| Vendor | |
|---|---|
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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher |
| Original language | |
| English | |
| Weblink | |
| https://john-oakes.com/ | |
THE FAST
The History, Science, Philosophy and Promise of Doing Without
An extended cultural history of fasting as well as a meditation on the process.
An extended cultural history of fasting as well as a meditation on the process, THE FAST will include brief meditations on compulsive consumption, precarity and boundaries, and the ancient principle of voluntary deprivation that can be found in just about every major spiritual tradition. Extensive research and firsthand observation, which includes the author's trip to Minneapolis to experience perceptual fasting at what is reputedly the quietest place on Earth, interviews with doctors, spiritual leaders (including ministers, rabbis, an imam, and a Buddhist monk), and activists will be the basis of the book.
In recent years, fasting has undergone a tremendous resurgence in popularity among seekers of spirituality of all stripes, health advocates, and activists who undertake hunger strikes as a dramatic, non-violent form of protestone that's often proven to be effective, ant the topic also ties into trends around slowing down and wellness.
THE FAST is aimed at a popular, non-academic audience, but it is not a how-to book. While there are dozens of books on fasting, there aree none on fasting's deep philosophical roots, its sociological implications, and its important role in world culture.
John Oakes is the publisher of The Evergreen Review, a political and literary journal, and editor-at-large for OR Books, which he co-founded in 1989. He has written for a variety of publications, among them The Oxford Handbook of Publishing (2019; he wrote Chapter 7 on "Publishing and Culture"), Publishers Weekly, the Review of Contemporary Fiction, the Associated Press, and The Journal of Electronic Publishing. He founded and directed the New School Publishing Institute until its demise due to Covid in 2020. He was named a chevalier de l'ordre des arts et des lettres by the French government and he is a cum laude graduate of Princeton University, where he earned the English Department undergraduate thesis prize for an essay on Samuel Beckett.
In recent years, fasting has undergone a tremendous resurgence in popularity among seekers of spirituality of all stripes, health advocates, and activists who undertake hunger strikes as a dramatic, non-violent form of protestone that's often proven to be effective, ant the topic also ties into trends around slowing down and wellness.
THE FAST is aimed at a popular, non-academic audience, but it is not a how-to book. While there are dozens of books on fasting, there aree none on fasting's deep philosophical roots, its sociological implications, and its important role in world culture.
John Oakes is the publisher of The Evergreen Review, a political and literary journal, and editor-at-large for OR Books, which he co-founded in 1989. He has written for a variety of publications, among them The Oxford Handbook of Publishing (2019; he wrote Chapter 7 on "Publishing and Culture"), Publishers Weekly, the Review of Contemporary Fiction, the Associated Press, and The Journal of Electronic Publishing. He founded and directed the New School Publishing Institute until its demise due to Covid in 2020. He was named a chevalier de l'ordre des arts et des lettres by the French government and he is a cum laude graduate of Princeton University, where he earned the English Department undergraduate thesis prize for an essay on Samuel Beckett.
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Book
Published 2024-02-13 by Avid Reader Press |
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Book
Published by Avid Reader Press |