Investigations, Insights, Indictments

Cultural Criticism, Philosophy
"The loss of wider purpose in our cosmology is no technical deficit. Though we loathe nostalgia of all kinds, and history does not run backwards, nevertheless we feel a deeper absence, even to the point of the encounter with the 'abyss of meaning.' Gazing into it, however, we find after all that it cuts both ways; there is an absence of ultimate order and meaning, no primer at the outset, no summa upon completion, but there is, almost instead and in its stead, a plethora of meanings, from which each of us can gather the glinting sheaves of meaningfulness. And if it was doubt that first fulminated against goal, against the telos of thought and of life besides, we have retrieved the question as our unique manner of understanding this condition, both meaningful for us and meaningless for the universe." (From the book's introduction.)
"In his fifth book of collected critical essays, social philosopher G.V. Loewen, the writer with the most breadth and volume of any in his generation, asks a series of related questions. Why are we seeing an uptick in internecine social violence? What are the factors involved in decoying us from our authentic selves? How are these politically manipulated? And why are many of us so taken with the idea that selfhood is something to be shunned rather than lived? Yet these most serious contemporary topics are handled with wit, verve, and a directness of prose that will engage even the most passive of readers. With titles such as 'The Lap Dancing Drag Queen of Oz,' 'The Trouble with Tribal,' 'Bring me the "head" of Sergio Garcia,' and 'The Ballot and Bullet Ballet,' the themes of Investigations, Insights, Indictments will strike you as both immediate and enduring." - Avinash Pillay, COO of Vigilance Digital Media