The Shock of the Anthropocene: The Earth, History and Us

By Christophe Bonneuil, Jean-Baptiste Fressoz and David Fernbach

Dissecting the new theoretical buzzword of the “Anthropocene”

The Earth has entered a new epoch: the Anthropocene. What we are facing is not only an environmental crisis, but a geological revolution of human origin. In two centuries, our planet has tipped into a state unknown for millions of years.

How did we get to this point? Refuting the convenient view of a “human species” that upset the Earth system, unaware of what it was doing, this book proposes the first critical history of the Anthropocene, shaking up many accepted ideas: about our supposedly recent “environmental awareness,” about previous challenges to industrialism, about the manufacture of ignorance and consumerism, about so-called energy transitions, as well as about the role of the military in environmental destruction. In a dialogue between science and history, The Shock of the Anthropocene dissects a new theoretical buzzword and explores paths for living and acting politically in this rapidly developing geological epoch.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Feb 9, 2016
• ISBN: 9781784780814

Christophe Bonneuil

Christophe Bonneuil is a historian at the CNRS and edits the 'Anthropoc�ne' series for �ditions du Seuil. His publications include Une autre histoire des 'Trentes glorieuses'; Modernisation, contestations et pollutions dans la France d'apr�s-guerre, and Sciences, techniques et soci�t�.

Reviews for The Shock of the Anthropocene

[welsh_eileen2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'm not sure I understand the reasoning in this book.
I hadn't heard the word before!
I will reread and try again.
I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher Verso Books (U S ) via in return for an honest unbiased review.