We’re Doomed. Now What? Essays on War and Climate Change

Novelist and nonfiction author Scranton (Learning to Die in the Anthropocene) struggles to provide satisfying responses to his titular question in this jumbled collection. His premise is that an era of environmental and political catastrophe already exists, and the only meaningful next step is to “let our current civilization die” and find a “new order of meaning.” Specifics of what that new order looks like, beyond a repudiation of consumer capitalism, are left abstract. Scranton organizes his essays under thematic headings: “Climate & Change,” “War & Memory,” and “Violence & Communion.” The climate essays cover, among other topics, the melting of the Arctic ice cap and the possibility of a Texas mega-hurricane, and express pessimism about the possibility of mitigating global warming. The war section covers Scranton’s memories of patrolling Iraq as an Army private, attending antiwar rallies after his return to the U.S., returning to Baghdad as a civilian to witness the 2014 elections, and his concerns about the dangers of fetishizing American power. In the “Violence” essays, Scranton draws connections between victims of war, terror, and police shootings, decrying social hierarchies that value some lives over others. Sometimes astute, sometimes meandering, Scranton’s latest work is heavy on fatalism and light on focus. [em](July) [/em]