Although highly popular "The Lord of the Rings" has also been widely labelled as reactionary and escapist by hostile critics. This text shows just how mistaken they are. He reveals Tolkien's profound and subtle advocacy of community, ecology and spiritual values against the destructive forces of runaway modernity. Tolkien's remedy, and the project implicit in his literary mythology, is a re-enchantment of the world. In helping us to realize that living nature, including humanity, is sacred, his writings draw on ancient magical mythology, but at the same time resonate closely with the ideas of contemprary radical ecology. Quoting extensively from Tolkien's works, the author argues that Tolkien addresses hard global realities and widely justified fears.

Defending Middle-Earth: Tolkien, Myth and Modernity

Literature & Fiction

Curry, Patrick

British & Irish

PALGRAVE~MACMILLAN

What are millions of readers all over the world getting out of reading The Lord of the Rings? Newly reissued with a new afterword, Patrick Curry's Defending Middle-earth argues, in part, that Tolkien has found a way to provide something close to spirit in a secular age. His focus is on three main aspects of Tolkien's fiction: the social and political structure of Middle-earth and how the varying cultures within it find common cause in the face of a shared threat; the nature and ecology of Middle-earth and how what we think of as the natural world joins the battle against mindless, mechanized destruction; and the spirituality and ethics of Middle-earth, for which Curry provides a particularly insightful and resonant examination that will deepen the understanding of the millions of fans who have taken The Lord of the Rings to heart.

Defending Middle-Earth: Tolkien: Myth and Modernity

Reference

Mariner Books

Patrick Curry rediscovers the history of astrology in early modern England: he seeks to overturn the accepted view that astrology was a marginal pursuit that died out after the mid-seventeenth century. Curry demonstrates that in reality astrology was a vital part of English cultural life, surviving in various forms and despite powerful opposition throughout the eighteenth century. Drawing on a wide range of unpublished primary sources, he examines the heyday of astrology, its practitioners, clients, and critics--and the power struggles that characterized its development in the midseventeenth century. He analyzes the subsequent decline of astrology in early modern England, showing how most astrological practice was marginalized, or, among the elite, absorbed into the development of Newtonian natural philosophy. This accessible work provides a picture of the values of a complex and important age. Informed by an awareness of contemporary debates in history and social theory, it will appeal to social historians and to students and researchers in the history and philosophy of science and the history of ideas, as well as the general reader interested in astrology.

Prophecy and Power: Astrology in Early Modern England

History

Europe

Princeton University Press

This book is a rediscovery of the history of astrology in early modern England. It seeks to overturn the accepted view that astrology was a marginal pursuit which died out after the mid-17th century. In reality astrology was a vital part of English cultural life, surviving in various forms and despite powerful opposition well into the 19th century. Drawing on a wide range of unpublished primary sources, the author examines the heyday of astrology, its practitioners, clients and critics and the power struggles which characterized its development in the mid-17th century. He analyzes the decline of astrology in early modern England, and the attempts to marginalize astrological practice, while among the elite astrology was absorbed into the development of Newtonian natural philosophy. This accessible work provides a picture of a complex and important age, whose values and attitudes have helped to shape modern society. Informed by an awareness of contemporary debates in history and social theory, this book will appeal to social historians and to students and researchers in the history and philosophy of science and the history of ideas, as well as the general reader interested in astrology.

Religion & Spirituality

Occult & Paranormal

Polity Pr

Ecological Ethics: An Introduction

This book is a major new introduction to the field of ecological ethics. Taking issue with the common assumption that existing human ethics can be 'extended' to meet the demands of the ongoing ecological crisis, Patrick Curry shows that a new and truly ecological ethic is both possible and urgently needed. With this distinctive proposition in mind, Curry introduces and discusses all the major concepts needed to understand the full range of ecological ethics.   Focussing first on the major concepts of ethics - religious and secular - and value, Curry then examines the gradations of ecological ethics. He discusses light green, shallow or anthropomorphic ethics with the examples of stewardship, lifeboat ethics, and social ecology; mid-green or intermediate ethics represented by animal liberation/rights and biocentrism; and dark green, deep, or ecocentric ethics. Particular attention is given to the various kinds of ecocentric ethics, such as the Land Ethic, The Gaia Hypothesis, and Deep Ecology and its offshoots: Deep Green Theory, Left Biocentrism and the Earth Manifesto. Ecofeminism is also considered in this context. The concluding chapters discuss green ethics as post-secular, moral pluralism and pragmatism, green citizenship, and human population in the light of ecological ethics.  This comprehensive and wide-ranging textbook offers a radical but critical introduction to the subject. It will be of great interest to students, activists, and to a wider public concerned with the ecocrisis, its main theories, debates, and possible solutions.

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Polity

This book is a major new introduction to the field of ecological ethics. Taking issue with the common assumption that existing human ethics can be 'extended' to meet the demands of the ongoing ecological crisis, Patrick Curry shows that a new and truly ecological ethic is both possible and urgently needed. With this distinctive proposition in mind, Curry introduces and discusses all the major concepts needed to understand the full range of ecological ethics. Focussing first on the major concepts of ethics - religious and secular - and value, Curry then examines the gradations of ecological ethics. He discusses light green, shallow or anthropomorphic ethics with the examples of stewardship, lifeboat ethics, and social ecology; mid-green or intermediate ethics represented by animal liberation/rights and biocentrism; and dark green, deep, or ecocentric ethics. Particular attention is given to the various kinds of ecocentric ethics, such as the Land Ethic, The Gaia Hypothesis, and Deep Ecology and its offshoots: Deep Green Theory, Left Biocentrism and the Earth Manifesto. Ecofeminism is also considered in this context. The concluding chapters discuss green ethics as post-secular, moral pluralism and pragmatism, green citizenship, and human population in the light of ecological ethics. This comprehensive and wide-ranging textbook offers a radical but critical introduction to the subject. It will be of great interest to students, activists, and to a wider public concerned with the ecocrisis, its main theories, debates, and possible solutions.

Ecological Ethics: An Introduction: Updated for 2018

In this thoroughly revised and updated second edition of the highly successful Ecological Ethics, Patrick Curry shows that a new and truly ecological ethic is both possible and urgently needed. With this distinctive proposition in mind, Curry introduces and discusses all the major concepts needed to understand the full range of ecological ethics. 
 He discusses light green or anthropocentric ethics with the examples of stewardship, lifeboat ethics, and social ecology; the mid-green or intermediate ethics of animal liberation/rights; and dark or deep green ecocentric ethics. Particular attention is given to the Land Ethic, the Gaia Hypothesis and Deep Ecology and its offshoots: Deep Green Theory, Left Biocentrism and the Earth Manifesto. Ecofeminism is also considered and attention is paid to the close relationship between ecocentrism and virtue ethics. Other chapters discuss green ethics as post-secular, moral pluralism and pragmatism, green citizenship, and human population in the light of ecological ethics. In this new edition, all these have been updated and joined by discussions of climate change, sustainable economies, education, and food from an ecocentric perspective. This comprehensive and wide-ranging textbook offers a radical but critical introduction to the subject which puts ecocentrism and the critique of anthropocentrism back at the top of the ethical, intellectual and political agenda. It will be of great interest to students and activists, and to a wider public.

J.R.R. Tolkien's works have sold nearly 100 million copies worldwide, and have been wildly labeled as reactionary & escapist by hostile critics. In this searing analysis, Patrick Curry shows just how mistaken these critics are. He reveals Tolkien's profound and subtle advocacy of community, ecology, and spiritual values against the destructive forces of runaway modernity. Hardcover with Jacket, 206pp with Index.

Defending Middle-earth: Tolkien - Myth and Modernity

Gryphon House

Art and Enchantment (Contemporary Liminality)

This book concerns the experience of enchantment in art. Considering the essential characteristics, dynamics and conditions of the experience of enchantment in relation to art, including liminality, it offers studies of different kinds of artistic experience and activity, including painting, music, fiction and poetry, before exploring the possibility of a life oriented to enchantment as the activity of art itself. With attention to the complex relationship between wonder in art and the programmatic disenchantment to which it is often subject, the author draws on the thought of a diverse range of philosophers, sociological theorists and artists, to offer an understanding of art through the idea of enchantment, and enchantment through art. An accessible study, richly illustrated with experience – both that of the author and others – Art and Enchantment will appeal to scholars and students of sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and anyone with interests in the nature of aesthetic experience.

Routledge

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Curry, Patrick. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Curry, Patrick

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Curry, Patrick. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Defending Middle-Earth: Tolkien, Myth and Modernity

Defending Middle-Earth: Tolkien: Myth and Modernity

Prophecy and Power: Astrology in Early Modern England

Prophecy and Power: Astrology in Early Modern England

Ecological Ethics: An Introduction

Ecological Ethics: An Introduction

Ecological Ethics: An Introduction

Ecological Ethics: An Introduction: Updated for 2018

Defending Middle-earth: Tolkien - Myth and Modernity

Art and Enchantment (Contemporary Liminality)