Illuminates the far-reaching harms of believing that natural means "good," from misinformation about health choices to justifications for sexism, racism, and flawed economic policies.
People love what's natural: it's the best way to eat, the best way to parent, even the best way to act--naturally, just as nature intended. Appeals to the wisdom of nature are among the most powerful arguments in the history of human thought. Yet Nature (with a capital N) and natural goodness are not objective or scientific. In this groundbreaking book, scholar of religion Alan Levinovitz demonstrates that these beliefs are actually religious and highlights the many dangers of substituting simple myths for complicated realities. It may not seem like a problem when it comes to paying a premium for organic food. But what about condemnations of "unnatural" sexual activity? The guilt that attends not having a "natural" birth? Economic deregulation justified by the inherent goodness of "natural" markets?
In Natural, readers embark on an epic journey, from Peruvian rainforests to the backcountry in Yellowstone Park, from a "natural" bodybuilding competition to a "natural" cancer-curing clinic. The result is an essential new perspective that shatters faith in Nature's goodness and points to a better alternative. We can love nature without worshipping it, and we can work toward a better world with humility and dialogue rather than taboos and zealotry.
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Words have power—just look at the scrambles by ideological groups to own words like ‘right to life,’ ‘pro-choice,’ or ‘family values.’ In Natural, Alan Levinovitz explores the power of that word and the often highly consequential ways in which it has been appreciated, appropriated, distorted, hyped, commodified, consecrated, and weaponized. This is important stuff, as evidenced every time someone discusses the supposed naturalness and thus supposed inevitability of some appalling human behavior. This is a superb book—fascinating, accessible, elegantly written, and deeply thought-provoking.
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Robert M. Sapolsky, John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor of Neurology and of Neurosurgery, Stanford University, and author of Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst