The Green Mantle: An Investigation Into Our Lost Knowledge of Plants - Hardcover

Jordan, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0304355895 ISBN 13: 9780304355891

Publisher: UNKNO, 2001

Synopsis

“Through Jordan’s eyes....[w]itness Cro-Magnon marveling at plant life emerging from a winter’s thaw, medieval use of herbs and roots, and Mayan priests’ mythologizing of sacred rain forest trees. All trace humanity’s devotion to plants.”—Booklist. “Fascinating descriptions and aptly selected photographs inspire.”—Napra Review.

About this title

Reviews

The "green mantle," an august yet apt epithet for vegetative life on earth, is a term Jordan incisively applies in his erudite examination of humanity's interrelationship with the plant kingdom, from prehistoric times to the contemporary era. Jordan's sagacious and singular approach assesses the role of plants throughout history and within diverse societies, exploring the spiritual and symbolic powers that we have have bestowed upon them and their destruction we have paradoxically wrought. Through Jordan's eyes, we witness Cro-Magnon marveling at nascent plant life emerging from a winter's thaw, medieval use of herbs and roots, and Mayan priests' mythologizing of sacred rainforest trees. All contribute to a pattern tracing humanity's metaphysical devotion to plants that has formed the basis for religious, medical, recreational, and economic practices. Although our belief in plants' transcendent powers has not decreased, our destruction of the plant kingdom has been thoroughly relentless and ubiquitous. Armed with a trenchant historical perspective, Jordan admonishes us to redress our interrelationship or risk damaging the green mantle forever. Carol Haggas
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Edition details

• Publisher: UNKNO
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0304355895
• ISBN 13: 9780304355891
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288