What do you think?
Rate this book
The Coronation: Essays from the Covid Moment
*2023 Nautilus Book Award Gold Medal Rising To The Moment-Focused COVID Pandemic
"There are moments in our history in which the art of the written word captures the extraordinary beauty of the human condition as it hangs suspended in tenuous polarity at a tipping point of evolution. The Coronation is one of these moments."—Zach Bush, MD
Controversy and despair, hope and isolation, courage and division, withdrawal and reunion. How can we find meaning as we emerge from the troubled time of Covid?
In The Coronation, social philosopher Charles Eisenstein presents key building blocks of post-Covid sense-making. These unforgettable essays narrate the disintegration of an old normal, and old reality, even, Eisenstein says, an old mythology. Controversial when they first appeared, these essays—with new introductions to each by the author—ring with relevancy as the charge dissipates from previously hot-button issues. Now, as we survey the post-Covid landscape, we have the opportunity to build something more sound, more whole, and more sane.
The Coronation brings new clarity to a vital question whose time has What world shall we choose now?
"An intelligent, compassionate, and uncompromising book . . . without falling into either partisan hysteria or a shameless defense of power. This is a necessary and brave read."—Paul Kingsnorth, author of The Wake
*Individually, these essays have been read, shared, and discussed by tens of thousands of people around the globe, but are collected together and bound here for the first time!
"There are moments in our history in which the art of the written word captures the extraordinary beauty of the human condition as it hangs suspended in tenuous polarity at a tipping point of evolution. The Coronation is one of these moments."—Zach Bush, MD
Controversy and despair, hope and isolation, courage and division, withdrawal and reunion. How can we find meaning as we emerge from the troubled time of Covid?
In The Coronation, social philosopher Charles Eisenstein presents key building blocks of post-Covid sense-making. These unforgettable essays narrate the disintegration of an old normal, and old reality, even, Eisenstein says, an old mythology. Controversial when they first appeared, these essays—with new introductions to each by the author—ring with relevancy as the charge dissipates from previously hot-button issues. Now, as we survey the post-Covid landscape, we have the opportunity to build something more sound, more whole, and more sane.
The Coronation brings new clarity to a vital question whose time has What world shall we choose now?
"An intelligent, compassionate, and uncompromising book . . . without falling into either partisan hysteria or a shameless defense of power. This is a necessary and brave read."—Paul Kingsnorth, author of The Wake
*Individually, these essays have been read, shared, and discussed by tens of thousands of people around the globe, but are collected together and bound here for the first time!
185 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 28, 2022
About the author
Charles Eisenstein
27 books760 followersCharles Eisenstein is a teacher, speaker, and writer focusing on themes of civilization, consciousness, money, and human cultural evolution. His writings on the web magazine Reality Sandwich have generated a vast online following; he speaks frequently at conferences and other events, and gives numerous interviews on radio and podcasts. Writing in Ode magazine's "25 Intelligent Optimists" issue, David Korten (author of When Corporations Rule the World) called Eisenstein "one of the up-and-coming great minds of our time." Eisenstein graduated from Yale University in 1989 with a degree in Mathematics and Philosophy, and spent the next ten years as a Chinese-English translator. He currently lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and serves on the faculty of Goddard College.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 21, 2023
Charles Eisenstein has truly put together a very thought provoking and inspirational set of essays that he wrote during the Covid “pandemic” with his book The Coronation.
It was really interesting to go back and revisit the troubled times of Covid through his eyes and with his reasoning. As usual, Eisenstein had his finger on the pulse of what was happening as most folks were struggling to comprehend the dynamics at play.
I really enjoyed how he didn’t pull any punches while describing how censorship, disinformation, and propaganda all have a common ally: mob psychology and the habit of dehumanizing others.
Regardless of where you stand on vaccines, mandates, social distancing etc, we will get nowhere close to the better world we all know is possible if we keep othering and dehumanizing people who don’t share our views.
Eisenstein reminds us that, contrary to partisan fears, humanizing folks makes us more effective, not less, in serving goals that must ultimately unite us all: healing, justice, and peace.
We all think that the “pandemic” that threw everything out of whack made us want to go back to the normal before Covid but, deep down inside, we all know that the “normal” before Covid was not healthy and sustainable and we must change course.
As Eisenstein puts it, normal has been a ubiquitous death phobia that worships at the alter of safety and would sacrifice anything for the promise of security, even at the cost of civil liberties, personal freedom, and community self-determination.
Another theme that Charles so eloquently illuminates is that you never change things by fighting the existing reality. We must build a new model that makes the old one obsolete.
We are at a crossroads and get to choose which path to take. Which story to tell. The old story is no longer serving us. Let’s tell a new one.
It was really interesting to go back and revisit the troubled times of Covid through his eyes and with his reasoning. As usual, Eisenstein had his finger on the pulse of what was happening as most folks were struggling to comprehend the dynamics at play.
I really enjoyed how he didn’t pull any punches while describing how censorship, disinformation, and propaganda all have a common ally: mob psychology and the habit of dehumanizing others.
Regardless of where you stand on vaccines, mandates, social distancing etc, we will get nowhere close to the better world we all know is possible if we keep othering and dehumanizing people who don’t share our views.
Eisenstein reminds us that, contrary to partisan fears, humanizing folks makes us more effective, not less, in serving goals that must ultimately unite us all: healing, justice, and peace.
We all think that the “pandemic” that threw everything out of whack made us want to go back to the normal before Covid but, deep down inside, we all know that the “normal” before Covid was not healthy and sustainable and we must change course.
As Eisenstein puts it, normal has been a ubiquitous death phobia that worships at the alter of safety and would sacrifice anything for the promise of security, even at the cost of civil liberties, personal freedom, and community self-determination.
Another theme that Charles so eloquently illuminates is that you never change things by fighting the existing reality. We must build a new model that makes the old one obsolete.
We are at a crossroads and get to choose which path to take. Which story to tell. The old story is no longer serving us. Let’s tell a new one.
May 1, 2025
His critiques of those on all sides of the covid moment have aged like fine, fine wine. His vision for the future is beautiful but too romantic and utopian for my paradigm.
June 20, 2025
I’ll just start by saying that I think Eisenstein is an excellent writer. He has a quiet but unshakeable humility and courage that comes through in his words that inspire me. It’s almost poetic at times.
I must have read this book exactly when I needed to, because I was bookmarking and underlining almost every other page lol. He puts words to concepts and ideas I’ve either consciously or unconsciously felt but have not been able to describe out loud.
Some of what stuck with me:
• How the anti-racism activism we see everywhere nowadays is sometimes actually counterproductive to its own aims. We see echos of colonization in the subtle but evident ‘cultural superiority’ of people’s actions and perceptions of other races. There’s so much focus placed on racial inequality and giving opportunity to those in underrepresented groups - “but is that breaking the monopoly of whiteness, or is that to become white themselves?” He talks about “meeting those needs outside the hegemonic white model” and that “racial healing (and reparation) is much bigger than inclusion in the white-constructed and whitewashed world.”
• How the religion of our time is science, and while we demean and condescend other cultures for being “less developed” in their scientific, medical, technological, societal ways, we’re just one of them.
(eg. loved the description of COVID ritualistic garb and procedures; his point being that it’s not any different than ancient tribes and the superstitions and beliefs that made up their reality at the time).
• I think my favourite essay was the ‘Life of the Festival’; so fascinating to learn how the Celts understood the importance (psychological importance) of breaking order and structure every so often in order to remain ‘sane’ in this highly unconventional, artificial societal life we live in.
“Mass insanity comes from the denial of what everyone knows is true” - so there is a function and a psychological need for occasional disruption and break from the social order (which is what we witnessed with the 2022 Truckers Convoy).
While parts of his essays triggered me and stirred up old emotions, as someone who went through similar challenges and confrontations during the pandemic, they also gave me strength and courage and reminded me I’m not alone in my path towards a more beautiful world, as Eisenstein describes. And if someone like him, a seemingly intelligent, rationale, sensitive, curious and humble soul, could go through what he did and still come out believing in love and respecting each other…. then it gives me hope that I can do.
As he also brings up, it’s so easy to fall prey to the same mental tactics of ‘us vs them’ and judge the other side for everything you go against. But unknowingly this just feeds the perceptual war machine that never ends.
We need to open our minds and stay curious and humble in the face of new world views, cultural ways, scientific findings and alternative medicines even if they have not been part of our conventional reality and history. This is how we learn, and grow and connect and shape a better humanity.
Overall I thought this was a thoughtfully written book that urges us to come back to real human values around connection, love kindness, respect. Highly recommend for anyone and everyone in this challenging but beautiful world we live in today.
I must have read this book exactly when I needed to, because I was bookmarking and underlining almost every other page lol. He puts words to concepts and ideas I’ve either consciously or unconsciously felt but have not been able to describe out loud.
Some of what stuck with me:
• How the anti-racism activism we see everywhere nowadays is sometimes actually counterproductive to its own aims. We see echos of colonization in the subtle but evident ‘cultural superiority’ of people’s actions and perceptions of other races. There’s so much focus placed on racial inequality and giving opportunity to those in underrepresented groups - “but is that breaking the monopoly of whiteness, or is that to become white themselves?” He talks about “meeting those needs outside the hegemonic white model” and that “racial healing (and reparation) is much bigger than inclusion in the white-constructed and whitewashed world.”
• How the religion of our time is science, and while we demean and condescend other cultures for being “less developed” in their scientific, medical, technological, societal ways, we’re just one of them.
(eg. loved the description of COVID ritualistic garb and procedures; his point being that it’s not any different than ancient tribes and the superstitions and beliefs that made up their reality at the time).
• I think my favourite essay was the ‘Life of the Festival’; so fascinating to learn how the Celts understood the importance (psychological importance) of breaking order and structure every so often in order to remain ‘sane’ in this highly unconventional, artificial societal life we live in.
“Mass insanity comes from the denial of what everyone knows is true” - so there is a function and a psychological need for occasional disruption and break from the social order (which is what we witnessed with the 2022 Truckers Convoy).
While parts of his essays triggered me and stirred up old emotions, as someone who went through similar challenges and confrontations during the pandemic, they also gave me strength and courage and reminded me I’m not alone in my path towards a more beautiful world, as Eisenstein describes. And if someone like him, a seemingly intelligent, rationale, sensitive, curious and humble soul, could go through what he did and still come out believing in love and respecting each other…. then it gives me hope that I can do.
As he also brings up, it’s so easy to fall prey to the same mental tactics of ‘us vs them’ and judge the other side for everything you go against. But unknowingly this just feeds the perceptual war machine that never ends.
We need to open our minds and stay curious and humble in the face of new world views, cultural ways, scientific findings and alternative medicines even if they have not been part of our conventional reality and history. This is how we learn, and grow and connect and shape a better humanity.
Overall I thought this was a thoughtfully written book that urges us to come back to real human values around connection, love kindness, respect. Highly recommend for anyone and everyone in this challenging but beautiful world we live in today.
June 11, 2023
My guess would be a chunk of the population would not be thrilled with reading this book, but the thoughts brought up in this essay are fair to contemplate after the years of the coronavirus pandemic. This book is a collection of essays written throughout 2020 - 2022 and you can see the tone and thoughts change as time goes on. Regardless of your thoughts on the pandemic response, this book contains great thoughts on how we as individuals and as a society should act going forward. There will be other crises, whether real or pushed by those in power, and hopefully we have all learned through the experiences of these past few years which will equip us to handle whatever comes our way more consciously in the future.
November 4, 2022
A philosopher looks at our Covid experience. I've been following Eisenstein's essays for nearly three years, so the content wasn't a surprise; what was notable was his transparent shift of thought process throughout that time. I was touched by the sense of personal rigor, his unwillingness to let himself off the hook. A role model: where am I kidding myself?
June 5, 2023
Deep and inspirational
Felt strangely like a direct encounter with a wise and timeless sage. Highly recommended to all who practice open mindedness and heartedness. Charles is a modern day non-dual guide repeatedly pointing to the trap inherent to the myth of separation and egoic supremacy.
Felt strangely like a direct encounter with a wise and timeless sage. Highly recommended to all who practice open mindedness and heartedness. Charles is a modern day non-dual guide repeatedly pointing to the trap inherent to the myth of separation and egoic supremacy.
March 22, 2025
I think I’ve found a new favorite social Philosopher. For the first time in a long time I’ve found a book I agreed with about 50percent of the time and disagreed with 50 percent of the time and that’s okay, which I feel is the strong take home of the entire set of essays. Looking forward to reading more especially in times of current Administration.
March 7, 2023
Read this book.
June 26, 2024
Only thing worse than media oligopolies is arbitrary government intervention into them. The only power our federal government has to police them would come from these companies themselves. The same companies who have militarized information…to their own benefit.
A top down hegemony of what constitutes disinformation is the creation of economic instability. Freedom of speech, or lack thereof, spreads mimetically. Allowing for smaller voices to speak, regardless of forum, is the only way to allow self correction.
Questioning power is the vestige of press and speech. Viral conspiracy is not to be policed. The spirit of disinformations inception is expressive of the media apparatus that created it. To make all information about any one thing is bad. Even if, and especially if, that one thing is protecting the state.
Modern terrorism, viruses, and information all act in similar ways. The higher you stack hegemony the more proliferation against that hegemony you will get. If you're in the business of life or death, these are the trustworthy variables of recidivism. It can’t be negated that “life” and “death” are self-correcting concepts. The more intervention into them, the more proliferation washes away what seemed like progress.
…See also “state of exception”, “bare life”, and “biopolitics” if you’re keeping track…oh and don’t forget Megadeth’s “Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!”…to round out our source information.
A top down hegemony of what constitutes disinformation is the creation of economic instability. Freedom of speech, or lack thereof, spreads mimetically. Allowing for smaller voices to speak, regardless of forum, is the only way to allow self correction.
Questioning power is the vestige of press and speech. Viral conspiracy is not to be policed. The spirit of disinformations inception is expressive of the media apparatus that created it. To make all information about any one thing is bad. Even if, and especially if, that one thing is protecting the state.
Modern terrorism, viruses, and information all act in similar ways. The higher you stack hegemony the more proliferation against that hegemony you will get. If you're in the business of life or death, these are the trustworthy variables of recidivism. It can’t be negated that “life” and “death” are self-correcting concepts. The more intervention into them, the more proliferation washes away what seemed like progress.
…See also “state of exception”, “bare life”, and “biopolitics” if you’re keeping track…oh and don’t forget Megadeth’s “Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!”…to round out our source information.
September 6, 2022
Once again Charles Eisenstein delivers a well-written and thought-provoking collection of essays that I thoroughly devoured and pondered.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews