Ecology or Catastrophe

The Life of Murray Bookchin

Janet Biehl

The first-ever biography of Murray Bookchin, a pioneer environmental thinker of the twentieth century
Written by Janet Biehl, Bookchin's personal copyeditor and collaborator for nearly twenty years
Discusses Bookchin's role in a variety of environmental and social movements

Ecology or Catastrophe

The Life of Murray Bookchin

Janet Biehl

Description

Murray Bookchin (1921-2006) was one of the most significant and influential environmental philosophers of the twentieth century. The founder of the social ecology movement, Bookchin was presenting and publishing foundational ideas about issues like air and water pollution, nuclear radiation, and the dangers of fossil fuels. He was a genuinely original and prescient thinker who was grappling with problems that we still face today-and proposing solutions for them-before most people realized those problems existed. In addition to his work in ecology, Bookchin was also a noted leftist, and he worked to create an authentic, indigenous American Left.
Ecology or Catastrophe: The Life of Murray Bookchin is the first-ever biography of Murray Bookchin, written by his personal collaborator and copyeditor, Janet Biehl. From 1987-2006, Biehl edited every word that Bookchin wrote, and worked with him on numerous articles and books. She tells the story of Bookchin's life from a perspective that no one else could, providing a comprehensive biography that examines this pioneer environmentalist's life on both personal and professional levels. She uses her access to Bookchin's papers as well as extensive archival research, and draws upon nearly two decades' worth of a personal relationship with Bookchin. The book discusses the variety of philosophies and movements that Bookchin helped lead, including social ecology, assembly democracy, and even, in certain instances, anarchism. Ecology or Catastrophe is the definitive biography of Murray Bookchin, written by the person who knew him best.

Ecology or Catastrophe

The Life of Murray Bookchin

Janet Biehl

Contents
1. Young Bolshevik
2. Trotskyist Labor Organizer
3. Rethinker
4. Eco-Decentralist
5. Eco-Anarchist
6. Counterculture Elder
7. Man of the Moment
8. Social Ecologist
9. Antinuclear Activist
10. Municipalist
11. Green Politico
12. Assembly Democrat
13. Historian
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index

Ecology or Catastrophe

The Life of Murray Bookchin

Janet Biehl

Author Information

Janet Biehl, Freelance Copyeditor

Janet Biehl was Murray Bookchin's copyeditor for the last two decades of Bookchin's professional life. Biehl collaborated with him on many written works, both books and articles. She is currently a freelance copyeditor for Viking Penguin, Alfred A. Knopf, Pantheon, Crown, Doubleday, and many other publishing houses.

Ecology or Catastrophe

The Life of Murray Bookchin

Janet Biehl

Reviews and Awards

"In Biehl's account, Bookchin's life is a story of the personal toll taken by fighting for these revolutionary ideas in a non-revolutionary era." - Wes Enzinna, London Review of Books

"Biehl has an insider's view of Bookchin as both his collaborator and his lover, and she uses that insight to paint a detailed and lively picture of this important figure." - Publishers Weekly

"Biehl's biography — for illuminating the emergence and contexts of these ideas—may very well be the best introduction we have to social ecology today. ... Janet Biehl has done a remarkable job bringing Bookchin "back to life" for new generations." - New Compass

"The prescient Bookchin emerges in Janet Biehl's politics-heavy biography as incisive, inventive and pragmatic — a refreshing contrast to today's environmental doom-mongers and techno-utopians alike." - Nature

"[A]n admirably thorough guide to both Bookchin's remarkable intellectual evolution and to the concrete issues and debates that informed it. It is also a well-written and highly accessible introduction to Bookchin and his ideas that promises to help keep his legacy alive for the next generation of political and environmental activists. ... [Biehl's] engaging and useful book has injected fresh life into Bookchin's vision for an ecological and libertarian left by demonstrating its relationship to vital questions and tactics and strategy that continue to be debated by present-day activists." - Environmental Politics

"Janet Biehl's biography of Bookchin is a very readable account of his long involvement in various struggles of the US left..." - Simon Butler, LINKS: International Journal of Socialist Renewal

"Janet Biehl was Bookchins partner, and her book is honest, showing Murrays flaws as well as his greatness. It is a very personal and sometimes sad book, but it is also political and philosophical, introducing the reader to important ideas." - Derek Wall, Green World

Ecology or Catastrophe

The Life of Murray Bookchin

Janet Biehl

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