The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins (Paperback)

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Staff Reviews


Full of beautifully written examples and encounters across continents, this book shows us that even if the planet gets ruined by human interference, there are still many ways for life to regenerate itself and cohabit among the destruction; all starting with a mushroom.

— Kestin

Description


What a rare mushroom can teach us about sustaining life on a fragile planet

Matsutake is the most valuable mushroom in the world--and a weed that grows in human-disturbed forests across the northern hemisphere. Through its ability to nurture trees, matsutake helps forests to grow in daunting places. It is also an edible delicacy in Japan, where it sometimes commands astronomical prices. In all its contradictions, matsutake offers insights into areas far beyond just mushrooms and addresses a crucial question: what manages to live in the ruins we have made?

A tale of diversity within our damaged landscapes, The Mushroom at the End of the World follows one of the strangest commodity chains of our times to explore the unexpected corners of capitalism. Here, we witness the varied and peculiar worlds of matsutake commerce: the worlds of Japanese gourmets, capitalist traders, Hmong jungle fighters, industrial forests, Yi Chinese goat herders, Finnish nature guides, and more. These companions also lead us into fungal ecologies and forest histories to better understand the promise of cohabitation in a time of massive human destruction.

By investigating one of the world's most sought-after fungi, The Mushroom at the End of the World presents an original examination into the relation between capitalist destruction and collaborative survival within multispecies landscapes, the prerequisite for continuing life on earth.

About the Author


Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing is professor of anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is the author of Friction and In the Realm of the Diamond Queen (both Princeton).
Product Details
ISBN: 9780691178325
ISBN-10: 0691178321
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication Date: September 19th, 2017
Pages: 352
Language: English