The American Replacement of Nature

In a devastating yet hope-giving visionary critique, Thompson ( At the Edge of History ) wryly looks at America's ``ever teenage culture,'' the ``electronic spectator sport'' of U.S. presidential campaigns, and Disneyism, our ``civic religion'' of family fun and ``life as entertainment.'' These provocative if at times portentous essays leap easily from the political to the metaphysical. Thompson interprets the Great Depression as a shift from hierarchy to ``chaos dynamics.'' He explains why he was ``unable to be a dove'' in the war against Saddam Hussein, he defines America's esoteric destiny as breaking down all the world's cultures in preparation for a new global culture. In one controversial piece the New Age guru defends Palestinian Arab rights, rebukes Israel and calls for the creation of ``Earth's first planetary city''--a multireligious zone to be governed by the U.N.--in Jerusalem and the entire West Bank. (Oct.)