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DERRICK JENSEN

Why a whole section dedicated to this one author? Here's why: Derrick Jensen is as courageous, honest and talented a writer as you will ever read. His books are unparalleled in their combination of personal, poetic prose, meticulous research, and shocking, devastating truths that will break your heart into a hundred pieces and remake it the right way up. No other writer has ever tackled the insanity of this civilization so thoroughly and been able to keep their writing so frank and readable. We think he is, without question, one of the most important authors writing today. His books are also, unsurprisingly, next to impossible to find in Australasia, so we've taken it upon ourselves to change that. Many of the books we have in stock are signed by Derrick as they come to us directly from him - please let us know when placing your order if you'd especially like a signed copy, and we'll try and accomodate you.

Check out www.derrickjensen.org for more info, our reading library for several examples of Derrick's incredible writing, and our Anti-Civilization section for related reading.

A Language Older Than Words. By Derrick Jensen. $20
Paperback book. 400 pages. ISBN 1-931498-55-5.
A heartfelt memoir, a courageous exploration of what it means to be a humyn being in our present culture and, finally, a damning critique of civilization itself. Indescribably beautiful and honest. This book will change your life.

"If any book can help us break free of this culture of denial, this is it. Stunningly original, grippingly personal, this book will shock you to your core while at the same time quickening your deepest yearnings for reconnection with the Earth and all its creatures. Jensen has achieved the impossible: a book that is simultaneously horrifying and uplifting, terrifying and beautiful." - Frances Moore Lappe, author of Diet for a Small Planet.

As The World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do To Stay In Denial. By Derrick Jensen. Illustrated by Stephanie McMillan. $22
Paperback book. 220 pages. ISBN 978-1-58322-777-0.
"Two of America's most talented activists team up to deliver a bold and hilarious satire of modern environmental policy in this fully illustrated graphic novel. The U.S. government gives robot machines from space permission to eat the earth in exchange for bricks of gold. A one-eyed bunny rescues his friends from a corporate animal-testing laboratory. And two little girls figure out the secret to saving the world from both of its enemies (and it isn't by using energy-efficient light bulbs or biodiesel fuel). As the World Burns will inspire you to do whatever it takes to stop ecocide before it's too late."

The Culture of Make Believe. By Derrick Jensen. $25
Paperback book. 708 pages. ISBN 1-931498-57-1.
The follow-up to A Language Older Than Words, this book had a lot to live up to - and it meets the task beautifully. The journey begins with Derrick wrestling with hate crimes, and how they relate to the culture at large. We then travel with him through contempt, power, property, philanthropy, murder, production, war, resistance and countless further aspects of our world before we emerge, breathless, on the other side, clutching tightly to our chest what we have discovered about ourselves and our culture. As Derrick writes in the preface:

"How... have we come to conquer the world? Why have we wanted to do this in the first place? And can we stop wanting it?
...There was [a] person killed in Alta Naya, Columbia, whose death deeply informed this book. I've written it partly in homage to him, even though I do not know his name. But I know that when a member of the death squad came to shoot him, he wrested the gun from the man's hands. Unfortunately for him, he did not know how to use it. Presumably, he had never before fired a gun. He was overpowered, tied to a tree, and killed with a chainsaw.
This book is a weapon. It is a gun to be put into the hands of all of us who wish to oppose these atrocities, and a manual on how to use it. It is a knife to cut the ropes that bind us to our ways of perceiving and being in the world. It is a match to light a fuse. "

"Read this book. Get it for everyone you care about. Jensen's words are often difficult, but no one ever said facing the past and present of our culture would be a goddamn moonlit stroll down Memory Lane." - Inga Muscio, author of Cunt

Endgame: Volume 1: The Problem of Civilization. By Derrick Jensen. $25
Paperback book. 493 pages. ISBN 1-58322-730-X.
Derrick's monumental new two-volume work, a grand total of 929 pages, is a complete annihilation of civilization's founding tenets, and an unstoppably powerful and inspiring study of how we might resolve "the problem of civilization". In this first volume, Derrick pulls down every lie ever errected in the name of civilization, outlining the ugly truths of our culture and leading us towards the inevitable realization that civilization is killing the planet and must - will - be stopped.

Visit Endgame's website

Endgame: Volume 2: Resistance. By Derrick Jensen. $25
Paperback book. 413 pages. ISBN 1-58322-724-5.
In the second and final volume of Endgame, Derrick rips apart every excuse ever made not to act in defense of the earth and the life it sustains, and gives us some of the strength - and ideas - we'll need to do what must be done: bring it all down, and find our true place within, rather than upon, the web of life once more. No writing could be more important, or more honestly and beautifully expressed.

Visit Endgame's website

Listening to the Land: Conversations about Nature, Culture and Eros. By Derrick Jensen. $13
Paperback book. 327 pages. ISBN 1-893956-25-3.
This was the book Derrick wrote before A Language Older Than Words, and if you fell in love with that book the way I did, you'll find Listening to the Land provides a fascinating insight into the progression of Derrick's ideas, and generally into the ideas of some of the most influential thinkers, writers and activists of modern times, being as it is a book of interviews. If you haven't heard of the people interviewed in this book, you're really missing out: Ward Churchill, Susan Griffin, Paul Shepard, Jerry Mander, Dave Foreman, Jeanette Armstrong, Linda Hogan, Robert Jay Lifton, Starhawk... the list goes on and on - it's about 30 interviews in all. My understanding is that Derrick recorded several hours of conversation with each person, and then went away and artfully distilled the essence of what each of them said into a few pages each. It's fascinating reading. I read it cover-to-cover at first, and in the years since then many is the time I've read something astonishing by someone and remembered joyfully that they appeared in this book, and gone scurrying back to it to read the powerful insights Derrick elicited from them, which sometimes even surpass their own writing for power and clarity. A great book (and at a bargain price!).

Now This War Has Two Sides. 2 CD Spoken Word by Derrick Jensen. $15
"Examining the premises of his latest controversial work, Endgame as well as core elements of his ground breaking book Culture of Make Believe, this two hour lecture and discussion offers both a perfect introduction for newcomers and additional insight for those already familiar with Jensen's work. Whether exposing the ravages of industrial civilization, relaying humorous anecdotes from his life, or bravely presenting a few of the endless forms that resistance can (and must) take, Jensen leaves his audience both engaged and enraged."

The Other Side of Darkness. 3 CD Spoken Word by Derrick Jensen. $17
Professionally recorded audio from some of Derrick's remarkable speaking dates, assembled in beautiful packaging and released by Derrick himself. The first and second CD's are collected recordings from Derrick's A Language Older Than Words and The Culture of Make Believe tours, respectively, where Derrick discusses the ideas and experiences that lead to the books, and reads a few of his favorite passages. He also discusses some ideas and material that went on to be explored in Endgame. The third CD is a 'best of Q&A', where Derrick takes questions and ideas thrown out by the audience and runs with them. All of these recordings are passionate, honest, moving, shocking, funny, and so incredibly important. More than 3 hours of seriously thought-provoking listening.

Strangely Like War: The Global Assault on Forests. By Derrick Jensen & George Draffan. $15
Paperback book. 187 pages. ISBN 1-931498-45-8.
Civilizations have always been founded on a disconnection from the earth, and this separation is also what is basic to their eventual collapse. This can be illustrated in no clearer terms than in the legacy of deforestation, from ancient Mesopotamia to the Pacific Northwest. With most of the aboriginal forests now gone, the life-support system for not only civilized humans, but also for all of life is in jeopardy. With Strangely Like War, Jensen and Draffan, with a foreword from renowned ecologist Vandana Shiva, have produced a document that is essential reading for anybody even faintly interested in the fast-approaching ecological collapse of this planet, even more so for anybody interested in stopping this collapse.

"Ever since Gilgamesh cut down the ancient cedar forests of Mesopotamia, civilizations have foundered and collapsed in the wake of widespread deforestation. Today, with three quarters of the world's original forests gone and the pace of cutting, clearing, processing, and pulping ever accelerating, Jensen and Draffan lay bare the stark scenario we face - we being not only people, but the non-human fabric of life itself - unless deforestation is slowed and stopped. A must read for anyone who wants to understand the relationship between deforestation and our ecological crisis, as well as an essential 'handbook' for activists everywhere."

Thought to Exist in the Wild: Awakening from the Nightmare of Zoos. By Derrick Jensen (words) and Karen Tweedy-Holmes (photographs). $25
Paperback book. 143 pages. ISBN 978-0-9728387-1-9.
Combining powerful photographs with Derrick's trademark unflinching and passionate prose, Thought to Exist in the Wild is not just as compelling a demolition job on zoos as anybody could ever need to read - it's also a deep and potent exploration of the roots, realities and consequences of the civilized mindset that demands we human animals capture, imprison and dsiplay other animals no matter what the cost to them, or, for that matter, to ourselves.

Walking On Water: Reading, Writing, and Revolution. By Derrick Jensen. $20
Hardback book. 226 pages. ISBN 1-931498-78-4.
In this book Derrick mounts a stinging and comprehensive critique of our culture's model of "industrial" education - where we learn to obey, shut up, and wish our lives away - as he simultaneously paints us a picture of what learning might otherwise be: learning to live, to love, to be free.

"The clarity and force of these ideas cut like a scapel in the hands of a surgeon, preserving the vital, removing the diseased. Mr. Jensen burns sharp holes in the dark places of those rituals we have been tricked into believing are education. We owe him a debt of gratitude for these transformational insights. Read this book!" - John Taylor Gatto, author of Dumbing Us Down

All prices are postage paid in Australia.

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