future (Paperback)

For anyone interested in anarcho-primitivism, and ideologies like such. Good piece in a historical, sociological, psychological, and philosophical sense. Recommended for well read people.