Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity | Hardcover

Paul Kingsnorth

Penguin Publishing Group | Thesis

Social Science / Essays / Technology Studies / Philosophy / Nature

Published Sep 23, 2025

9780593850633

"How a force that's hard to name, but which we all feel, is
reshaping what it means to be human

"In Against the Machine, "furiously gifted" (The Washington
Post) novelist, poet, and essayist Paul Kingsnorth presents a
wholly original-and terrifying-account of the technological-
cultural matrix enveloping all of us. With masterful insight
into the spiritual and economic roots of techno-capitalism,
Kingsnorth reveals how the Machine, in the name of progress,
has choked Western civilization, is destroying the Earth
itself, and is reshaping us in its image. From the First
Industrial Revolution to the rise of artificial intelligence,
he shows how the hollowing out of humanity has been a long
game-and how your very soul is at stake.

"It takes effort to remain truly human in the age of the
Machine. Writing in the tradition of Wendell Berry, Jacques
Ellul and Simone Weil, Kingsnorth reminds us what humanity
requires: a healthy suspicion of entrenched power; connection
to land, nature and heritage; and a deep attention to matters
of the spirit. Prophetic, poetic, and erudite, Against the
Machine is the spiritual manual for dissidents in the
technological age.

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