The Fanaticism of the Apocalypse

"As stylistically gratifying as he is intellectually lucid, Bruckner presents a clear alternative to the accepted thought on one of this era's hottest topics." Publishers Weekly "A sizzling new polemic against apocalyptic environmentalism." San Francisco Chronicle "The best tonic for stale science communications I've read in a while." Cool Green Science "Pascal Bruckner is a brilliant writer astute, learned, broad-ranging, mordant, sometimes mischievous, and sometimes prophetic. He is one of the handful of writers around the world who define the intellectual history of our time." Paul Berman, author of The Flight of the Intellectuals "With his usual verve and eloquence, in The Fanaticism of the Apocalypse Pascal Bruckner offers a bracing and provocative critique of an ever-more-pervasive and fanatical Green politics and ideology. For Bruckner, the ecological catastrophism the latter promotes constitutes less a salutary call to action than a return to the politics of guilt encouraged by exhausted ideologies, religions, and religious institutions, the Catholic Church in particular. This book will please some and consternate others, but its intelligence and originality make it an important book for our times." Richard Golsan, Texas A&M University "For anyone who has had enough of being harangued for single-handedly destroying the planet for future generations, Pascal Bruckner's new book will come as a welcome breath of fresh and unpolluted air." Normandie

Pascal Bruckner is the author of many books including The Tyranny of Guilt, Perpetual Euphoria and The Paradox of Love. He writes regularly for Le Nouvel Observateur.

Introduction: The Return of Original Sin 1 Part I The Seductive Attraction of Disaster 5 1 Give Me Back My Enemy 7 2 Have the Courage to be Afraid 24 3 Blackmailing Future Generations 49 Part II Progressives Against Progress 69 4 The Last Avatar of Prometheus? 71 5 Nature, a Cruel Stepmother or a Victim? 91 6 Science in the Age of Suspicion 105 Part III The Great Ascetic Regression 133 7 Humanity on a Strict Diet 135 8 The Poverty of Maceration 149 9 The Noble Savage in the Lucerne 162 Epilogue: The Remedy is Found in the Disease 184 Notes 187