Strangely Like War: The Global Assault on Forests (Politics of the Living)

I am struck by the other reviews of this important book: The reviewers from the West coast (who are watching the forests fall) give it high marks, while the mid-west reviewers (where the forests fell long ago) are more concerned with the tone of the book. I invite those midwesterners to come visit their western woods while some still remain. Then reread this book and see if you can share some of that anger.

I am impressed with how concise, clear, and well researched this book is. I have bought it for all of my friends and I recommend it to forest activists everywhere. This book covers the worldwide forest crisis and how that impacts everyone from the most endangered species to the drinking water in your home. It also covers the entire history of deforestation from the rise of civilization in the Middle East through the present day. The authors' directness and honesty are refreshing. Most writers who pretend to be confronting these problems shy away from spelling out the connections between the corporations and those in government that not only allow but also encourage the destruction to continue. Thank you Jensen and Draffan for this beautifully written tool for forest education!

A concisely worded, hard-hitting, well-researched book, Strangely Like War reveals the obscured and absurd connection between rabid consumption, relentlessly extractive industrial forestry, and the consequent genocide of those who are pushed from the land to which they belong. Already well-versed in this subject, authors Draffan and Jensen have provided us with a sobering expose of global deforestation, the political corruption that aids and abets it, and a stirring portrait of various indigenous peoples who have suffered (and still suffer) genocide as a result. Arguing from a position outside strict environmentalism, Strangely Like War levels a broader critique of globalization: "this parasitic, monetized, commodity-driven, inequitable, monocultural socioeconomic system", sometimes referred to simply as Western Civilization (altho geography no longer has anything to do with it). Along side everything else Jensen has every written, this book is a soulfully critical masterpiece that should not be overlooked. A MUST READ

In our profit-driven consuming culture, where it is fair to say that most people have "Gone to Sleep", authors of the newly released, Strangely Like War, Derrick Jensen, and George Draffan, scrutinize a widely held concept and statement in the first paragraph guaranteed to wake you up, "Gone Extinct. Such a passive way to put it, as though we know no cause, can assign no responsibility." A brilliant opening, that arouses questions of responsibility we would be unwise, or mulish to ignore. There is a synergistic relation between planetary and personal well being; that the needs of the one are relevant to the other. And Jensen and Draffan, explicitly detail the relevance in a superb and courageous undertaking of the severe and consequently destructive myths of the transnational timber industry when this fundamental premise is ignored.As the authors state in their book, "The problem is not and has never been a lack of accounting methodologies or industrial know-how; the problems are denial, recalcitrance, and apathy. The solution isn't technical, but political. The solution isn't even political but social. The solution isn't even social but psychological. The solution isn't even psychological but perceptual. The solution isn't even perceptual but spiritual. The problem is our entire way of living and relating to the world."I highly recommend this startling and fact-driven book; it will impel you to action, and simultaneously rouse a fire in your heart to make a difference.

Like the reviewer before me I'm going to post Jensen and Draffan's challenge on page 6. "The truth lies on the ground. Go out and walk the clearcuts for yourself. Rub the dried soil between your fingertips. Walk the dying streams; listen to the silence in the skies (except for the whine of chainsaws and roar of distant logging trucks). Walk among ancient ones still standing, trees sometimes two thousand years old. Put your hands on their bark, on their skin. Taste the difference in the air. Smell it. Reflect on the beauty of what's still there, and on what has been lost--what has been taken from us."I've walked many clear cuts. I used to be a logger. I was the "good german" who followed orders put forth by my foreman, county forester, state forester, and the corporations (Louisiana Pacific, Georgia Pacific, Potlach, Johnson Timber...etc) telling me which trees to cut and how much. The management practices that I followed didn't make much sense to me than, and REALLY don't make sense to me now after reading Jensen's, Strangely Like War: The Global Assault On Forests.When I first started logging I was led to believe that I was actually "improving" the forests by cutting down trees that were going to die anyway. Or I was creating "habitat" for Whitetail Deer and Ruffed Tailed Grouse. Or I was helping out our economy and contributing to society. All "claims to virtue" that Jensen and Draffan debunk in Strangely Like War. Jensen also debunks the claims in his other works. The fact of the matter is that the forests aren't being managed with the diversity of wildlife as the management plans first priority. The forests are being managed for the optimum production of the desired species set forth by the transnational corporations who want them. The lawmakers, foresters, and contractors than follow suit. And what is really SAD is that the management practices don't make fiscal sense either! Jensen and Draffan have pointed this out better than any authors that I have read on this issue.Also, as a hunter I have walked clear cut forests and "dog haired" Aspen regeneration. If you have ever had the chance to walk in a "old growth" forest and a "dog haired" Aspen regeneration you will understand why the arguments and facts set forth by Jensen and Draffan make sense.Last winter I almost died in the hospital in Duluth, Minnesota. The sickness started out with flu like symptoms and I eventually passed out while urinating at my parent's house. I broke a rib and smashed the back of my parents toilet. I ended up in the emergency room. The doctors could not make a for sure diagnosis, they ended up treating me for Lymes Disease at my recommendation. For those of you who don't know what Lymes Disease is, it is a tick borne disease. Ticks live on warm blooded animals. In Wisconsin we have an over abundance of ticks because of the lack of predation of White footed mice and Whitetail Deer, the prime carriers of ticks. ONE of the reasons why there are to many Whitetail De