These days, everyone feels insecure. We are financially stressed and emotionally overwhelmed. The status quo isn't working for anyone, even those who appear to have it all. What is going on? In this urgent cultural diagnosis, author and activist Astra Taylor exposes how seemingly disparate crises-rising inequality and declining mental health, the ecological emergency, and the threat of authoritarianism-originate from a social order built on insecurity. From home ownership and education to the wellness industry and policing, many of the institutions and systems that promise to make us more secure actually undermine us. Mixing social critique, memoir, history, political analysis, and philosophy, this genre-bending book rethinks both insecurity and security from the ground up. By facing our existential insecurity and embracing our vulnerability, Taylor argues, we can begin to develop more caring, inclusive, and sustainable forms of security to help us better weather the challenges ahead. The Age of Insecurity will transform how you understand yourself and society-while illuminating a path toward meaningful change. Reviews: In this brilliant and utterly original book, Astra Taylor tugs at two threads that run all through our social fabric and finds in the reality of insecurity and the idea of security an entirely new way to envision our problems and possibilities. It's a stunning work of social theory, but to call it that doesn't convey how much it touches on the troubles of this very moment, as well as their origins-while always reminding us that things can be different.
— Rebecca Solnit, author of Men Explain Things to Me About the Author: Astra Taylor is a filmmaker, writer, and political organizer, born in Winnipeg, MB, and raised in Athens, GA; she currently lives in New York. Her latest book is Remake the World: Essays, Reflections, Rebellions, and her other books include the American Book Award winner The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age. She regularly writes for major publications, has directed multiple documentaries, toured with the band Neutral Milk Hotel, and co-founded the Debt Collective. |
