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Beneath the Surface of Things: New and Selected Essays
“Wade Davis is a true wayfinder, and these essays offer new insight into his visionary approach to culture, landscape, and the planet he loves as fiercely as any writer working today.”—John Vaillant, author of Fire Weather
A timely and eclectic collection from one of the foremost thinkers of our time, “a powerful, penetrating and immensely knowledgeable writer” (The Guardian).
The essays in this collection came about during the unhurried months when one who had traveled incessantly was obliged to stay still, even as events flared on all sides in a world that never stops moving. Wade Davis brings his unique cultural perspective to such varied topics as the demonization of coca, the sacred plant of the Inca; the Great War and the birth of modernity; the British conquest of Everest; the endless conflict in the Middle East; reaching beyond climate fear and trepidation; on the meaning of the sacred. His essay, “The Unraveling of America,” first published in Rolling Stone, attracted five million readers and generated 362 million social media impressions. Media interest in the story was sustained over many weeks, with interview requests coming in from 23 countries.
The anthropological lens, as Davis demonstrates, reveals what lies beneath the surface of things, allowing us to see, and to seek, the wisdom of the middle way, a perspective of promise and hope that all of the essays in this collection aspire to convey.
“Wade Davis has a gift for saying the unsayable. He’s a fearless explorer in the intellectual world, as in the physical. His refusal to embrace conventional wisdom on climate change, for example, and instead think through the issue for himself, is a model of independent thinking. Even when I disagree with Wade, as with some of his bleak comments about the United States, I’m grateful for his voice. We usually live on the surface of ideas when we talk about issues such as war and racism; Wade takes us far deeper.”—David Ignatius, columnist and associate editor, Washington Post
A timely and eclectic collection from one of the foremost thinkers of our time, “a powerful, penetrating and immensely knowledgeable writer” (The Guardian).
The essays in this collection came about during the unhurried months when one who had traveled incessantly was obliged to stay still, even as events flared on all sides in a world that never stops moving. Wade Davis brings his unique cultural perspective to such varied topics as the demonization of coca, the sacred plant of the Inca; the Great War and the birth of modernity; the British conquest of Everest; the endless conflict in the Middle East; reaching beyond climate fear and trepidation; on the meaning of the sacred. His essay, “The Unraveling of America,” first published in Rolling Stone, attracted five million readers and generated 362 million social media impressions. Media interest in the story was sustained over many weeks, with interview requests coming in from 23 countries.
The anthropological lens, as Davis demonstrates, reveals what lies beneath the surface of things, allowing us to see, and to seek, the wisdom of the middle way, a perspective of promise and hope that all of the essays in this collection aspire to convey.
“Wade Davis has a gift for saying the unsayable. He’s a fearless explorer in the intellectual world, as in the physical. His refusal to embrace conventional wisdom on climate change, for example, and instead think through the issue for himself, is a model of independent thinking. Even when I disagree with Wade, as with some of his bleak comments about the United States, I’m grateful for his voice. We usually live on the surface of ideas when we talk about issues such as war and racism; Wade takes us far deeper.”—David Ignatius, columnist and associate editor, Washington Post
264 pages, Paperback
Published April 15, 2025
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About the author
Wade Davis
85 books829 followersEdmund Wade Davis has been described as "a rare combination of scientist, scholar, poet, and passionate defender of all of life's diversity."
An ethnographer, writer, photographer, and filmmaker, he holds degrees in anthropology and biology and received his Ph.D. in ethnobotany, all from Harvard University. Mostly through the Harvard Botanical Museum, he spent more than three years in the Amazon and Andes as a plant explorer, living among 15 indigenous groups in eight Latin American nations while making some 6,000 botanical collections. His work later took him to Haiti to investigate folk preparations implicated in the creation of zombies, an assignment that led to his writing Passage of Darkness (1988) and The Serpent and the Rainbow (1986), an international best seller that appeared in ten languages and was later released by Universal as a motion picture.
His other books include Penan: Voice for the Borneo Rain Forest (1990), Shadows in the Sun (1993), Nomads of the Dawn (1995), The Clouded Leopard (1998), Rainforest (1998), Light at the Edge of the World (2001), The Lost Amazon (2004), Grand Canyon (2008), Book of Peoples of the World (ed. 2008), and One River (1996), which was nominated for the 1997 Governor General's Literary Award for Nonfiction. Into the Silence, an epic history of World War I and the early British efforts to summit Everest, was published in October, 2011. Sheets of Distant Rain will follow.
Davis is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2002 Lowell Thomas Medal (The Explorers Club) and the 2002 Lannan Foundation prize for literary nonfiction. In 2004 he was made an honorary member of the Explorers Club, one of just 20 in the hundred-year history of the club. In recent years his work has taken him to East Africa, Borneo, Nepal, Peru, Polynesia, Tibet, Mali, Benin, Togo, New Guinea, Vanuatu, and the high Arctic of Nunavut and Greenland.
A native of British Columbia, Davis, a licensed river guide, has worked as park ranger and forestry engineer and conducted ethnographic fieldwork among several indigenous societies of northern Canada. He has published 150 scientific and popular articles on subjects ranging from Haitian vodoun and Amazonian myth and religion to the global biodiversity crisis, the traditional use of psychotropic drugs, and the ethnobotany of South American Indians.
Davis has written for National Geographic, Newsweek, Premiere, Outside, Omni, Harpers, Fortune, Men's Journal, Condé Nast Traveler, Natural History, Utne Reader, National Geographic Traveler, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Globe and Mail, and several other international publications.
His photographs have been featured in a number of exhibits and have been widely published, appearing in some 20 books and more than 80 magazines, journals, and newspapers. His research has been the subject of more than 700 media reports and interviews in Europe, North and South America, and the Far East, and has inspired numerous documentary films as well as three episodes of the television series The X Files.
A professional speaker for nearly 20 years, Davis has lectured at the National Geographic Society, American Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, and California Academy of Sciences, as well as many other museums and some 200 universities, including Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Yale, and Stanford. He has spoken at the Aspen Institute, Bohemian Grove, Young President’s Organization, and TED Conference. His corporate clients have included Microsoft, Shell, Hallmark, Bank of Nova Scotia, MacKenzie Financials, Healthcare Association of Southern California, National Science Teachers Association, and many others.
An honorary research associate of the Institute of Economic Botany of the New York Botanical Garden, he is a fellow of the Linnean Society, the Explorers Club, and the Royal Geographical Society.
(Source: National Geographic)
An ethnographer, writer, photographer, and filmmaker, he holds degrees in anthropology and biology and received his Ph.D. in ethnobotany, all from Harvard University. Mostly through the Harvard Botanical Museum, he spent more than three years in the Amazon and Andes as a plant explorer, living among 15 indigenous groups in eight Latin American nations while making some 6,000 botanical collections. His work later took him to Haiti to investigate folk preparations implicated in the creation of zombies, an assignment that led to his writing Passage of Darkness (1988) and The Serpent and the Rainbow (1986), an international best seller that appeared in ten languages and was later released by Universal as a motion picture.
His other books include Penan: Voice for the Borneo Rain Forest (1990), Shadows in the Sun (1993), Nomads of the Dawn (1995), The Clouded Leopard (1998), Rainforest (1998), Light at the Edge of the World (2001), The Lost Amazon (2004), Grand Canyon (2008), Book of Peoples of the World (ed. 2008), and One River (1996), which was nominated for the 1997 Governor General's Literary Award for Nonfiction. Into the Silence, an epic history of World War I and the early British efforts to summit Everest, was published in October, 2011. Sheets of Distant Rain will follow.
Davis is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2002 Lowell Thomas Medal (The Explorers Club) and the 2002 Lannan Foundation prize for literary nonfiction. In 2004 he was made an honorary member of the Explorers Club, one of just 20 in the hundred-year history of the club. In recent years his work has taken him to East Africa, Borneo, Nepal, Peru, Polynesia, Tibet, Mali, Benin, Togo, New Guinea, Vanuatu, and the high Arctic of Nunavut and Greenland.
A native of British Columbia, Davis, a licensed river guide, has worked as park ranger and forestry engineer and conducted ethnographic fieldwork among several indigenous societies of northern Canada. He has published 150 scientific and popular articles on subjects ranging from Haitian vodoun and Amazonian myth and religion to the global biodiversity crisis, the traditional use of psychotropic drugs, and the ethnobotany of South American Indians.
Davis has written for National Geographic, Newsweek, Premiere, Outside, Omni, Harpers, Fortune, Men's Journal, Condé Nast Traveler, Natural History, Utne Reader, National Geographic Traveler, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Globe and Mail, and several other international publications.
His photographs have been featured in a number of exhibits and have been widely published, appearing in some 20 books and more than 80 magazines, journals, and newspapers. His research has been the subject of more than 700 media reports and interviews in Europe, North and South America, and the Far East, and has inspired numerous documentary films as well as three episodes of the television series The X Files.
A professional speaker for nearly 20 years, Davis has lectured at the National Geographic Society, American Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, and California Academy of Sciences, as well as many other museums and some 200 universities, including Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Yale, and Stanford. He has spoken at the Aspen Institute, Bohemian Grove, Young President’s Organization, and TED Conference. His corporate clients have included Microsoft, Shell, Hallmark, Bank of Nova Scotia, MacKenzie Financials, Healthcare Association of Southern California, National Science Teachers Association, and many others.
An honorary research associate of the Institute of Economic Botany of the New York Botanical Garden, he is a fellow of the Linnean Society, the Explorers Club, and the Royal Geographical Society.
(Source: National Geographic)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
June 1, 2024
Pretty cool to read something written by a still living Anthropologist. Better yet, someone who lives in my home province.
Wade Davies speaks about all things in the now, like global warming, religious issues, covid, as well as ponders things like the quest for Everest. The difference in reading essays by Davies though, is that he self debates every issue 360 degrees around, and better yet, backs it up by facts.
Extremely interesting stories and the ‘Unravelling of America’, should be in every school required reading list. Disturbing facts and figures about the not so super power to the south of us.
Quote;
In a dark season of pestilence, COVID has reduced to tatters the illusion of American exceptionalism. At the height of the crisis, with more than 2,000 dying each day, Americans found themselves members of a failed state, ruled by a dysfunctional and incompetent government largely responsible for death rates that added a tragic coda to America’s claim to supremacy in the world.
For the first time, the international community felt compelled to send disaster relief to Washington. For more than two centuries, reported the Irish Times, “the United States has stirred a very wide range of feelings in the rest of the world: love and hatred, fear and hope, envy and contempt, awe and anger. But there is one emotion that has never been directed towards the U.S. until now: pity.” As American doctors and nurses eagerly awaited emergency airlifts of basic supplies from China, the hinge of history opened to the Asian century.
No empire long endures, even if few anticipate their demise. Every kingdom is born to die. The 15th century belonged to the Portuguese, the 16th to Spain, 17th to the Dutch. France dominated the 18th and Britain the 19th. Bled white and left bankrupt by the Great War, the British maintained a pretense of domination as late as 1935, when the empire reached its greatest geographical extent. By then, of course, the torch had long passed into the hands of America.
***
More than any other country, the United States in the post-war era lionized the individual at the expense of community and family. It was the sociological equivalent of splitting the atom. What was gained in terms of mobility and personal freedom came at the expense of common purpose. In wide swaths of America, the family as an institution lost its grounding. By the 1960s, 40 percent of marriages were ending in divorce. Only six percent of American homes had grandparents living beneath the same roof as grandchildren; elders were abandoned to retirement homes.
***
With slogans like “24/7” celebrating complete dedication to the workplace, men and women exhausted themselves in jobs that only reinforced their isolation from their families. By the time a youth reaches 18, he or she will have spent fully two years watching television or staring at a laptop screen, contributing to an obesity epidemic that the Joint Chiefs have called a national security crisis.
Only half of Americans report having meaningful, face-to-face social interactions on a daily basis. The nation consumes two-thirds of the world’s production of antidepressant drugs. The collapse of the working-class family has been responsible in part for an opioid crisis that has displaced car accidents as the leading cause of death for Americans under 50.
At the root of this transformation and decline lies an ever-widening chasm between Americans who have and those who have little or nothing. Economic disparities exist in all nations, creating a tension that can be as disruptive as the inequities are unjust. In any number of settings, however, the negative forces tearing apart a society are mitigated or even muted if there are other elements that reinforce social solidarity — religious faith, the strength and comfort of family, the pride of tradition, fidelity to the land, a spirit of place.
***
Odious as he may be, Trump is less the cause of America’s decline than a product of its descent. As they stare into the mirror and perceive only the myth of their exceptionalism, Americans remain almost bizarrely incapable of seeing what has actually become of their country. The republic that defined the free flow of information as the life blood of democracy, today ranks 45th among nations when it comes to press freedom. In a land that once welcomed the huddled masses of the world, more people today favor building a wall along the southern border than supporting health care and protection for the undocumented mothers and children arriving in desperation at its doors. In a complete abandonment of the collective good, U.S. laws define freedom as an individual’s inalienable right to own a personal arsenal of weaponry, a natural entitlement that trumps even the safety of children; in the past decade alone 346 American students and teachers have been shot on school grounds.
The American cult of the individual denies not just community but the very idea of society. No one owes anything to anyone. All must be prepared to fight for everything: education, shelter, food, medical care. What every prosperous and successful democracy deems to be fundamental rights — universal health care, equal access to quality public education, a social safety net for the weak, elderly, and infirmed — America dismisses as socialist indulgences, as if so many signs of weakness.
How can the rest of the world expect America to lead on global threats — climate change, the extinction crisis, pandemics — when the country no longer has a sense of benign purpose, or collective well-being, even within its own national community? Flag-wrapped patriotism is no substitute for compassion; anger and hostility no match for love. Those who flock to beaches, bars, and political rallies, putting their fellow citizens at risk, are not exercising freedom; they are displaying, as one commentator has noted, the weakness of a people who lack both the stoicism to endure the pandemic and the fortitude to defeat it. Leading their charge is Donald Trump, a bone spur warrior, a liar and a fraud, a grotesque caricature of a strong man, with the backbone of a bully.
Over the last months, a quip has circulated on the internet suggesting that to live in Canada today is like owning an apartment above a meth lab. Canada is no perfect place, but it has handled the COVID crisis well, notably in British Columbia, where I live. Vancouver is just three hours by road north of Seattle, where the U.S. outbreak began. Half of Vancouver’s population is Asian, and typically dozens of flights arrive each day from China and East Asia. Logically, it should have been hit very hard, but the health care system performed exceedingly well. Throughout the crisis, testing rates across Canada have been consistently five times that of the U.S. On a per capita basis, Canada has suffered half the morbidity and mortality. For every person who has died in British Columbia, 44 have perished in Massachusetts, a state with a comparable population that has reported more COVID cases than all of Canada. As of July 30th, even as rates of COVID infection and death soared across much of the United States, with 59,629 new cases reported on that day alone, hospitals in British Columbia registered a total of just five COVID patients.
***
When American friends ask for an explanation, I encourage them to reflect on the last time they bought groceries at their neighborhood Safeway. In the U.S. there is almost always a racial, economic, cultural, and educational chasm between the consumer and the check-out staff that is difficult if not impossible to bridge. In Canada, the experience is quite different. One interacts if not as peers, certainly as members of a wider community. The reason for this is very simple. The checkout person may not share your level of affluence, but they know that you know that they are getting a living wage because of the unions. And they know that you know that their kids and yours most probably go to the same neighborhood public school. Third, and most essential, they know that you know that if their children get sick, they will get exactly the same level of medical care not only of your children but of those of the prime minister. These three strands woven together become the fabric of Canadian social democracy.
Asked what he thought of Western civilization, Mahatma Gandhi famously replied, “I think that would be a good idea.” Such a remark may seem cruel, but it accurately reflects the view of America today as seen from the perspective of any modern social democracy. Canada performed well during the COVID crisis because of our social contract, the bonds of community, the trust for each other and our institutions, our health care system in particular, with hospitals that cater to the medical needs of the collective, not the individual, and certainly not the private investor who views every hospital bed as if a rental property. The measure of wealth in a civilized nation is not the currency accumulated by the lucky few, but rather the strength and resonance of social relations and the bonds of reciprocity that connect all people in common purpose.
***
Interview in November 2021 with Alex Morris of Rolling Stone. Cite: Wade Davis, “On the Frailty of Civilization,” interview with Alex Morris, Rolling Stone, Nov. 11, 2021
Wade Davies speaks about all things in the now, like global warming, religious issues, covid, as well as ponders things like the quest for Everest. The difference in reading essays by Davies though, is that he self debates every issue 360 degrees around, and better yet, backs it up by facts.
Extremely interesting stories and the ‘Unravelling of America’, should be in every school required reading list. Disturbing facts and figures about the not so super power to the south of us.
Quote;
In a dark season of pestilence, COVID has reduced to tatters the illusion of American exceptionalism. At the height of the crisis, with more than 2,000 dying each day, Americans found themselves members of a failed state, ruled by a dysfunctional and incompetent government largely responsible for death rates that added a tragic coda to America’s claim to supremacy in the world.
For the first time, the international community felt compelled to send disaster relief to Washington. For more than two centuries, reported the Irish Times, “the United States has stirred a very wide range of feelings in the rest of the world: love and hatred, fear and hope, envy and contempt, awe and anger. But there is one emotion that has never been directed towards the U.S. until now: pity.” As American doctors and nurses eagerly awaited emergency airlifts of basic supplies from China, the hinge of history opened to the Asian century.
No empire long endures, even if few anticipate their demise. Every kingdom is born to die. The 15th century belonged to the Portuguese, the 16th to Spain, 17th to the Dutch. France dominated the 18th and Britain the 19th. Bled white and left bankrupt by the Great War, the British maintained a pretense of domination as late as 1935, when the empire reached its greatest geographical extent. By then, of course, the torch had long passed into the hands of America.
***
More than any other country, the United States in the post-war era lionized the individual at the expense of community and family. It was the sociological equivalent of splitting the atom. What was gained in terms of mobility and personal freedom came at the expense of common purpose. In wide swaths of America, the family as an institution lost its grounding. By the 1960s, 40 percent of marriages were ending in divorce. Only six percent of American homes had grandparents living beneath the same roof as grandchildren; elders were abandoned to retirement homes.
***
With slogans like “24/7” celebrating complete dedication to the workplace, men and women exhausted themselves in jobs that only reinforced their isolation from their families. By the time a youth reaches 18, he or she will have spent fully two years watching television or staring at a laptop screen, contributing to an obesity epidemic that the Joint Chiefs have called a national security crisis.
Only half of Americans report having meaningful, face-to-face social interactions on a daily basis. The nation consumes two-thirds of the world’s production of antidepressant drugs. The collapse of the working-class family has been responsible in part for an opioid crisis that has displaced car accidents as the leading cause of death for Americans under 50.
At the root of this transformation and decline lies an ever-widening chasm between Americans who have and those who have little or nothing. Economic disparities exist in all nations, creating a tension that can be as disruptive as the inequities are unjust. In any number of settings, however, the negative forces tearing apart a society are mitigated or even muted if there are other elements that reinforce social solidarity — religious faith, the strength and comfort of family, the pride of tradition, fidelity to the land, a spirit of place.
***
Odious as he may be, Trump is less the cause of America’s decline than a product of its descent. As they stare into the mirror and perceive only the myth of their exceptionalism, Americans remain almost bizarrely incapable of seeing what has actually become of their country. The republic that defined the free flow of information as the life blood of democracy, today ranks 45th among nations when it comes to press freedom. In a land that once welcomed the huddled masses of the world, more people today favor building a wall along the southern border than supporting health care and protection for the undocumented mothers and children arriving in desperation at its doors. In a complete abandonment of the collective good, U.S. laws define freedom as an individual’s inalienable right to own a personal arsenal of weaponry, a natural entitlement that trumps even the safety of children; in the past decade alone 346 American students and teachers have been shot on school grounds.
The American cult of the individual denies not just community but the very idea of society. No one owes anything to anyone. All must be prepared to fight for everything: education, shelter, food, medical care. What every prosperous and successful democracy deems to be fundamental rights — universal health care, equal access to quality public education, a social safety net for the weak, elderly, and infirmed — America dismisses as socialist indulgences, as if so many signs of weakness.
How can the rest of the world expect America to lead on global threats — climate change, the extinction crisis, pandemics — when the country no longer has a sense of benign purpose, or collective well-being, even within its own national community? Flag-wrapped patriotism is no substitute for compassion; anger and hostility no match for love. Those who flock to beaches, bars, and political rallies, putting their fellow citizens at risk, are not exercising freedom; they are displaying, as one commentator has noted, the weakness of a people who lack both the stoicism to endure the pandemic and the fortitude to defeat it. Leading their charge is Donald Trump, a bone spur warrior, a liar and a fraud, a grotesque caricature of a strong man, with the backbone of a bully.
Over the last months, a quip has circulated on the internet suggesting that to live in Canada today is like owning an apartment above a meth lab. Canada is no perfect place, but it has handled the COVID crisis well, notably in British Columbia, where I live. Vancouver is just three hours by road north of Seattle, where the U.S. outbreak began. Half of Vancouver’s population is Asian, and typically dozens of flights arrive each day from China and East Asia. Logically, it should have been hit very hard, but the health care system performed exceedingly well. Throughout the crisis, testing rates across Canada have been consistently five times that of the U.S. On a per capita basis, Canada has suffered half the morbidity and mortality. For every person who has died in British Columbia, 44 have perished in Massachusetts, a state with a comparable population that has reported more COVID cases than all of Canada. As of July 30th, even as rates of COVID infection and death soared across much of the United States, with 59,629 new cases reported on that day alone, hospitals in British Columbia registered a total of just five COVID patients.
***
When American friends ask for an explanation, I encourage them to reflect on the last time they bought groceries at their neighborhood Safeway. In the U.S. there is almost always a racial, economic, cultural, and educational chasm between the consumer and the check-out staff that is difficult if not impossible to bridge. In Canada, the experience is quite different. One interacts if not as peers, certainly as members of a wider community. The reason for this is very simple. The checkout person may not share your level of affluence, but they know that you know that they are getting a living wage because of the unions. And they know that you know that their kids and yours most probably go to the same neighborhood public school. Third, and most essential, they know that you know that if their children get sick, they will get exactly the same level of medical care not only of your children but of those of the prime minister. These three strands woven together become the fabric of Canadian social democracy.
Asked what he thought of Western civilization, Mahatma Gandhi famously replied, “I think that would be a good idea.” Such a remark may seem cruel, but it accurately reflects the view of America today as seen from the perspective of any modern social democracy. Canada performed well during the COVID crisis because of our social contract, the bonds of community, the trust for each other and our institutions, our health care system in particular, with hospitals that cater to the medical needs of the collective, not the individual, and certainly not the private investor who views every hospital bed as if a rental property. The measure of wealth in a civilized nation is not the currency accumulated by the lucky few, but rather the strength and resonance of social relations and the bonds of reciprocity that connect all people in common purpose.
***
Interview in November 2021 with Alex Morris of Rolling Stone. Cite: Wade Davis, “On the Frailty of Civilization,” interview with Alex Morris, Rolling Stone, Nov. 11, 2021
January 29, 2025
Read after this appeared in my stocking over the holidays. It’s definitely the best collection of essays by Wade Davis that I received as a gift in 2024.
Ok that’s a bit too mean. There is a lot to enjoy here. This was my introduction to Davis and I can’t dispute that when you get his best, you really get something. The strongest essays in this book are very much worth your time.
These include “Why Anthropology Matters,” which brought to my attention the ideas and life of one Franz Boas, who should probably be much more famous than he is; “The Art of Exploring,” which brings some welcome context to what we could call the history of discovery and includes some delightful drivebys on certain leading lights of the Age of Exploration; “Beyond Climate Fear and Trepidation;” “A New Word for Indigenous;” and “The Unravelling of America,” which looks at the COVID pandemic in the states and is pretty gripping reading until the end when Davis turns his attention to Canada. The experience of living through the pandemic in Vancouver that he describes matches up with my own in very few places. Perhaps things were different on UBC campus, where I gather Davis teaches.
Anyway the book also includes “The Divine Leaf of Immortality,” which is about the coca leaf, cocaine, and the War on Drugs. It’s a great read, by far the best in the book, and worth seeking this collection out to read.
So that’s six essays worth reading in the collection. Unfortunately the book contains 13. The remaining seven aren’t awful but they feel aimless. There’s “Of War and Remembrance,” which is a big collection of facts about Canada in WWI, arranged to no particular purpose or impact beyond impressing on the reader that bad things happened in the war and that it made a big impression on society afterward. Which, while true, is such well-trodden ground that I found myself confused about why this piece was included in the book when I finished the essay. There’s nothing really new here. Why include it?
There’s a clue, I think, in the name of this collection. Surely “Beneath the Surface” is a better title than “Beneath the Surface of Things.” What does “of Things” add to justify the extra characters? Nothing. It’s vague without being intriguing.
Davis is in the sunset phase of his impressive career. The fact that an editor didn’t suggest cutting those two words or killing some or all of the weaker essays in this book makes me wonder if this is some kind of late-career smoke-em-if-you-got-em project.
Oh, one final quibble: there's no footnotes or references!
Anyway the good news is that you are legally allowed, I believe, to get your hands on this book and only read the good essays. Do that and skip the others, is my advice.
And now no more for lack of time.
Ok that’s a bit too mean. There is a lot to enjoy here. This was my introduction to Davis and I can’t dispute that when you get his best, you really get something. The strongest essays in this book are very much worth your time.
These include “Why Anthropology Matters,” which brought to my attention the ideas and life of one Franz Boas, who should probably be much more famous than he is; “The Art of Exploring,” which brings some welcome context to what we could call the history of discovery and includes some delightful drivebys on certain leading lights of the Age of Exploration; “Beyond Climate Fear and Trepidation;” “A New Word for Indigenous;” and “The Unravelling of America,” which looks at the COVID pandemic in the states and is pretty gripping reading until the end when Davis turns his attention to Canada. The experience of living through the pandemic in Vancouver that he describes matches up with my own in very few places. Perhaps things were different on UBC campus, where I gather Davis teaches.
Anyway the book also includes “The Divine Leaf of Immortality,” which is about the coca leaf, cocaine, and the War on Drugs. It’s a great read, by far the best in the book, and worth seeking this collection out to read.
So that’s six essays worth reading in the collection. Unfortunately the book contains 13. The remaining seven aren’t awful but they feel aimless. There’s “Of War and Remembrance,” which is a big collection of facts about Canada in WWI, arranged to no particular purpose or impact beyond impressing on the reader that bad things happened in the war and that it made a big impression on society afterward. Which, while true, is such well-trodden ground that I found myself confused about why this piece was included in the book when I finished the essay. There’s nothing really new here. Why include it?
There’s a clue, I think, in the name of this collection. Surely “Beneath the Surface” is a better title than “Beneath the Surface of Things.” What does “of Things” add to justify the extra characters? Nothing. It’s vague without being intriguing.
Davis is in the sunset phase of his impressive career. The fact that an editor didn’t suggest cutting those two words or killing some or all of the weaker essays in this book makes me wonder if this is some kind of late-career smoke-em-if-you-got-em project.
Oh, one final quibble: there's no footnotes or references!
Anyway the good news is that you are legally allowed, I believe, to get your hands on this book and only read the good essays. Do that and skip the others, is my advice.
And now no more for lack of time.
March 20, 2025
This great collection of essays by a knowledgeable and experienced (Canadian) anthropologist shed new light and perspectives on ideas that are meaningful to me (e.g. an extended history of the ‘land disputes’ in Israel/Palestine).
And the essays live up to the title of the book, going beneath the surface of the ideas presented with a long (temporal) view through an anthropologist/historians lens.
And the essays live up to the title of the book, going beneath the surface of the ideas presented with a long (temporal) view through an anthropologist/historians lens.
July 6, 2024
This was an impulse purchase at the local bookshop. By rights, I should have waited for a birthday or Christmas list (and for paperback), but impulses rarely give way to such sober second thinking. I was keen to read more of Wade Davis’ writing after enjoying The Wayfinders last year, as well as his public lecture in Vancouver last fall. So, this seemed more than apropos.
Unlike the previous read, this collection of 13 essays reflects a grab-bag of topics from modern times rather than an over-arching theme, with most of the these coming from previously published work. Davis dives into modern US and Middle Eastern politics, climate change, and Indigenous relations, with detours into histories from Asia, Canada, and South America. Along the way, the reader learns a great deal about all the topics, with clear, earnest, and rational but not over-bearing opinions and perspectives from the author.
There is much to learn and reflect on here. The powerful and timely, “The Promised Land” contemplates the histories and realities of Israel. Clearly written before 07 October 2023, the essay presents much of the difficult background and current state of the region, presenting no clear answers but lots of questions. In “Of War and Remembrance”, Davis delves into the background of Remembrance Day – how it came to be, what it represents, and the tragedy of our forgetting all of that. Similarly, in “The Crowning of Everest”, he takes the reader back to early days of adventure and exploration (albeit of lands and spaces already discovered by the people already living there) and reflects on the inspiration to be taken from those characters and challenges.
The excellent and lengthy “Beyond Climate Fear and Trepidation” is a sober assessment of the climate “movement” and all the good and ill that it has wrought and continues to wreak; Davis both challenges and endorses various scientific and social elements of the issue, and like with the Israel essay, comes down on the side of the rational, acknowledging that there are no clear or easy answers, just very clear and urgent questions.
My favourite essay was more personally relevant for me. In “The Divine Leaf of Immortality”, Davis takes a deep dive into the history and physiological effects of the coca leaf, as well as the politics and failed policies around the “war on drugs”. By any measure, this war has been a failure of epic proportions, a folly all round. Billions of dollars spent, lives ruined by punitive approaches that do little to address the source of the problem, and current drug use and damage at epidemic proportions – all signs of the failure. But Davis’ focus is on the true lost opportunity. With the demonization of coca as equivalent to its destructive cousin cocaine (and all of its progeny), the world has lost the opportunity and promise of, “…one of the most beneficial plans known to botanical science.” As presented here, coca is indeed a divine leaf.
The personal connection is to my pop. His PhD research was on a specific alkaloid from the coca plant. If I understand his thesis (which is doubtful, but I gave it a try), the physiological effects of the chewing of coca leaves are not linked to the presence or creation of cocaine but to other byproducts created through the mastication. In other words, as Davis presents, the leaf is not neither benign nor malignant, but remains mysterious in its ways.
I didn’t enjoy all the essays here (the one on India was quite a slog), but the ones I did enjoy I found erudite and enlightening.
Unlike the previous read, this collection of 13 essays reflects a grab-bag of topics from modern times rather than an over-arching theme, with most of the these coming from previously published work. Davis dives into modern US and Middle Eastern politics, climate change, and Indigenous relations, with detours into histories from Asia, Canada, and South America. Along the way, the reader learns a great deal about all the topics, with clear, earnest, and rational but not over-bearing opinions and perspectives from the author.
There is much to learn and reflect on here. The powerful and timely, “The Promised Land” contemplates the histories and realities of Israel. Clearly written before 07 October 2023, the essay presents much of the difficult background and current state of the region, presenting no clear answers but lots of questions. In “Of War and Remembrance”, Davis delves into the background of Remembrance Day – how it came to be, what it represents, and the tragedy of our forgetting all of that. Similarly, in “The Crowning of Everest”, he takes the reader back to early days of adventure and exploration (albeit of lands and spaces already discovered by the people already living there) and reflects on the inspiration to be taken from those characters and challenges.
The excellent and lengthy “Beyond Climate Fear and Trepidation” is a sober assessment of the climate “movement” and all the good and ill that it has wrought and continues to wreak; Davis both challenges and endorses various scientific and social elements of the issue, and like with the Israel essay, comes down on the side of the rational, acknowledging that there are no clear or easy answers, just very clear and urgent questions.
My favourite essay was more personally relevant for me. In “The Divine Leaf of Immortality”, Davis takes a deep dive into the history and physiological effects of the coca leaf, as well as the politics and failed policies around the “war on drugs”. By any measure, this war has been a failure of epic proportions, a folly all round. Billions of dollars spent, lives ruined by punitive approaches that do little to address the source of the problem, and current drug use and damage at epidemic proportions – all signs of the failure. But Davis’ focus is on the true lost opportunity. With the demonization of coca as equivalent to its destructive cousin cocaine (and all of its progeny), the world has lost the opportunity and promise of, “…one of the most beneficial plans known to botanical science.” As presented here, coca is indeed a divine leaf.
The personal connection is to my pop. His PhD research was on a specific alkaloid from the coca plant. If I understand his thesis (which is doubtful, but I gave it a try), the physiological effects of the chewing of coca leaves are not linked to the presence or creation of cocaine but to other byproducts created through the mastication. In other words, as Davis presents, the leaf is not neither benign nor malignant, but remains mysterious in its ways.
I didn’t enjoy all the essays here (the one on India was quite a slog), but the ones I did enjoy I found erudite and enlightening.
September 21, 2024
Insightful. Thoughtful. Deep exploration of a wide range of topics. Wise.
The dust jacket calls Davis "one of the foremost thinkers of our time". I agree.
This book is a collection of essays, many written during the Covid Pandemic. As an anthropologist, Davis has a perspective on the human condition and current events that are missed in the popular news and discussions.
The first essay presents the history of America with a critical view, bringing out many of the negative aspects of this history, a view not often expressed in history books. Everyone in America should read this to understand how we got to where we are. It was a powerful revisit of the race riots and assassinations and activism in the years I was growing up.
The second essay justifies anthropology, from an anthropologist. Third is an essay about Israel, the history and cultures that lead up to where that region of the world is today. Again, an important essay for understanding the ongoing conflict in that area.
Fourth is Covid pandemic, and how that unraveled America. Fifth is about the horrors of war, especially the world wars. It is a wonder that humans still involve themselves in such atrocities.
Sixth is the struggles by individuals to climb Everest, and the peoples and countries around this highest mountain. And there is much more in this book. Each essay filled with insights, moving stories, wisdom, and perspectives not often discussed.
The eleventh essay is about climate change. This is long, convoluted, complex, hard to follow at times as it seems to have many tangents. But so to is the topic it tries to describe. Davis calls for a more affirming, hopeful message about climate change while at the same time presenting the hopeless data showing that human greed and nationalism that will prevent any significant action from happening. He closes this essay (available at https://mckenna.academy/beyond-climat...) with:
"But to act in a manner that is meaningful, effective,and truly transformative, we need a language not of desperation and doom but of confidence and determination. On a mission to savethe planet, pessimism is an indulgence, orthodoxy the enemy of invention, despair an insult to the imagination. …our human ingenuity---the adaptive capacity to innovate and invent that has always allowed our species to thrive." -- p. 240
Closing the book are two short essays, one a hopeful message "to a daughter" about growing up, and then one about spirituality. A wonderful book from start to finish, with honest views of history and the human condition, of societies and people, of nation states and of the dreams and hopes of individuals. A book to read slowly and thoughtfully.
The dust jacket calls Davis "one of the foremost thinkers of our time". I agree.
This book is a collection of essays, many written during the Covid Pandemic. As an anthropologist, Davis has a perspective on the human condition and current events that are missed in the popular news and discussions.
The first essay presents the history of America with a critical view, bringing out many of the negative aspects of this history, a view not often expressed in history books. Everyone in America should read this to understand how we got to where we are. It was a powerful revisit of the race riots and assassinations and activism in the years I was growing up.
The second essay justifies anthropology, from an anthropologist. Third is an essay about Israel, the history and cultures that lead up to where that region of the world is today. Again, an important essay for understanding the ongoing conflict in that area.
Fourth is Covid pandemic, and how that unraveled America. Fifth is about the horrors of war, especially the world wars. It is a wonder that humans still involve themselves in such atrocities.
Sixth is the struggles by individuals to climb Everest, and the peoples and countries around this highest mountain. And there is much more in this book. Each essay filled with insights, moving stories, wisdom, and perspectives not often discussed.
The eleventh essay is about climate change. This is long, convoluted, complex, hard to follow at times as it seems to have many tangents. But so to is the topic it tries to describe. Davis calls for a more affirming, hopeful message about climate change while at the same time presenting the hopeless data showing that human greed and nationalism that will prevent any significant action from happening. He closes this essay (available at https://mckenna.academy/beyond-climat...) with:
"But to act in a manner that is meaningful, effective,and truly transformative, we need a language not of desperation and doom but of confidence and determination. On a mission to savethe planet, pessimism is an indulgence, orthodoxy the enemy of invention, despair an insult to the imagination. …our human ingenuity---the adaptive capacity to innovate and invent that has always allowed our species to thrive." -- p. 240
Closing the book are two short essays, one a hopeful message "to a daughter" about growing up, and then one about spirituality. A wonderful book from start to finish, with honest views of history and the human condition, of societies and people, of nation states and of the dreams and hopes of individuals. A book to read slowly and thoughtfully.
August 3, 2024
I discovered this book from watching the author's interview on TVO around the time of publication. I found the interview very engaging, with well thought-out insights on current events under discussion.
I wanted to read more. When I learned my town library put a copy on order, I was the first to put it on hold. As I read, seven other individuals had it on hold.
The writing style for each essay is usually a winding narrative, and gives me fond memories of one professor I had in university. You take copious notes, not quite sure where the lecture is leading, but it all comes together in the end. Reviewing your notes after, you see the methodically-laid building blocks. Just as with my uni lecture notes, for me, these essays deserve a re-read to savour.
Not every essay in this collection spoke to me, but that's a nice thing about an essay collection - the variety. Given the focus of the TVO interview, I thought 'This is America,' and 'The Unraveling of America' would be the draw for me, but I actually found I connected more with the essays in the latter half of the book than those in the front half. The essays I most connected with were 'The Art of Exploring,' 'A New Word for Indigenous,' 'The Divine Leaf of Immortality,' and 'Beyond Climate Fear and Trepidation,' and for different reasons. Some essays provided a fresh perspective on topics familiar or new to me, and some, although familiar topics, share a wealth of facts and statistics in concise, easy-to-digest sections (easily quotable too - I read some climate passages aloud to family).
I would be interested in learning more on some of the specifics mentioned. I would have appreciated a references list or bibliography to get me started.
I wanted to read more. When I learned my town library put a copy on order, I was the first to put it on hold. As I read, seven other individuals had it on hold.
The writing style for each essay is usually a winding narrative, and gives me fond memories of one professor I had in university. You take copious notes, not quite sure where the lecture is leading, but it all comes together in the end. Reviewing your notes after, you see the methodically-laid building blocks. Just as with my uni lecture notes, for me, these essays deserve a re-read to savour.
Not every essay in this collection spoke to me, but that's a nice thing about an essay collection - the variety. Given the focus of the TVO interview, I thought 'This is America,' and 'The Unraveling of America' would be the draw for me, but I actually found I connected more with the essays in the latter half of the book than those in the front half. The essays I most connected with were 'The Art of Exploring,' 'A New Word for Indigenous,' 'The Divine Leaf of Immortality,' and 'Beyond Climate Fear and Trepidation,' and for different reasons. Some essays provided a fresh perspective on topics familiar or new to me, and some, although familiar topics, share a wealth of facts and statistics in concise, easy-to-digest sections (easily quotable too - I read some climate passages aloud to family).
I would be interested in learning more on some of the specifics mentioned. I would have appreciated a references list or bibliography to get me started.
February 12, 2025
Essays on topics neither here nor there.
I kept having the "This is America" by Childish Gambino in my head for the This is America chapter. It was quite fitting but OMG was that a way to start off your collection of essays. Certainly was a choice and it didn't get much cheerier after that. History is bloody, it is important to learn. History is told by the winners and not any of those who were wronged, left behind, or defeated. Davis writes with such ferocity on the subject it was at times unnerving.
Deep diving to see what was beneath a topic is certainly what happened here. The chapter on Everest was a bit redundant but I've heard this ramble so much from the over commercialization of so many places now.
I did enjoy the author pointing out the loss of meaning to words when they are overused. Sustainability, indigenous and more. They lose their potency.
From essays to short stories you like some more than others. I know the world is falling apart. I like to think of myself as that 1% who see a lot of these issues as today's issues and not tomorrows.
These essays bummed me out more than motivated me to do. . . well anything besides close the book.
I kept having the "This is America" by Childish Gambino in my head for the This is America chapter. It was quite fitting but OMG was that a way to start off your collection of essays. Certainly was a choice and it didn't get much cheerier after that. History is bloody, it is important to learn. History is told by the winners and not any of those who were wronged, left behind, or defeated. Davis writes with such ferocity on the subject it was at times unnerving.
Deep diving to see what was beneath a topic is certainly what happened here. The chapter on Everest was a bit redundant but I've heard this ramble so much from the over commercialization of so many places now.
I did enjoy the author pointing out the loss of meaning to words when they are overused. Sustainability, indigenous and more. They lose their potency.
From essays to short stories you like some more than others. I know the world is falling apart. I like to think of myself as that 1% who see a lot of these issues as today's issues and not tomorrows.
These essays bummed me out more than motivated me to do. . . well anything besides close the book.
July 27, 2024
I always feel smarter and more worldly after reading a Wade Davis book. This book of essays covers a wide range of topics, all incredibly detailed. From India, to Everest, to Canadian soldiers in WWI.
'Surly no spiritual text has ever been more selectively read than the New Testament in the hands of white evangelicals of the political right.
'The American cult of the individual denies not just community but the very idea of society. No one owes anything to anyone.'
'What every prosperous and successful democracy deems to be fundamental rights - universal health care, equal access to quality public education, a social safety net for the elderly and infirm - America dismisses as socialist indulgences, as signs of weakness.'
'Surly no spiritual text has ever been more selectively read than the New Testament in the hands of white evangelicals of the political right.
'The American cult of the individual denies not just community but the very idea of society. No one owes anything to anyone.'
'What every prosperous and successful democracy deems to be fundamental rights - universal health care, equal access to quality public education, a social safety net for the elderly and infirm - America dismisses as socialist indulgences, as signs of weakness.'
September 24, 2024
This was a great collection of essays but a couple were particularly good. "The Unraveling of America" was a searing expose of how the U.S. handled the Covid pandemic relative to other nations around the world (spoiler: not as well). Also "Beyond Climate Fear and Trepidation" was a re-examining of the way we currently look at our approach to climate change. By no means a climate denier, Davis looks at how the radical changes proposed by "net zero" have far ranging impacts (cost, displacement) and how its impact may not be as dramatic as first thought. He looks at how by eradicating poverty and how we populate our land may have more and longer lasting benefits. I'm not doing it justice, but it's worth a read.
January 14, 2025
"The traveler today walks the same spiritual ground as the pilgrim of old."
Was disappointed with these essays (too much name dropping and not personal thoughts); but I enjoy his personal experiences of integrating into foreign cultures. He was my go-to resource for ANTH essays, so it makes sense he'd have his own go-to resources (but I'd get marked down if all I did was throw other people's info and not "expand"). Enjoyed chapter on coca leaf (and how US just wants it destroyed because cocaine addiction; but in Amazon, it's a health plant of "immortality"); this is chapter where find his personal experience. The rest I'm sure were already filler in other texts because ends with chapter on sacred.
Was disappointed with these essays (too much name dropping and not personal thoughts); but I enjoy his personal experiences of integrating into foreign cultures. He was my go-to resource for ANTH essays, so it makes sense he'd have his own go-to resources (but I'd get marked down if all I did was throw other people's info and not "expand"). Enjoyed chapter on coca leaf (and how US just wants it destroyed because cocaine addiction; but in Amazon, it's a health plant of "immortality"); this is chapter where find his personal experience. The rest I'm sure were already filler in other texts because ends with chapter on sacred.
Read
November 13, 2024A short volume of essays. Some of these essays are on subjects Davis has written on in longer form such as exploration and mountain climbing, they are well written. A few were less worthy. A piece on the word indigenous to describe culture is somewhat slight. I don't share his interest in religion and so skipped the essay on India. By far the best essay is near the end on climate change. The first two-thirds of this essay make frustrating reading but the last five or six pages on ideas for mitigation and adaptation to climate change are excellent. I was writing down bits of this so I wouldn't forget it.
May 15, 2024
I'm a big fan of University of British Columbia Anthropology Professor Wade Davis's writing. In the spirit of Barry Lopez, Davis writes what he sees of the world. In this essay collection, his 24th book, Davis compiles observations on a variety of topics-India, Jerusalem, coco leaves, and climate fear-and somehow makes it into a collection. I was most interested in reading "The Unraveling of America," which appeared in The Rolling Stone four years ago during the pandemic, when the idea that America was unraveling was still fresh, rather than just grueling and tiresome.
July 7, 2024
I enjoyed this collection of essays because they were varied and thought provoking, dealing with the modern world as well as anthropological topics such as coca, the sacred plant of the Inca. Davis writes in a way that’s easy to read and pulls you along. With a book of essays, you can read one, think about it for a while and then read another.
July 29, 2024
I really enjoyed reading these essays from Wade Davis. Some covered familiar territory, but several gave me appreciation for and curiosity of people and places that I was previously unfamiliar with. Davis's writing is ultimately hopeful while still being pragmatic about the challenges we face as a people and a planet.
Would definitely recommend to all curious readers.
Would definitely recommend to all curious readers.
August 25, 2024
A wildly varied collection of essays, varied in topic but also varied in accessibility. Wade Davis continues to be a heroic advocate for respecting the myriad of ways that humans live in their world. The first essay in the book, a history of race relations in the USA, is alone worth the price of the book.
September 8, 2024
This book was selected for my book club, and it provided lots of different topics for conversation. I am glad to have read it while the essays are so current.
I recall reading The Unravelling of America back when it was published during Covid. I particularly liked Why Anthropology Matters, The Crowning of Everest, and Beyond Climate Fear and Trepidation.
I recall reading The Unravelling of America back when it was published during Covid. I particularly liked Why Anthropology Matters, The Crowning of Everest, and Beyond Climate Fear and Trepidation.
May 14, 2025
I read the chapters that interested me and for which I had time. The book is due at the library tomorrow. Essential chapters: 1. This is America (on the history of racism and white nationalism); 3. The Promised Land (on Israel, Zionism, and Palestine); 4. The Unraveling of America; 5. Of War and Remembrance; 9. A New Word for Indigenous; and 11. Beyond Climate Fear and Trepidation.
December 31, 2025
Honestly, if you're already interested and even minimally knowledgeable on the subjects at hand, you won't hear anything new... except for the few timeswhen you will hear a new idea; you'll wish you didn't.
The fact that the intro self-congratulates on "looking beneath the surface of things" should have been the only red flag I needed.
It's not a bad book per se, but it should be skipped in favour of reading directly from people affected by or deeper-ly invested in the issues at hand.
The fact that the intro self-congratulates on "looking beneath the surface of things" should have been the only red flag I needed.
It's not a bad book per se, but it should be skipped in favour of reading directly from people affected by or deeper-ly invested in the issues at hand.
Read
May 29, 2024Zero stars and DNF.
It is a collection of essays, written during the lockdown. The author suffers from extreme verbal diarrhea. Often I found myself asking what is the point of this paragraph? His similes are too long. He tries too hard to seem poetic, so the writing comes out as flowery woo.
It is a collection of essays, written during the lockdown. The author suffers from extreme verbal diarrhea. Often I found myself asking what is the point of this paragraph? His similes are too long. He tries too hard to seem poetic, so the writing comes out as flowery woo.
November 8, 2024
Brilliant essays on wide ranging topics from the state of America to climate change to the misunderstanding of coca leaves. Each essay is meticulously researched and presents new ideas and balanced opinions.
April 15, 2025
A clear, highly-experienced, and unapolagetic voice of reason and vision. Thoughtful and responsible.
The truth can be ugly at times. And at times it is necessary to be reminded.
Essays contained within are worth reading more than once.
The truth can be ugly at times. And at times it is necessary to be reminded.
Essays contained within are worth reading more than once.
June 4, 2024
Profoundly engaging, entertaing and informative.
September 22, 2024
Everyone should read this book!
December 2, 2024
Great book filled with so many ideas to ponder and discuss.
December 28, 2024
Many insightful and delightful essays. Thank goodness for a modern anthropologist. I took my time to savor and reflect on this one.
April 8, 2025
Concise essays on a variety of topics. This should be the template for all journalism.
April 26, 2025
The first 6 articles are excellent, about America, WW1, Everest and the importance of anthropology. *****
May 18, 2025
Very thoughtful and thought provoking- thanks have the book and the audio for later reference!
May 23, 2025
Hearing an older Canadian refer to the United States as "the meth addicts in the apartment downstairs" BEFORE 2025 is somewhat amazing. Imagine if this had been written now...
July 9, 2025
Insightful, relevant, thought provoking: I would love to sit down with this gentleman for one hour and ask him about life, the universe and everything.
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