POSTMODERNISM FOR BEGINNERS
PHILOSOPHY & LITERATURE
Philosophy/ Reference
ISBN-13: 978-1-934389-09-6
Price: US $14.95
5-1/2 x 8-1/4, 192 pp
August 2007
B/W Illustrations
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If you are like most people, you’re not sure what Postmodernism is. And if this were like most books on the subject, it probably wouldn’t tell you.
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Besides what a few grumpy critics claim, Postmodernism is not a bunch of meaningless intellectual mind games. On the contrary, it is a reaction to the most profound spiritual and philosophical crisis of our time – the failure of the Enlightenment.
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Jim Powell takes the position that Postmodernism is a series of “maps” that help people find their way through a changing world. Postmodernism For Beginners features the thoughts of Foucault on power and knowledge, Jameson on mapping the postmodern, Baudrillard on the media, Harvey on time-space compression, Derrida on deconstruction and Deleuze and Guattari on rhizomes. The book also discusses postmodern artifacts such as Madonna, cyberpunk, Buddhist ecology, and teledildonics.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Powell: As a boy, James’s chores included keeping coyotes out of the chickens, riding fences, branding, milking, harvesting, and the rather spiritual calling of converting bulls to steers. Since then, his jobs have changed quite a bit. He cut line for Smokey on many western wildfires–working winters surveying and building trails, while gradually awakening to Chumash and Vedic wisdom of fire ecology.
James has also taught meditation around the world, including to Michael Jackson's Neverland staff, Beach Boy Mike Love’s family, and Lithuanian-born archeologist Marija Gimbutas. The California meditation center he chaired for ten years provided ongoing instruction for over ten thousand Santa Barbarans. What’s more, he was Ayurvedic consultant to Deepak Chopra and Arianna Huffington at the Center for Perfect Health–which he co-founded–with Deepak's lectures drawing audiences over 1,000. He collaborated with Group f/64 photographer Imogen Cunningham on a photographically interpreted book of his translations of the verse of Spanish mystic San Juan de la Cruz. The project was under consideration at various publishing houses when Imogen passed away.
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ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
Joe Lee is an illustrator, cartoonist, writer, and clown. With a degree from Indiana University centering on Medieval History, Joe is also a graduate of Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey’s Clown College. He worked for some years as a circus clown. He is the illustrator of a baker’s dozen of For Beginners books, including Barack Obama For Beginners, [Howard] Zinn For Beginners, Shakespeare For Beginners, Postmodernism For Beginners, Deconstruction For Beginners, Eastern Philosophy For Beginners, Dante For Beginners, Dada & Surrealism For Beginners, Jane Austen For Beginners and Climate Change For Beginners among others. Joe lives in Bloomington, Indiana with his wife Mary Bess, son Brandon, cat George, and the terriers (or rather terrors) Max and Jack.