Reviews for Endgames

The average rating for Endgames based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-05-24 00:00:00 Scott Erickson I've read some of Gray's more recent work, but keep getting drawn back to other books by him and his points of view. This one is a collection of his writings from the 1990s, some of it journalistic, some of it more academic. It's slightly dated in that it reflects on Thatcherism and the decline of the Conservatives in the 1990s in many places (Tony Blair is imminent, but barely mentioned). Some readers may find Gray's views too pessimistic, misanthropic and unhelpful - he can be very critical of both the political Left and Right, and even of humans in general as we lay waste to the planet in denial of our hubris and failures at achieving progress. But I personally find these views thoughtful and well-reasoned. He pokes holes in many of the major ideologies still hanging on to modern life and politics in a world that has moved on in various ways into something more characteristic of the labels 'late modernity' or even 'postmodernity', depending on how you want to define them. I think where most people will get frustrated with books like this and others by Gray, is in his inability to take a more positive view, or at least to sketch out solutions more clearly (something he occasionally claims is 'not his purpose here' anyway). I would like to see a book from Gray that expands on some of his solutions more fully - he recommends that we temper global market forces with new forms of social and cultural institution that support pluralistic ways of living and meet enduring forms of human need; and also that we instil more radical pro-Environmental policies that more strongly acknowledge the limits of the planet and the arrogance of the human race. How realistic these are now is another matter, but I harbour modest hopes here and there amidst the general pessimism.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-12-08 00:00:00 James Martin Nice to see the early Gray and how he formulated his ideas back when everyone was riding high thinking global capitalism and liberalism were on the march to the future, calling him a bugbear, and not realizing how they were only slightly less delusional than the USSR bureaucrats they derided.