How We Got Here: Melville Plus Nietzsche Divided by the Square Root of (Allan) Bloom Times Žižek (Squared) Equals Bannon

by David Shields

Kellyanne Conway, Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Q-Anon, Fox News, etc., etc., etc. have kidnapped the last century of intellectual thought and philosophical poststructuralism, quantum physics, deconstruction, the current "crisis" in "nonfiction"-journalism- media-"truthiness." If the perceiver, by his very presence, alters what's perceived, Steve Bannon, Vladimir Putin, Vladislav Surkov (performance-artist-turned-Putin-strategist), et al. have quite consciously created--are all still quite consciously creating on a day-by-day basis--a universe in which nothing is true and therefore public discourse is, in effect, over. Dominion Voting Systems was founded to rig elections for Hugo Chavez; Italian space lasers modified voting machine data; the FBI staged the January 6 this is a strategy that goes back at least as far as Dostoevsky's underground man. God is dead, so everything is permitted. Or is it? How We Got Here - provocative, accessible, persuasive, and addictive - is a crucial intervention in which David Shields argues that Melville plus Nietzsche divided by the square root of (Allan) Bloom times Žižek (squared) equals Bannon.

Genres: Philosophy

114 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 24, 2024

About the author

David Shields is the author of fourteen books, including Reality Hunger (Knopf, 2010), which was named one of the best books of 2010 by more than thirty publications. GQ called it "the most provocative, brain-rewiring book of 2010"; the New York Times called it "a mind-bending manifesto." His previous book, The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead (Knopf, 2008), was a New York Times bestseller. His other books include Black Planet: Facing Race During an NBA Season, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; Remote: Reflections on Life in the Shadow of Celebrity, winner of the PEN/Revson Award; and Dead Languages: A Novel, winner of the PEN Syndicated Fiction Award. His essays and stories have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Harper's, Yale Review, Believer, Village Voice, Salon, Slate, McSweeney's, and Utne Reader; he's written reviews for the New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times Book Review, Boston Globe, and Philadelphia Inquirer. His work has been translated into fifteen languages.

Reviews

[HoneyBunny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3/5 stars

I’m thankful to NetGalley and Sublation Press for the ARC of David Shields' How We Got Here , though I’m left with mixed feelings about the book. While it contains a lot of interesting material, it feels like a collection of quotes with some random, Wikipedia-esque mini-paragraphs scattered between them. It often left me wondering: what exactly is the point?

The book never quite feels complete, more like an excerpt from a philosophy-history text rather than a standalone work. There’s not a lot of original substance here, and Shields seems to rush from point A to point B, not spending enough time on the journey itself. As a result, the narrative feels rushed and, at times, like a one-sided discussion. It wasn’t until page 109—out of 152—that the author reasks the core question and actually attempts to answer it. Until that moment, it reads more like a long ramble.

There’s also a surprising fixation on the Trump phenomenon, which felt somewhat out of place. The book, at times, gave me the sense that it might have been the early storyboard for Shields' film.

That said, despite these frustrations, How We Got Here is still an interesting read. If you’re looking for something unconventional with a lot of quotes and scattered musings, you might enjoy it. But if you’re looking for a clear, cohesive argument, you might be left wanting more.

[Julien L · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a lot to unpack here. It follows the same formal organization as Shields's other book, Reality Hunger, and I think what I enjoy about it is the open interpretability of what exactly the argument is. There are parts where he makes it clear, but other parts where the various quotations and how they link together that render pieces ambiguous, which is where the fun is. Moreover, I want to try doing this kind of collage essay with my students.

In terms of its weaknesses, I feel like the book is sparse. I wish there had just been more, and I wonder if some facets of literary fields like New Journalism could also be brought into this space to make it a little more comprehensive.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

How We Got Here is essential reading (along with it's companion film/documentary, available on Amazon Prime). The book has been described as a Ted-talk-on-speed, a thrilling sideshow, an unnerving intellectual history of the last 170 years. But, as the film also explores, it's a search for truth in a postmodern world.

Like other work by David Shields, the book incorporates quotations from famous people, here in the historical context, and builds thematically as well. It's provocative. This isn't a how-to-manual or simple historical summary. What is truth? Why is it so easily manipulated?

[Kevin Thumpston]

Random quotes throughout history. That's all I have to say.

[Jerzy Baranowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

No wreszcie coś skończyłem. Mała ksiazeczka o bardzo interesującej strukturze. Prawie same cytaty, które has ono pokazują, że to gdzie jesteśmy w świecie było nieuniknione, wszystko szło w tym kierunku a trump I populiści to to na co jesteśmy skazani. Nie aż tak bardzo przybijające ale daje do myślenia.