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"Being Ecological" by Timothy Morton is not what you are expecting. In fact, there is very little about the environment, climate change, global warming, and the like. No data. No facts. Instead, the book is a playful excursion into Morton's unique philosophical worldview that might just give us a new way to relate to our environments. Many of his ideas are highly counter-intuitive and I don't think you'll leave the book unchanged. In fact, he says once you learn his ideas, you can't unlearn them and you will see the world in a completely different way. You get the a basic introduction into Morton's big ideas and orientations. It is a quick read but it is one that you want to take your time through because you want to follow along with his discourses. His philosophy - the foundation is a developing school of thought called "object oriented ontology" - draws heavily from phenomenology (Kant, Heidegger) and aesthetics (theories of art). It calls upon us to embrace ambiguity and complexity and to break down the artificial distinction between subject and object. The world he presents is inherently messy, complicated, and strange. He questions most of the orthodoxies surrounding environmentalism and ecological thinking by arguing that they all remain rooted in certain assumptions developed during the agricultural revolution. Unlike many environmental writers, he is not gloomy nor is he overly saccharine. What I liked about the book was his sense of creativity and playfulness. Definitely recommended.

"The Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy" by Terryl Givens is a classic text in Latter-day Saints studies specifically and American religion generally. It is immensely fascinating for anyone interested in religion in American life, about the way religions interact, and the influence of literature on a society. Meticulously research and argued, the book is divided into two parts. Part 1 looks at the ferocity of anti-Mormon activism in the 19th century. According to Givens, Mormonism was especially targeted by American society for critique and violence. The community was forced to move nearly half a dozen times, had extermination orders issued against them, had their land and property seized, and even had their prophet killed by a mob. Givens argues that we need to take the possibility of theological disagreement between Mormonism and the wider Protestant society seriously. The fierceness of the conflict in the 19th century occurred because Mormonism enacted the story of Early Christianity and, in doing so raised questions about the veracity of the mainstream Christian story. It also made real theological claims that set it apart from the rest of the Christian world. In short, they were "heretics." I find this argument compelling because I think it corrects a trend in much scholarship to downplay theological conflicts between religions and pointing to more "legitimate" sources of conflict. For followers of a religion, the religious claims are real and they are important and to downplay them shows a bias from a more secular academy.

Part Two explores the breadth of anti-Mormon literature in the 19th and 20th century to show how this heresy was articulated. Givens places the proliferation of anti-Mormon literature into the context of a broader literary flourishing. He argues that the Latter-day Saints essentially filled certain stock roles in popular literature. This process allowed American society to "other" a group that by all outward appearances appeared normal. What is most interesting is how this literature had an impact on political and religious rhetoric, with members of the US Congress picking up salacious claims from novels to justify attacks against the Latter-day Saints. I enjoyed this study immensely. I think is is essential read for any scholars of American religion and anyone interested in religion and literature generally.

"All Our Relations: Finding the Path Forward" by Tanya Talaga is a deeply moving work. Based on the 2018 CBC Massey Lectures, Talaga (an indigenous journalist for the Toronto Star) looks at the brokenness of indigenous communities around the world. She argues that these communities lack the basic determinants of health and have gone through a violent process of dislocation and genocide of various degrees. I will admit that, as a white American, I did not have a deep grasp of indigenous issues before reading this book. But many of the themes discussed here (i.e., loss of community and culture, the effect of trauma, preservation of cultural memory, the importance of stories to identity) are ones that I have been thinking about for many years.

The first strength of these lectures is that they effectively connect the experience of Indigenous peoples in Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and Scandinavia. This is insightful because it shows that the abominable treatment of indigenous peoples is not necessarily unique to one place but may be an inherent feature of modern, Western-style civilization and economy. The second strength is that the lectures lay out in stark, uncompromising terms the immense trauma of these communities. Though centered on Canada primarily, one cannot read this book or hear the lectures and turn a blind eye or close your ears. I still find myself struggling to process the level of dehumanization and violence in all forms.

While the book is excellent at describing the situation of Indigenous peoples, I think I would have like Talaga to describe a bit more about potential solutions. It could be the constraints of the Massey Lectures that limits this exploration. And perhaps the purpose is not necessarily to describe potential paths forward but to describe the problem and provide the overall route that needs to be taken. I recommend this highly as a gateway into thinking more about indigenous issues and the violence at the root of many societies towards their indigenous peoples. It definitely opened my eyes and has encouraged me to learn more about the topic.

@piusbird Thanks for the review. I read this book too though I did not write a review (I might soon). I felt like Ahmari gets the diagnosis but does not get the cause. Many of his critiques of economy and society are spot on. But, as you point out, he leans on many well-worn hobby horses of the Catholic right. My biggest critique is that he posits that there is is this monolithic, insidious, singular "liberalism" at the heart of all our disfunction. Frankly, I think that classical liberalism is so damn divided that the thought of them being in some vast, unified, vaguely anti-Catholic conspiracy is laughable. Still, I have always had a fascination with Catholic Social Teachings and have learned a lot about a nuanced view of ethics from it. For example, you can't be pro-life (against abortion) without also being against the death penalty and for poverty relief.