Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation

This book is simply wonderful. I, a Crow tribal member who grew up near Pryor, MT, found this reading both illuminating and inspiring. Lear’s account of Chief Plenty Coups’ example of virtue through metaphysical devastation will leave a lasting impression on any who read this amazing work. Lear’s synthesis of Aristotelian courage with Crow bravery highlights just how virtuous tribal life was before the Buffalo went away. I am grateful to have found this book and I believe that all Natives must read it.

This is not a "review" so much as a note of appreciation for something the author accomplishes in this book which may not be immediately apparent. In pointing it out, I hope to inspire other readers to a similar appreciation.We speak of "sounding the depths" but rarely is this act accomplished with sustained attention to any given utterance. But this is a singular accomplishment of Jonathan Lear in this book. Focusing attention on the utterances of the last great chief of the Crow Indians, Plenty Coups--utterances that have their focal point in the dramatic and enigmatic statement that "the buffalo went away...after this nothing happened"--Lear sounds the depths of Plenty Coup's voice through interpretive questioning both within and beyond it's crumbling cultural context as well as from the perspectives gleaned through a wide range of thought-traditions. But all of this is done while sustaining respect for the particular person in his particular life circumstances. In this sounding, then, we have the rare opportunity to witness a deep listener listening...without getting lost in his listening.Of course, detractors might point out that the author's analysis is based on reading rather than listening. But I suggest the monastic practice of lectio divina --a practice of deep reading for the sake of recovering the voice, that is, a reading that is transformed into a listening--is a closer description of the kind of receptivity Lear is engaged in here.It is this respect for the primacy of the life that is lived beyond any interpretation that can be brought to bear upon it which is a hallmark of the primary traditions out of which Lear works--philosophical anthropology and psychoanalysis. What it yields, though, is no high-brow, esoteric document but, rather, a suspenseful circling down into deepening, yet suggestive interpretations of a decisive moment in one man's life and culture that is accessible to any intelligent lay reader (no graduate degree required). The engaged reader comes away with a thoughtful consideration of an exemplar of hope and courage from which one can draw lessons for one's own life and times.

I appreciated this book because it did not go where I expected. Radical Hope uses the story of Plenty Coups, a Crow Chief and his leadership to explore hope when everything you depend on has been obliterated. But rather than psychologizing, the author uses philosophy to discern the moral choices hope entails. I found this challenging, but very rewarding. Truly, this is what philosophy is supposed to be about, and done in a most unusual way.

Great analysis. For those who buy Kindle be aware that the electronic book does not include pictures that the physical book has. Should have been disclosed up front.

In a time when any and everything can be pulled out from under one due to devastating political and cultural de-evolution, a growing and decadent mass media driven delusion and the bulk of wealth being in the hands of a small percentage of soulless idiots, this book offers an "a way."At time when one might be tempted, like many Native American tribes were, to lament the past and vainly attempt to bring it back through the sad but hopeful ritual of the Ghost Dance (instead we listen to the Oldies Radio while media encourages us to celebrate some anniversary of some event that had meaning rather than helping us give meaning to current events).It offers a vision of how a person, a culture and humanity itself can keep what is valuable and authentic from one's past and one's culture while navigating chaotic upheaval.It's about keeping one's humanity intact in dehumanizing times and both keeping and building a personal and cultural integrity that endures.So, if you have been a victim of mortgage lenders, student loan rip-offs, downsizing, corporate greed, credit card companies or the crisis in our lack of a health care system, this book lets you know that it just something you're going through.It helps you become active rather than passive in your emotional and philosophical response. So, instead of feeling like a sitting duck, you begin to feel like someone facing challenges and helping others do the same.Enduring and radical hope eventually trumps the temporal power of any oppressive junta in a way they cannot see coming.At the same time, it builds heart, soul and culture.This book has come at a good time.

It was challenging to read and understand

The surprise focus on the Crow leader, Plenty Coups, is roots this book in experience-near examples while the philosophy soars. I have always loved Jonathan Lear. Now I think he may have provided a kind of hope I can hold onto in these truly end-times times.

It gives a good understanding of what specifically happened to the Crow Nation and gives me hope for the rapidly changing world we are facing and the adaptability of mankind.

An eye-opener!

...if you would be informed about our present time. Beautifully written, a powerful account of courage and a ought-to-be heeded call to build a 'new world order'. This small treasure of a book should become a valued classic map to a better tomorrow.

Very good booth for someone to understand what cultural devastation can do to an individual as well as a group and how they can overcome it.

Very interested subject. Not easy to read, but you get a lot to think ... And this last one is what this book is for ...

This is a very nice book, doing one of the things more philosophers should be doing: venturing outside what is normally seen as philosophy's territory, yet carrying philosophy's virtues with them.The book has four heros, as I see it: Plenty Coups (or: Achievements), Aristotle, Heidegger and Freud.Professor Lear would have himself achieved even more had he allowed himself to go further with Heidegger, whose influence in the book is greater than Freud's I'd say,and to unshackle himself from an exclusively Freudian view of the psyche, and of dreams in particular, and deploy a more generous view - I have Jung's in mind - of the nature and workings of the human mind.Still, very much a book to read, ponder and admire.