Threshold: The Crisis of Western Culture Hardcover - 2009

by Thom Hartmann

An urgent lookat our world'slooming crises andwhat we must doto avert them

In Threshold, writer and Air America host Thom Hartmannlooks at the deteriorating state of our planet, where the dynamicsof environmental, economic, and population change are boilingover the limits within which society can function. In clear andimpassioned prose, Hartmann busts the myths and ideologies ofreligious fundamentalism, capitalism run amok, male domination,and militarism that are draining our world of its natural andhuman resources and engendering the suffering of millions for thebenefit of the few.

No mere jeremiad, Threshold examines cultures that havethrived, from the mother city of Caral, Peru, to modern Denmark,and targets five areas of policy-national, religious, economic, corporate,and environmental-for specific and immediate reform.Radical in its scope and boldness but simple in its commonsenselogic, Threshold illustrates the mistakes we have made-as aculture, as a country, and as individuals-and provides the inspirationand motivation readers are looking for to build a better, moresustainable world for all. Part prophecy, part call to arms, partpolicy prescription, Threshold is, for readers of Jared Diamond,Thomas Friedman, and Paul Hawken, the wake-up call our societyso badly needs.