What was I thinking? : the autobiography of an idea and other essays

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  • Author: Salutin, Rick
    Summary:

    A lifetime of engagement with religion, philosophy, and activism in a series of fascinating reflections. Brilliant, fractious, mordantly funny, playwright/novelist/essayist Rick Salutin has been Canadian journalism's agent provocateur for over three decades. Whether needling governments and politicians, holding public policy to account, or decrying the shortfalls of activist thought and action, he has been one of the most outspoken commentators of his generation. In What Was I Thinking?, Salutin reveals his curiosity about both the world of the mind and the world of the here and now. His life has been graced with contact with extraordinary people from Hannah Arendt to Holocaust theologian Emil Fackenheim to goalkeeper-politician Ken Dryden, and we discover the profound influence their thought has had on his. But he has also had encounters with Conrad Black and Peter Worthington, joined his fellow coffee-drinkers in the infamous fight to save the west-end institution Dooney's from displacement by Starbucks, and taken furious potshots at the political pandering of the nation's media outlets. This is classic Salutin and most of it hasn't been published before-- including a lengthy personal and historical essay on the world of therapy. It's a wonderful roller-coaster ride of thought and opinion. Step on!

    Contents:

    Part 1: What Shapes the Thinking? 
    Chapter 1. Uniqueness of the Holocaust: The Autobiography of an Idea 
    Chapter 2. The Singer Not the Song: On Therapy
    Chapter 3. Jonas and Me
    Part 2: The Things to Which We Attend
    Chapter 4. National Cultures in the Age of Globalization: The Case of Canada
    Chapter 5. Extreme Giving: The Potlatch
    Chapter 6. The Mystery of Teaching
    Part 3: Wisdom From a Short Perspective
    Chapter 7. Good Guys, Bad Guys, and Little Guys
    Chapter 8. What Would We Do Without Romir?
    Part 4: The Owl of Minerva Takes Flight in the Gathering Dusk
    Chapter 9. The Globe Years: Arts and Entertainment, 1991-1999
    Chapter 10. The Globe Years: Op-Ed, 1999-2010

    Genre: Canadian nonfiction, Essays
    Subject(s): Canada
    Original Publisher: ECW Press
    Language(s): English
    ISBN:

    9781770907348

Details

Abstract

A lifetime of engagement with religion, philosophy, and activism in a series of fascinating reflections. Brilliant, fractious, mordantly funny, playwright/novelist/essayist Rick Salutin has been Canadian journalism's agent provocateur for over three decades. Whether needling governments and politicians, holding public policy to account, or decrying the shortfalls of activist thought and action, he has been one of the most outspoken commentators of his generation. In What Was I Thinking?, Salutin reveals his curiosity about both the world of the mind and the world of the here and now. His life has been graced with contact with extraordinary people from Hannah Arendt to Holocaust theologian Emil Fackenheim to goalkeeper-politician Ken Dryden, and we discover the profound influence their thought has had on his. But he has also had encounters with Conrad Black and Peter Worthington, joined his fellow coffee-drinkers in the infamous fight to save the west-end institution Dooney's from displacement by Starbucks, and taken furious potshots at the political pandering of the nation's media outlets. This is classic Salutin and most of it hasn't been published before-- including a lengthy personal and historical essay on the world of therapy. It's a wonderful roller-coaster ride of thought and opinion. Step on!

Genre
Canadian nonfiction
Essays
Subject
Canada
Publisher (Source)

ECW Press

Not specified

Record