The Man-Eating Myth: Anthropology vs. Anthropophagy By W. Arens (1979)
William Arens’ 1979 book The Man-Eating Myth offers a fascinating perspective on how we interpret historical data and calls for a better appreciation of the context that has shaped its, often patchy, recording. The central theme of the book is cannibalism and how the grim subject has too often been used as a way of portraying a distorted view of oppressed people across the world from Native Americans, Jews in mediaeval Europe, Christians in the Roman Empire, or the colonised nations of Africa - all have seen extensive reporting of cannibalism while relying on evidence that is easily dismantled. What Arens details is how historical records are unreliable and often amount to a post hoc justification of the injustices perpetrated by colonisers and leaders. The historical record on cannibalism needs to be reassessed according to this sharp critique of anthropology that assumes these records to be factual, and are easily pipelined into popular media since cannibalism is such an easily-sensationalised, fascinating, universal taboo.
The idea of cannibalism incites an almost impulsive response of disgust and fear. This instinct is easily weaponized and has been historically abused during times when fact-checking was virtually impossible (Christopher Columbus was even able to lie to the royal family of Spain about the abundance of gold in the Americas). Arens’ argues, with the aid of many case studies, that we should not give any credence to the idea that cannibalism is as common throughout history as we may think and is often limited to the case of more well-documented instances of survival cannibalism.
There is still much debate about how common cannibalism was in certain cultures as well as the nature of cannibalism e.g. was it ritualistic or to provoke fear/punish crime etc…? That there is still much debate is only a testament to the success of Arens’ work and his contribution to how we understand cannibalism but it also has wider implications across anthropology, and any scientific discipline that utilises historical data such as the geosciences.
The Man-Eating Myth is a thought-provoking, controversial read with a valuable overarching message about how we engage with our history and strive to be as accurate as possible without falling into traps of sensationalism.
Propaganda By Edward Bernays (1928)
Ed Bernays was one of the most important people of the twentieth century, yet few know much about his legacy. Known as the father of public relations, Bernays (who was interestingly the nephew of Sigmund Freud) was the first person to recommend companies create PR teams to market their products and boost sales in the 1920s. After working as a war propagandist for the US press during World War I, Bernays was interested in transferring the techniques that are easily applied during wartime, preying on both rational and irrational fears, flag-waving patriotism, etc…, to peacetime.
He is largely responsible for the cultural transformation that saw the rise of overconsumption. He suggested that car companies, for example, promote their products as more than practical vehicles for transport but as status symbols. A product that could project an image of success onto its owner and something that could result in the continuous, irrational desire to buy a new car to maintain this image.
Bernays also recommends in this book that a company trying to sell a piano should go beyond a sales pitch of a product that is robust and high quality (the common themes in advertising at the time) but that companies should set out to popularise music rooms in homes - again to project wealth and success onto homeowners. This would invariably drive up the demand for pianos and subsequently drive up sales. It makes better business sense to have customers ask you to sell them a piano rather than you asking them to buy one.
This pioneering work of Bernays effectively rewired our brains, treating us as masses (or what Walter Lippman referred to as a "bewildered herd") rather than individuals. This and his other popular books such as Crystallizing Public Opinion, despite being written almost a hundred years ago, still explain so much about society and are essential reading for anyone who wants to understand why we became such avid consumers of things we don’t need. Utilising his uncle’s pioneering work on mass psychology, Bernays took these concepts a step further as a means of making money for companies in addition to becoming a political tool.
As a side note, I was introduced to the work of Bernays through the documentaries The Century of the Self by Adam Curtis and The War You Don't See by John Pilger. Both documentaries provide excellent summaries of Bernays' work and its effectiveness in shaping public opinion and are also worth checking out. Both media propaganda and militarism are major contributors to climate change - in the case of militarism, we are dealing with both a major cause and consequence of increasing average temperatures. These documentaries along with Bernays’ significant contributions are great to understand and appreciate the sheer impact of successful propaganda.
Regenesis By George Monbiot (2022)
I'm writing a full review on this book as it was my favourite to come out last year and is potentially George Monbiot’s greatest offering so far.
In short, his book covers the importance of reforming agriculture to be more sustainable both in terms of efficiency (getting more from less land as we restore and rewild habitats) and environmental impact e.g. by relying less on sprays, reducing emissions, and utilising perennial crops and innovative methods of farming rather than the current brute force approach that sees enormous amounts of waste, copious greenhouse emissions, degradation of the soil, and species losses that plunges our planet into a sixth great mass extinction.
Monbiot combines an enormous amount of research into the science of soils and the life it harbours with his time spent speaking to farmers, people who live in poverty and require the support of food banks, and those who are developing new crops or substitutes for meat in labs, culminating in an enthralling read that I will certainly return to. Such an enormous (and controversial) topic is difficult to do justice but Monbiot nails it with this book. I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of time that must have gone into preparing such an important book.
Inventing Reality By Michael Parenti (1986)
This contribution to the subject of media analysis is often compared to and overshadowed by Manufacturing Consent by Herman and Chomsky. However, Parenti offers a valuable, more accessible exploration of the biases baked into mainstream media and how they are managed. Parenti's book came out two years before Manufacturing Consent but discusses many of the same five filters of propaganda Herman and Chomsky develop in the first chapter of their book.
Parenti argues that conservative views overwhelmingly dominate the media and that the "objective journalist" is an illusion more than anything.
Whether it's through the hiring and firing process itself, the self-censorship to progress up the hierarchy, or the airtime favouring conservatism - with left-wing views usually actually being the centrist positions, the media is a product of an immensely conservative pro-business and the anti-labor elite who call the shots. When left-wing protests are covered, the media often reduces coverage to superficial descriptions of the protest itself rather than the reason they are protesting. Parenti documents many examples and highlights many reasons the right-wing positions always come out on top by design through subtle tactics that manipulate the public into supporting policies and politicians who are entirely opposed to their interests e.g. working conditions, pay/benefits, nuclear disarmament, environmental protections, and regulations, etc…
As mentioned before, Inventing Reality offers a far more accessible, smooth read than its more well-known counterpart. Herman and Chomsky spend much of their book going into enormous amounts of detail on selected examples of propaganda, while Inventing Reality reads more like a compilation of essays on topics that are closely related to some theme. Each book is an exceptional contribution, in its own right, to a valuable discussion about how the media warps the truth in service of those with money and power. I believe that education and media/scientific literacy lie at the heart of solving so many problems in the world and Parenti, Herman, and Chomsky all play their part in detailing the enormous efforts that have undermined meaningful action for so long. A healthy democracy needs a balanced media and Inventing Reality demonstrated in 1986 how skewed the scales were, and still are.
The books on my future reading list include therecent book by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway The Big Myth, the follow-up to my favourite book Merchants of Doubt; whistle-blower Chelsea Manning's memoir from last year; Under a White Sky by Elizabeth Kolbert; and a book documenting the contributions of the US military to climate change by Neta Crawford. I plan to continue writing about books I encounter while also planning some posts on the topics of overpopulation and when/how violence becomes necessary for climate activists - two important and controversial topics that deserve much more debate.
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