Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress

The New York Times bestselling coauthor of Sex at Dawn explores the ways in which &;progress&; has perverted the way we live&;how we eat, learn, feel, mate, parent, communicate, work, and die&;in this &;engaging, extensively documented, well-organized, and thought-provoking&; (Booklist) book.Most of us have instinctive evidence the world is ending&;balmy December days, face-to-face conversation replaced with heads-to-screens zomboidism, a world at constant war, a political system in disarray. We hear some myths and lies so frequently that they feel like truths: Civilization is humankind&;s greatest accomplishment. Progress is undeniable. Count your blessings. You&;re lucky to be alive here and now. Well, maybe we are and maybe we aren&;t. Civilized to Death counters the idea that progress is inherently good, arguing that the &;progress&; defining our age is analogous to an advancing disease. Prehistoric life, of course, was not without serious dangers and disadvantages. Many babies died in infancy. A broken bone, infected wound, snakebite, or difficult pregnancy could be life-threatening. But ultimately, Christopher Ryan questions, were these pre-civilized dangers more murderous than modern scourges, such as car accidents, cancers, cardiovascular disease, and a technologically prolonged dying process? Civilized to Death &;will make you see our so-called progress in a whole new light&; (Book Riot) and adds to the timely conversation that &;the way we have been living is no longer sustainable, at least as long as we want to the earth to outlive us&; (Psychology Today). Ryan makes the claim that we should start looking backwards to find our way into a better future.