{"product_id":"the-vanishing-earth-dispatches-from-the-frontiers-of-extraction","title":"The Vanishing Earth: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Extraction","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBiographical Note\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eJames Crawford \u003c\/b\u003eis an acclaimed historian, publisher and broadcaster. His book \n\u003ci\u003eFallen Glory \u003c\/i\u003ewas selected as a \n\u003ci\u003eSunday Times \u003c\/i\u003eMust Read, and a Book of the Year by the \n\u003ci\u003eNew Statesman \u003c\/i\u003eand the \n\u003ci\u003eIndependent. \u003c\/i\u003eHis latest, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Edge of the Plain: How Borders Make and Break Our World \u003c\/i\u003eearned rave reviews in \n\u003ci\u003eThe New York Review of Books \u003c\/i\u003eand \n\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, and was featured on CNN's Amanpour. He lives in Edinburgh.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Beautifully written, surprising and (dare I say it) important, \u003ci\u003eThe Vanishing Earth\u003c\/i\u003e explores the ragged edges and obscure interiors of capitalism's relentlessly expanding territory and asks how we can stop commodifying and consuming everything from sand to our own minds before it really is too late. This book is worth your time and attention.\" --\u003ci\u003eAdam Welz, author of THE END OF EDEN\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\" \n\u003ci\u003eThe Vanishing Earth \u003c\/i\u003eis an astounding achievement, and the best account I've yet read of the modern pathology of extraction. It's accessible and rigorous, ranging across continents and decades, and alternately chilling, terrifying, and infuriating, particularly in its lucid demonstration of the foreknowledge of the oil and gas giants and the historic and ongoing denialism of the economic and political mainstream. Crawford expertly guides us across an impressive range of material and actors, in prose that's both elegant and gripping. It's a vital, bracing synthesis, rousing and clear-sighted, and one that's ultimately not without hope, in its belief that the world can be repaired and remade.\" --Martin MacInnes, \n\u003ci\u003eauthor of IN ASCENSION\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"In \n\u003ci\u003eThe Vanishing Earth\u003c\/i\u003e, James Crawford travels beyond the physical frontiers of a planet consuming itself into the human psyche, where the harvesting of thought, attention, emotions, and neural data represents represents the latest, and most intimate, form of extraction. \n\u003ci\u003eThe Vanishing Earth\u003c\/i\u003e is urgent and immersive. Crawford asks not just what we are losing but why we can't stop.\" -- \n\u003ci\u003eGreg Grandin, author of AMERICAN, AMÈRICA\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Urgent, illuminating, and deeply unsettling, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Vanishing Earth\u003c\/i\u003e forces us to confront a stark question: if the logic of extraction is driving us toward planetary collapse, what kind of society must we build to escape it?\" --Kohei Saito, internationally bestselling author of SLOW DOWN \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"You will never look at sand, food, phones, or concrete the same way after reading this book. A touching exploration of the dark underbelly of our modern world and how we can move beyond it.\" -- \n\u003ci\u003eLuke Kemp, author of Goliath's Curse\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"In the spirit of poetic observer-writers like Robert Macfarlane and Barry Lopez, Crawford - who was born into a family of oil men (his engineer father worked on pipelines, and festooned the walls of the family home in the Scottish Highlands with photos of oil rigs and platforms) - visits five landscapes, including lithium mines in Chile and Florida's phosphate fields, to trace the history and limits of resource extraction and to learn about emerging, sometimes radical, alternatives.\" --Emily Donaldson, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Globe and Mail\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"[A] sweeping account of the toll the pursuit of endless economic growth has taken on the planet...a dizzying feat of reporting.\" -- \n\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Crawford belongs with other storyteller-explorers-strolling player-writers like Iain Sinclair, Rebecca Solnit, and Robert Macfarlane-who are stretching naturalist observation into incisive cultural inquiry.... Riveting.\" --\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eNEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e\"Crawford is at his best when surrendering to his propensity for reverie, an irrepressible, almost romantic sense of wonder that drives the reader from chapter to chapter.\" --\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eWASHINGTON POST\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eFrom the acclaimed author of \u003ci\u003eThe Edge of the Plain, a\u003c\/i\u003e journey to the ravaged frontiers of extractive industry and the promising, often radical alternatives emerging just as we reach the point of exhausting the earth's natural resources.\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOver the last half-century, humanity has taken more from the Earth than in all prior history combined. The planet is littered with the vast scars of extraction - yet, ironically, it is only by confronting the ruins of our 'old' world that we can find the path towards the 'new'. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \n\u003ci\u003eThe Vanishing Earth, \u003c\/i\u003e James Crawford, born into a landscape and family steeped in fossil fuels, takes readers to the literal and ideological frontiers of extraction. Beginning with the story of humanity's decoupling from nature, Crawford embarks on an epic journey to five resource landscapes rapidly trending towards exhaustion: landscapes of \n\u003ci\u003e rock, metal, sand, water \u003c\/i\u003eand \n\u003ci\u003e thought.\u003c\/i\u003e From the salt flats of Chile's Atacama Desert lithium mines to the 'sacrifice zone' of Florida's phosphorus-rich Bone Valley, and even chillingly advanced attempts to harvest personal data from the brain itself, Crawford explores some of the most extreme scenes of the Anthropocene. Along the way, he asks what lies behind our insatiable appetites and explores emerging alternatives that might just spare our vanishing natural resources, transform our economies, and save our relationship with nature itself. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e 06\/29\/2026 (EAN 9781639733224, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eContributor Bio:\u003c\/strong\u003eCrawford, James\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eJAMES CRAWFORD\u003c\/b\u003e works for Scotland's National Collection of architecture and archaeology. Born in the Shetlands in 1978, he studied History and Philosophy of Law at the University of Edinburgh, winning the Lord President Cooper Memorial Prize. He has written a number of photographic books, including \n\u003ci\u003eAbove Scotland: The National Collection of Aerial Photography\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003eVictorian Scotland\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003eScotland's Landscapes\u003c\/i\u003e, and \n\u003ci\u003eAerofilms: A History of Britain from Above\u003c\/i\u003e. In 2013, he wrote and acted as design consultant on \n\u003ci\u003eTelling Scotland's Story\u003c\/i\u003e, a graphic novel guide to Scottish Archaeology. He lives in Edinburgh.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496060518678,"sku":"9781639733224","price":38.4,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9781639733224.jpg?v=1783052228","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/the-vanishing-earth-dispatches-from-the-frontiers-of-extraction","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}