Wild Hunger: The Primal Roots of Modern Addiction [Hardcover]

Bruce Wilshire (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 11, 1998

Why is it that even amidst affluence and power, our culture is plagued by a variety of addictions? In this pioneering work, Bruce Wilshire searches for answers by giving serious attention to our genetic legacy from our hunter-gatherer ancestors as well as to the unique ways we adapt to our environment through the practice of science and the creation of art and cities. The work considers remedies for specific addictions—including drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and gambling—suggesting that wilderness exploration, in the arts, myths, and ceremonies, can help us rediscover what it means to be human creatures. Bringing together the insights of philosophy, religion, cultural anthropology, behavioral biology, and the vast socio-medical literature on addiction, Wilshire ingeniously explores the limits of our adaptive capacity and the costs of depleting the natural regenerative functions of the body.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this thoughtful, earnest examination of the roots of the addictive behaviors plaguing contemporary societies, Wilshire (Role Playing and Identity) makes an impassioned plea for rediscovering our primal need for ecstatic involvement with the world and other human beings. His conviction that addiction stems from ecstasy deprivation and an inability to access the regenerative sources inherent in nature is compelling, and many readers will identify with the feelings of emptiness and loneliness he blames on our dualistic culture, which, he says, fosters fragmented identities and prevents a holistic approach to life. Where primitive cultures had long-established ways of interpreting and integrating their experiences (myth, ritual, symbols), today's workaholic, alcoholic, media-bombarded humans, Wilshire maintains, have degraded substitutes and no rites of passage to help them. And, by violating themselves with addictive substances and beliefs (including the belief in all-powerful science), they further erode their own powers of renewal. In addition to putting a spotlight on addicts' denial of their basic needs, Wilshire attempts to reveal our limited understanding of the rituals we do partake in (for example, the use of drugs in shamanistic practices and the communal aspect of smoking). Although his scholarly tone and repetitive text may be off-putting to some readers, Wilshire's salient subject matter will speak to a wide audience, as will his location of salvation in the form of creative work and meaningful relationships.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Wilshire (philosophy, Rutgers Univ.) argues that addictive behaviors from smoking to overeating to alcoholism result from modern humanity's loss of ecstatic connection with nature and that society can only overcome these difficulties by cultivating nature, religion, and art. This book is not a systematic argument for this position but rather a compendium of autobiographical meditations (some of which do not seem to have any relationship to the rest of the book), literary quotations, and general musings. It does not offer individual treatment suggestions. Recommended only for larger academic libraries serving programs in addiction counseling or environmentalism.AMary Ann Hughes, Neill P.L., Pullman, WA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 324 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (June 11, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847689670
• ISBN-13: 978-0847689675
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,492,883 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Forgotten Source of Ecstasy, January 22, 2000

By 

Nancy Wisser "proponent of golden, timeless m... (Nazareth, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wild Hunger: The Primal Roots of Modern Addiction (Hardcover)

This is one of those books you should read with a pen and notebook at your side. Ideas and connections burst into my mind as I read it. You, too, may find that questions hardly formed in your mind are suddenly being answered as you follow Wilshire's careful explorations. Addressing subjects as diverse as the city person's obsession with sex (as the only wild thing left in city life), and the psychological effects of rapid changes in technology, Wilshire seems almost to have taken the ideas for many books and listed them in one, leaving the reader to expand upon them in his own mind, in my case with great excitement. His quotations, too, from Van Gogh to Yeats to Cather to an African shaman are extraordinarily well chosen and thought-provoking. If I have a criticism, it is that he writes like a person telling you something complex very urgently: he goes rapidly from one idea to another without wrapping it in the repetition and graceful prose to which readers of less technical books are accustomed. Some readers, however, are likely to see that as a virtue rather than a fault. Caution: if you're like me, you'll want to carry this book around and quote it to friends and family, who may not be as receptive as you'd wish. However, if you're interested in issues such as the human-nature connection, ecstasy deprivation (love that term, but he does not claim to be its originator), or addictions of any kind, the kindling it causes in your synapses will be well worth the risk.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stirring cultural critique for the philosophically inclined., May 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Wild Hunger: The Primal Roots of Modern Addiction (Hardcover)

Think carefully: does a vague spiritual or emotional deficit sometimes gnaw at you? Are you hungry to get more out of life? If you are intrigued by the notion that modern life is not everything that it is cracked up to be and wonder about the philosophical derangement that underlies and reinforces our social and individual ills, then Bruce Wilshire's fascinating new study of modern addiction and its primal roots is the book for you.

Wilshire, a professor in Rutgers University's philosophy department, takes the phenomenon of addiction as his point of entry into the body-self of modern man. He intends to get us to see beyond addiction as simply a chemical dependency or physical sickness that can be objectively quantified and treated. Rather, he argues, addiction is a gross and inadequate attempt to fill the void formed when our irrepressible primal needs (such as security, ecstasy and coherence) go unfulfilled. Ideally, these needs would be satisfied by "consensual solidarity with other humans," and attunement with the regenerative cycles and rhythms of Nature that nourished our ancestors. "If primal needs have not been satisfied at an early age," he writes, "we have no clear idea of what they are and what could satisfy them." Bewildered, we flail for whatever is immediately at hand and becomes addicted.

There is enough substance in Wild Hunger to overwhelm even the most patient and earnest readers. This book is best digested slowly, with each sentence provoking a private tangential train of thought that leaves you hungry for more. And why shouldn't it? The power of Wild Hunger is that it incites and exposes the very same voracious hunger that it is designed to help us counterbalance and subdue. The first step towards achieving genuine gratification, as Wilshire writes often, is consciously recognizing that a cavity exists. Reading Wild Hunger may not satisfy your deepest hungers: after all, ecstasy is to be found in the wild world itself and not in the substitute gratifications of sex, drugs or exciting prose. But it will be a definite step in the right direction.

Review by Jeff Genauer, The Daily Targum.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Creative non-analytical thought, January 26, 2007

By 

L. Vaden - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wild Hunger: The Primal Roots of Modern Addiction (Paperback)

An earlier reviewer scoffed at Wilshire's lack of analytical reasoning within his "Wild Hunger"... Wilshire is more of a dialectical thinker. This means that he rejects cartisian thinking and the logic of analysis. In addition to this. he takes a wide range of ideas from many authors; Sartre, Heidegger, Hegel, Husserl, Aristotle, Pierce, and William James (to name but a small portion). His method of reasoning is to synthesize ideas for the purpose of creating meaning, rather than create vast structures of meaningless logical argumentation. In my opinion, his books are a good place for anyone to begin their own authentic quest for understanding human life as it is experienced, and not as some crazy elite intellectual pretends.