Beneath the Surface of Things: New and Selected Essays

A timely and eclectic collection from one of the foremost thinkers of our time, "a powerful, penetrating and immensely knowledgeable writer" (The Guardian). The essays in this collection came about during the unhurried months when one who had traveled incessantly was obliged to stay still, even as events flared on all sides in a world that never stops moving. Wade Davis brings his unique cultural perspective to such varied topics as the demonization of coca, the sacred plant of the Inca; the Great War and the birth of modernity; the British conquest of Everest; the endless conflict in the Middle East; reaching beyond climate fear and trepidation; on the meaning of the sacred. His essay, "The Unraveling of America," first published in Rolling Stone, attracted five million readers and generated 362 million social media impressions. Media interest in the story was sustained over many weeks, with interview requests coming in from twenty-three countries. The anthropological lens, as Davis demonstrates, reveals what lies beneath the surface of things, allowing us to see, and to seek, the wisdom of the middle way, a perspective of promise and hope that all of the essays in this collection aspire to convey.

About the Author :
Wade Davis is the author of twenty books, including One River, The Wayfinders, and Into the Silence, which won the 2012 Samuel Johnson prize, the top award for literary nonfiction in the English language. Explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society from 1999 to 2013, he is professor of anthropology at the University of British Columbia. In 2016, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2018 he became an honorary citizen of Colombia. Wade Davis is the author of twenty books, including One River, The Wayfinders, and Into the Silence, which won the 2012 Samuel Johnson prize, the top award for literary nonfiction in the English language. Explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society from 1999 to 2013, he is professor of anthropology at the University of British Columbia. In 2016, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2018 he became an honorary citizen of Colombia. Wade Davis is the author of twenty books, including One River, The Wayfinders, and Into the Silence, which won the 2012 Samuel Johnson prize, the top award for literary nonfiction in the English language. Explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society from 1999 to 2013, he is professor of anthropology at the University of British Columbia. In 2016, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2018 he became an honorary citizen of Colombia.