review
A journalistic work of international scope, Christian Jakob’s ENDZEIT is a well-balanced and insightful analysis of current thinking about a global apocalypse and the future of life on Earth. Written with great intelligence and engaging wit, it looks at the broad range of challenges facing humanity, offering a timely antidote to the widespread despair often felt in popular discourse and the media.
Divided into 23 brief yet illuminating chapters, ENDZEIT is a comprehensive survey of the numerous threats that may lead us to the “end of time”. Dominated by climate change and its attendant problems – the heating of the oceans, mass migration of humans – the list also includes nuclear conflict, a further pandemic and the collapse of financial systems. Jakob references many works of German literature, as well as English- and French-language sources, offering a distinct perspective on international issues.
Besides examining the “polycrisis” humanity is currently facing, Jakob looks at proposals for solving its various components –at both the global/political and individual level. We thus encounter chronicles of migration and “prepping”, as well as interrogations of the psychology behind political choices. Jakob is equally at home writing about the potential impact on democracy of crisis situations, reviewing the ways in which concern for the future is affecting the younger generation’s relationship with their parents. ENDZEIT is further strengthened by a discussion of the media’s role in suppressing facts and spreading fear, as well as a review of apocalyptic predictions that surface in religious belief systems.
As a news editor for taz who has written book-length studies of migration, right-wing extremism and European dictatorships, Christian Jakob is well versed in his subject matter, and his accessible prose style makes ENDZEIT a truly engaging and informative read. Often sobering yet not without hope, this is an important contribution to the discussion about our shared future that will appeal to both general and more academic readerships.
Find out more here: https://www.aufbau-verlage.de/ch-links-verlag/endzeit/978-3-96289-206-7
All recommendations from Autumn 2023