About the Book
The Dark Mountain Project began with a manifesto published in 2009 by two English writers--Dougald Hine and Paul Kingsnorth--who felt that literature was not responding honestly to the crises of our time.
In a world in which the climate is being altered by human activities; in which global ecosystems are being destroyed by the advance of industrial civilisation; and in which the dominant economic and cultural assumptions of the West are visibly crumbling, Dark Mountain asked: where are the writers and the artists? Why are the mainstream cultural forms of our society still behaving as if this were the twentieth century--or even the nineteenth?
Dark Mountain's call for writers, thinkers and artists willing to face the depth of the mess we are in has made it a gathering point for a growing international network. Rooted in place, time and nature, their work finds a home in the pages of the Dark Mountain books, with two new volumes published every year.
Walking on Lava brings together the best of the first ten volumes, along with the original manifesto. This collection of essays, fiction, poetry, interviews and artwork introduces The Dark Mountain Project's groundbreaking work to a wider audience in search of 'the hope beyond hope, the paths which lead to the unknown world ahead of us.'
About the Author :
The Dark Mountain Project is run by a collective of writers who were drawn together by a shared sense that the stories our culture tells itself are broken. Walking on Lava has been edited by four members of that collective: Charlotte Du Cann, Dougald Hine, Nick Hunt and Paul Kingsnorth.
Review :
"A collection by turns magical, brave, earnest, and mournful but truthful throughout. The authors point the way down a faint but still visible trail beyond domination and back to our once and future place as humble animals in love with our world."--Lierre Keith, author of The Vegetarian Myth; coauthor of Deep Green Resistance
"Dark Mountain's call to uncivilisation is not about unravelling the survival structures of our society. It is something much deeper, putting new survival structures in place by calling back the soul. I hope that this anthology will thrill you on that journey."--Alastair McIntosh, PhD, author of Spiritual Activism and Poacher's Pilgrimage
"Don't read this book if you're not willing to be shaken and unsettled. Unflinching and unafraid!"--Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature
"In a culture killing the planet, and in a culture based on denial, I am grateful that the authors in this volume acknowledge the horrors we face. I hope that people will read this book, and armed with its important analysis, they will then act decisively to protect the planet that is our only home."--Derrick Jensen, author of A Language Older Than Words, The Culture of Make Believe, Endgame, and many other books
"In a world of disintegrating certainties, the vacuum left behind is terrifying. Yet the Dark Mountain Project insists on exploring this space, which the mainstream bids us ignore. For that alone it is invaluable. And when we are brave enough to open our eyes, Walking on Lava reveals that we are not alone. What new stories might we tell, together?"--Shaun Chamberlin, author of The Transition Timeline; editor of Lean Logic and Surviving the Future
"It's wonderful that with this book an outsider can finally see all the things the Dark Mountain Project has been doing all these years. Probably won't avert civilization's collapse, but it's good to have."--Kirkpatrick Sale, author of Human Scale Revisited
"The Dark Mountain Project has at last arrived in the United States with this splendidly ecological book, one to which Rachel Carson, Ed Abbey, and Aldo Leopold would have been proud to contribute. Urgently recommended!"--Lawrence Millman, author of At the End of the World
"This book changed my life. It puts into words the sense of utter hopelessness I feel about the fate of the world as we have known it. And yet, miraculously, it gives me 'hope beyond hope' for what lies ahead. The Dark Mountaineers are blazing new trails into, and through, the hot lava of our uncertain future."--Eric Utne, founder of Utne Reader
"This medley of entrancing, soul-enhancing, exciting stories will stir your creaturely blood from the very depths of our sainted Earth. You will feel enlivened in ways you had forgotten; you will breathe in the wildness of the world; a holy wind will heal you. You will journey to your wider Self--to Great Gaia, Mother of All. This Dark Mountain book will do all this for you, and more. When you've read it, its words coursing through your veins, more animal now, more alive--go and do something wholesome for the more-than-youness that you've discovered, and, at last, come home."--Dr. Stephan Harding, resident ecologist, Schumacher College; author of Animate Earth
"We humans are in trouble, and because of us, most of our fellow species are also in trouble. All of the planet's life-support systems are under stress or collapsing because of our unchecked appetites and swelling population. To find our way through the ruins and beyond, we need more than clever technology and magical markets. We need an alternative to the industrial mindset, which views Earth as raw material for human consumption and as a dump for our waste. We need the kind of diverse, clear-eyed, ecologically wise imagining gathered in this book. A bow of gratitude to the denizens of Dark Mountain."--Scott Russell Sanders, author of Dancing in Dreamtime
