I love to read books! They allow me go deeper into a topic than I can through articles or podcasts. At times, books go deep but don’t address questions that are raised in my mind while I am reading. That is when I wish for an interaction that the book can’t provide.
I received a free copy of the book, Plundered: The Tangled Roots of Racial and Environmental Injustice, by David W. Swanson as part of The Holy Post Plus Book Club. I think the book will be discussed in a future edition of The Holy Post podcast and so maybe some of my questions will be answered. Unfortunately, the most challenging questions are skipped in typical author interviews.
I was challenged by this book to change my understanding of our role from being stewards of creation to actually being priestly caretakers of creation. A steward uses creation to get the most value out of it. A caretaker tenderly loves and cares for creation and its creatures. Reading this book gave me a new attitude in how I interact each day with creation and its creatures. The hope is that I grow in that elevated role.
Another challenging part of this book was learning horrible examples of systemic historical and present-day racial and environmental injustice.
The struggle I had with this book revolved around two key core themes.
- Industrialization and modernization is bad.
- Remaining in one place instead of migrating is best.
I have so many counterfactuals in my mind to these core themes that I wished for a discussion instead of a book.
One issue on the first theme is that the whole book publication process is part of industrialization. The book did not grow in a garden. It seems hypocritical to denounce industrialization while using it to denounce it.
One issue on the second theme is that some of the purest forms of injustice come from communities that have never had personal experience with someone outside their place or situation.
I kept reading this book even though I questioned some of its core ideas because it challenged me to think more deeply.
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