알라딘: 에코토피아 비긴스

알라딘: 에코토피아 비긴스




에코토피아 비긴스
어니스트 칼렌바크 (지은이),최재경 (옮긴이)도솔2009-08-24원제 : Ecotopia Emerging







정가
16,000원
판매가
14,400원 (10%, 1,600원 할인)


Sales Point : 77

9.3100자평(1)리뷰(2)
이 책 어때요?

512쪽
152*223mm (A5신)
717g
책소개
1981년에 출간된 어니스트 칼렌바크의 <에코토피아 비긴스>(원서명: Ecotopia Emerging)는 저자가 그보다 6년 전에 출간한 생태주의 유토피아 소설 <에코토피아>(원서명: Ecotopia)의 속편이다. 그러나 내용상으로는 전편의 내용보다 앞선 시기를 다룬 프리퀄이다.

환경ㆍ생태 관련 분야의 핵심 키워드인 ‘에코토피아’라는 용어의 기원이 된 <에코토피아>는 미국 워싱턴 주, 캘리포니아 주 북부, 오리건 주가 미국연방에서 탈퇴하여 세운 독립국가 ‘에코토피아’에서 자신들만의 환경친화적인 법률과 제도를 만들고 이상적인 삶을 살아가는 사람들을 그린 가상소설이자 미래소설로 출간 당시 출판계뿐 아니라 미국사회 전반에 화제가 되었다.

그로부터 6년 후 저자는 정치ㆍ역사ㆍ경제ㆍ환경ㆍ과학기술제도 등 미국사회 전반에 관한 보다 전문적이고 심층적인 고찰을 거쳐 <에코토피아>의 프리퀄인 <에코토피아 비긴스>를 완성한다. <에코토피아 비긴스>는 어떻게 해서 미국 북서부의 세 주가 미연방으로부터 탈퇴해서 ‘에코토피아’라는 나라를 건국하게 되는지, 그 동기와 과정을 구체적으로 그려내고 있다. 가히 혁명적이라 할 수 있는 이 과정은 미국이 영국으로부터 독립하여 건국을 이루기까지의 과정을 방불케 한다.


책속에서



P. 14쪽 베라 올웬 소스를 낮은 불에 올려두고, 베라는 신문을 다시 훑어보려 자리에 앉았다. 경제면에 실린 기사 하나가 소름끼쳐서 그것을 다시 점검하고 싶었다. 동부의 어느 식품회사가 신선한 채소와 과일의 판매를 단계적으로 폐지하겠다는 계획을 발표했다는 기사였다. 땅딸막새 보이는 남자 임원이 말하기를 대중들이 신선한 제품을 고가에 사는 것을 꺼리기 ... 더보기
P. 22쪽, 퓨젯 1호 퓨젯1호기의 비상 냉각시스템을 마지막으로 총점검하면서 엑스레이 기술자들은 초기 균열이거나 다시 용접한 흔적일지 모를 희미한 금을 확인햇다. 검사 감독관은 그 금이 용접의 흔적이라고 판단했다. 그는 부하직원들이 이 판단에 의문을 제기하자 이렇게 대답했다. “자네들은 지금 뭘 말하고 있는지도 몰라. 이런 금은 수천 번도 넘게 봤어. ... 더보기
P. 141쪽, GNP 아이러니 “…경제학자들은 우리 경제에 실제로 일어나고 있는 문제에 관해 자기들끼리 서로 옳다고 격렬하게 싸워대지만, 대부분은 꾸준히 움직이면서도 대략 똑같은 수준을 유지하고 모든 사람을 위해 충분한 물품을 공급하는 사회가 번영하는 것을 보고 섬뜩함을 느낍니다. 그런 아이디어는 어쩌면 합리적인 것으로 들릴지는 모르지만 과거에 팽창주의자들에게... 더보기
P. 331쪽, ‘은둔’ 여행 갑자기 야영지를 둘러싼 숲이 모두 붉ㄹ해 보이기 시작했다. 도대체 누가 그녀의 노트를, 아무 죄 없는 노트를 원한단 말인가? 그게 연구 기록이 담긴 노트라고 생각하지 않는 이상. 그것 말고 다른 이유가 있을 수 있단 말인가? 심장이 마구 뛰기 시작했다. 온몸에서 아드레날린이 분비되고 있었다. 그녀의 생물학적 메커니즘이 전투를 준... 더보기
P. 373쪽, 추락한 헬리콥터 제이미가 땀으로 뒤덮인 창백한 얼굴을 하고 천막집 안으로 뛰어 들어왔다. 그러고는 자신의 옷을 챙겨 입었다. “어서 여기를 빠져나가야 해, 빨리! 저 나쁜 새끼들이 또 우리 땅에 농약을 뿌려대잖아!” 아무렇게나 옷을 걸쳐 입고는 네 명 모두 스프레이 구름을 피해 길을 달려내려갔다. 그들이 달려가고 있을 때 북동쪽에서 희미한 폭발... 더보기
"자유로운 국민은 반드시 그들의 이상을 실현하는 정부를 두어야 합니다. 우리는 지구상에 있는 다른 생명체와 조화를 이루는 평화로운 세상에서 편안함을 느끼고 싶습니다. ...... 자멸적인 국가 정부, 국민을 살찌우지 않고 삼키는 일에 전념하는 정부는 충성심을 잃게 마련입니다. ... 친구 여러분, 사랑하는 친구 여러분..... 더보기 - 나는 자유다
"자유로운 국민은 반드시 그들의 이상을 실현하는 정부를 두어야 합니다. 우리는 지구상에 있는 다른 생명체와 조화를 이루는 평화로운 세상에서 편안함을 느끼고 싶습니다. ...... 자멸적인 국가 정부, 국민을 살찌우지 않고 삼키는 일에 전념하는 정부는 충성심을 잃게 마련입니다. ... 친구 여러분, 사랑하는 친구 여러분..... 더보기 - 나는 자유다


추천글


이 책을 추천한 다른 분들 :
한겨레 신문
- 한겨레 신문 2009년 9월 5일 교양 새책



저자 및 역자소개
어니스트 칼렌바크 (Callenbach, Ernest) (지은이)
저자파일
최고의 작품 투표
신간알림 신청

1975년 《에코토피아》라는 책을 통해 환경 문제를 바라보는 새로운 시각을 제시한 어니스트 칼렌바크는 캘리포이나 주립대학교 출판부에서 내는 계간 영화 학술지 필름 쿼터리의 편집장으로 활동한 것을 비롯해, 과학, 예술, 영화에 관련된 다양한 책들을 편집한 실천적인 생태·환경운동가다. 주요 저서로는 《에코토피아(Ecotopia)》, 《에코토피아 비긴스(Ecotopia Emerging)》, 《생태학 개념어 사전(Ecology: A Pocket Guide)》 등이 있다.



최근작 : <추첨 민주주의>,<에코토피아 비긴스>,<생태학 개념어 사전> … 총 29종 (모두보기)

최재경 (옮긴이)
저자파일
최고의 작품 투표
신간알림 신청

1971년생. 마산에서 태어나고 대구에서 자랐으며, 서울대학교 국어국문학과와 미국 인디애나 대학교 신문방송학 대학원을 졸업했다. 소설가, 프리랜서 기자, 번역가, 다큐멘터리 필름메이커로 일했다. 장편소설 《반복》 《플레이어》, 단편소설집《숨쉬는 새우깡》, 에세이 《여자 서른, 자신 있게 사랑하고 당당하게 결혼하라》 《신여우의 기술》을 출간했다. 옮긴 책으로 《까마귀의 마음》 《글쓰기 수업》 《미술시간에 가르쳐주지 않는 예술가들의 사생활》 《위대한 희망-아프리카 여성 최초의 노벨평화상 수상자 왕가리 마타이의 가슴 뜨거운 삶》 등이 있... 더보기


최근작 : <新 여우의 기술>,<플레이어>,<여자 서른, 자신있게 사랑하고 당당하게 결혼하라> … 총 20종 (모두보기)


출판사 제공 책소개
H.G. 웰스, 올덕스 헉슬리 그리고 조지 오웰의 계보를 잇는
새로운 이름의 등장 -LA타임스

에코토피아의 행복한 조건들은 사실상 우리 사회가 가진
기술이나 자원으로 충분히 실현할 수 있는 것들이다
-랠프 네이더(미국의 정치인, 환경운동가)

웰스, 헉슬리, 오웰의 계보를 잇는 새로운 이름의 등장!
1981년에 출간된 어니스트 칼렌바크의 『에코토피아 비긴스』(원서명: Ecotopia Emerging)는 저자가 그보다 6년 전에 출간한 생태주의 유토피아 소설 『에코토피아』(원서명: Ecotopia)의 속편이다. 그러나 내용상으로는 전편의 내용보다 앞선 시기를 다룬 프리퀄이다.
환경ㆍ생태 관련 분야의 핵심 키워드인 ‘에토토피아’라는 용어의 기원이 된『에코토피아』는 미국 워싱턴 주, 캘리포니아 주 북부, 오리건 주가 미국연방에서 탈퇴하여 세운 독립국가 ‘에코토피아’에서 자신들만의 환경친화적인 법률과 제도를 만들고 이상적인 삶을 살아가는 사람들을 그린 가상소설이자 미래소설로 출간 당시 출판계뿐 아니라 미국사회 전반에 화제가 되었다. 그로부터 6년 후 저자는 정치ㆍ역사ㆍ경제ㆍ환경ㆍ과학기술제도 등 미국사회 전반에 관한 보다 전문적이고 심층적인 고찰을 거쳐
『에코토피아 』의 프리퀄인 『에코토피아 비긴스』를 완성한다.『에코토피아 비긴스』는 어떻게 해서 미국 북서부의 세 주가 미연방으로부터 탈퇴해서 ‘에코토피아’라는 나라를 건국하게 되는지, 그 동기와 과정을 구체적으로 그려내고 있다. 가히 혁명적이라 할 수 있는 이 과정은 미국이 영국으로부터 독립하여 건국을 이루기까지의 과정을 방불케 한다.

현실에 근거를 둔 생태학적 상상력의 빛나는 성과!
이야기는 불쾌한 현실에서부터 솟아나온다. 고도로 발달된 물질문명으로 인해 오염되고 피폐해진 오늘날 세상을 그대로 옮겨놓은 듯한 착각마저 들게 하는 이야기 속 현실은 공기와 물 그리고 음식물의 오염과 독성이 더 이상 견딜 수 없을 정도로 극심해진다. 원자로의 노심 용해도 큰 위협 요인으로 자리 잡는다. 군사 지출이 경제에 큰 부담으로 작용한다. 나라가 붕괴하고 있는 동안에도 정치인들은 한물간 의제를 두고 승강이를 벌이고 있다. 그러나 이때 피폐한 현실 사회에 회의를 느낀 헌신적인 사람들은 그 위기에 대해 그들만의 방식으로 대응하기 시작하고, 점차 신선한 희망들이 고개를 내민다. 무모한 듯 당찬 물리학 지망생 루 스위프트가 독특한 태양전지를 발명하는데, 이는 오염을 유발하는 화석 에너지에 대한 인류의 의존에 종지부를 찍을 만한 것이다. 메리사 다마토는 개벌지와 침식된 숲의 복원에 평생을 바치기로 결심한다. 그녀의 어머니 로라는 발암성 화학물질을 만들어내는 공장들을 무력화시키기 위해 화학물질의 희생자들인 암환자들과 함께 특공대 그룹을 조직한다. 현실정치에 환멸을 느낀 저명한 국회의원 베라 올웬은 생존 지향적 미래를 목표로 하는 새로운 풀뿌리 정당을 조직한다. 수천 명의 동조자들과 힘을 모으면서, 그들은 목숨을 걸고 모험을 감행한다. 지구의 생존과 함께 그들의 개인적인 생존을 위협하는 지배세력들의 온갖 방해공작에 맞서 싸우는 것이다. 곧 닥쳐올 역사의 파노라마인 ‘에코토피아의 독립’은 수많은 개인들의 운명을 용해시켜 하나의 흥미진진한 대서사시로 엮어낸다. 바로 ‘새로운 국가의 탄생’이라는.
에코토피아 건국의 주역인 베라 올웬, 루 스위프트와 그녀의 가족들, 버트 럭맨, 메리사 브라이트클라우드 등의 이야기도 흥미롭지만, 그만큼의 비중으로 삽입된 현실 고발적인 보고서와 신문기사들은 더욱 충격적이다. 간혹 사회과학서인지 소설인지 분간이 되지 않는 부분도 있지만, 덕분에 이 소설을 끝까지 읽고 나면 한꺼번에 여러 권의 교양서를 독파한 듯한 뿌듯함을 느낄 수 있을 것이다. 특히 석유와 자동차 산업에 지나치게 의존하는 미국 경제의 불안한 미래와, 환경 파괴가 초래할 실질적인 위험에 관한 경고는 현재 미국의 상황을 상당부분 정확히 예견하고 있어 놀라움을 자아낸다.
지금 지구는 인류가 문명이라는 이름하에 저질러온 죄악으로 인해 심하게 앓고 있다. 물고기가 살지 않는 썩어가는 강물, 과대한 에너지 사용으로 구멍이 숭숭 뚫려가는 오존층, 파괴된 인간관계 등을
복원하고 후손들에게 지속가능한 환경을 물려주기 위해 우리는 현재 우리가 누리고 있는 문명의 이기 중 무엇을 포기하고 무엇을 계승하여야 할까. 이 책은 우리에게 앞으로 어떻게 살 것인가에 대한 결단을 요구하고 있다.
『에코토피아』에 그려진 세상이 칼렌바크식 ‘멋진 신세계’라면, 『에코토피아 비긴스』는 그 ‘멋진 신세계’로 갈 수 있는 현실적인 다리를 형상화한다. 그 다리는 무지개 다리처럼 높거나 동떨어져 보이지 않는다. 특히 에코토피아 헌법의 기초가 되는 ‘생존자 당’의 ‘NO MORE 10계명’에는 지금의 현실에 적용해도 될 만한 실용적이고 지혜로운 아이디어들이 담겨 있다. 『에코토피아 비긴스』가 발표된 1980년대 초에 미국인들이 칼렌바크의 아이디어를 적극적으로 실천에 옮기기 시작했더라면, 2009년의 미국은 지금과 많이 달랐을 것이다. 접기

Ecotopia Ernest Callenbach A novel 2004

Ecotopia
Ernest Callenbach

A novel portraying a future ecologically sustainable society located in what was formerly the states of Washington, Oregon, and northern California. 

It is a hopeful vision of what industrial society must become if it is to survive, presented in news-story and diary entry forms.

 Callenbach gives us a vivid, comprehensive, positive vision of what the earth's future might look like, if those who care about sustainability had a say. Highly imaginative, this much-loved book is at the same time blessedly down to earth. Nearly a million copies have been sold in nine languages.

$5.36 (USD)
Publisher:
Release date: 2004
Format: PDF
Size: 17.95 MB
Language: English
Pages: 172
Add to Cart Download Preview
otherR ITEMS DO CUSTOMERS BUY AFTER VIEWING THIS ITEM?

------------

• ‹

Follow the Author

Ernest Callenbach
+ Follow


Ecotopia: A Novel Paperback – March 1, 1990
by Ernest Callenbach (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars 144 ratings


A novel both timely and prophetic, Ernest Callenbach’s Ecotopia is a hopeful antidote to the environmental concerns of today, set in an ecologically sound future society. Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as the “newest name after Wells, Verne, Huxley, and Orwell,” Callenbach offers a visionary blueprint for the survival of our planet . . . and our future.

Ecotopia was founded when northern California, Oregon, and Washington seceded from the Union to create a “stable-state” ecosystem: the perfect balance between human beings and the environment. Now, twenty years later, this isolated, mysterious nation is welcoming its first officially sanctioned American visitor: New York Times-Post reporter Will Weston.

Skeptical yet curious about this green new world, Weston is determined to report his findings objectively. But from the start, he’s alternately impressed and unsettled by the laws governing Ecotopia’s earth-friendly agenda: energy-efficient “mini-cities” to eliminate urban sprawl, zero-tolerance pollution control, tree worship, ritual war games, and a woman-dominated government that has instituted such peaceful revolutions as the twenty-hour workweek and employee ownership of farms and businesses. His old beliefs challenged, his cynicism replaced by hope, Weston meets a sexually forthright Ecotopian woman and undertakes a relationship whose intensity will lead him to a critical choice between two worlds.
------------


Editorial Reviews

Review


"A classic of earth consciousness." —Denis Hayes, original coordinator of Earth Day

"Essential reading for all who care about the earth's future."—Fritjof Capra, author of The Tao of Physics and The Turning Point

"None of the happy conditions in Ecotopia are beyond the technical or resource reach of our society."—Ralph Nader
From the Publisher


"Callenbach gives us a vivid, comprehensive, positive vision of an ecologically sustainable world. essential reading for all who care about the earth's future."--Fritjof Capra, author of the Tao Of Physics and the Tuming Point.

"A classic of earth consciousness."--Denis Hayes, Earth Day.

Ecotopia was founded when northern California, Oregon, and Washington seceded from the Union to create a "stable-state" ecosystem: the perfect balance between human beings and the environment. Now, twenty years later, the isolated, mysterious Ecotopia welcomes its first officially sanctioned American visitor: New York Times-Post reporter Will Weston. Like a modern Gulliver, the skeptical Weston is by turns impressed, horrified, and overwhelmed by Ecotopia's strange practices: employee ownership of farms and businesses, the twenty-hour work week, the fanatical elimination of pollution, "mini-cities" that defeat overcrowding, devotion to trees bordering on worship, a woman-dominated government, and bloody, ritual war games. Bombarded by innovative, unsettling ideas, set afire by a relationship with a sexually forthright Ecotopian woman, Weston's conflict of values intensifies-and leads to a startling climax.

"None of the happy conditions in Ecotopisa are beyond the technical or resource reach of our society."--Ralph Nader
From the Inside Flap


"Ecotopia was founded when northern California, Oregon, and Washington seceded from the Union to create a "stable-state" ecosystem: the perfect balance between human beings and the environment. Now, twenty years later, the isolated, mysterious Ecotopia welcomes its first officially sanctioned American visitor: New York Times-Post reporter Will Weston.

Like a modern Gulliver, the skeptical Weston is by turns impressed, horrified, and overwhelmed by Ecotopia's strange practices: employee ownership of farms and businesses, the twenty-hour work week, the fanatical elimination of pollution, "mini-cities" that defeat overcrowding, devotion to trees bordering on worship, a woman-dominated government, and bloody, ritual war games. Bombarded by innovative, unsettling ideas, set afire by a relationship with a sexually forthright Ecotopian woman, Weston's conflict of values intensifies-and leads to a startling climax.
About the Author


Ernest Callenbach is also the author of Ecotopia Emerging, The Ecotopian Encyclopedia, and Publisher’s Lunch. He is the co-author of The Art of Friendship and Humphrey the Wayward Whale (with Christine Leefeldt) and of A Citizen Legislature (with Michael Phillips). He edits natural history books and the journal Film Quarterly at the University of California Press, and lectures on environmental topics all over the world.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

----------------

(May 3) Here we go again, dear diary. A fresh notebook with all those blank pages waiting to be filled. Good to be on the way at last. Alleghenies already receding behind us like pale green ripples on an algae-covered pond. Thinking back to the actual beginnings of this trip–almost a year ago? Those careful hints dropped at the White House like crumbs for the President’s vacuum-cleaner mind to suck up. Until finally they coalesced into some kind of ball and came out as his own daring idea: okay, send some unofficial figure out there, purely informal–a reporter not to closely identified with the administration, who could nose around, blow up a few pretty trial balloons–can’t hurt! A tingly moment when he finally broached it, after a big Brazil briefing session. That famous confidential smile! And then saying that he had a little adventure in mind, wanted to discuss it with me privately. . . .

Was his tentativeness only his habitual caution, or a signal that if anything went wrong the visit (and the visitor) were politically expendable?

Still, an important opening in our foreign policy–lots of weighty arguments for it. Heal the fratricidal breach that rent the nation–so the continent can stand united against rising tides of starvation and revolution. Hawks who want to retake “lost last of the west” by force seem to be growing stronger–need neutralizing. Ecotopian ideas are seeping over the border more dangerously–can’t be ignored any longer, might be detoxified by exposure. Etc.

Maybe we can find a hearing for proposal to reopen diplomatic relations; perhaps trade proposals too. With reunification a gleam in the eye. Even just a publicizable chat with Vera Allwen could be useful–the President, with his customary flexibility, could use it to fend off both hawks and subversives. Besides, as I told Francine–who scoffed, naturally, even after three brandies–I want to see Ecotopia because it’s there. Can things really be as weird there as they sound? I wonder.

Have been mulling over the no-nos. Must stay clear of the secession itself: too much bitterness could still be aroused. But fascinating stories there, probably–how the secessionists filched uranium fuel from power plants for the nuclear mines they claimed to have set in New York and Washington. How their political organization, led by those damned women, managed to paralyze and then supplant the regular political structure, and got control of the armories and the Guard. How they bluffed their way to a stand-off–helped, of course, by the severity of the national economic crisis that struck so conveniently for them. Lots of history there to be told someday–but now is not the time. . . .

Getting harder to say goodbye to the kids when I take off on a long trip. Not that it’s really such a big deal, since I sometimes miss a couple of weekends even when I’m around. But my being away so much seems to be beginning to bother them. Pat may be putting them up to it; I’ll have to talk to her about that. Where else would Fay get the idea of asking to come along? Jesus–into darkest Ecotopia with typewriter and eight-year-old daughter. . . .

No more Francine for six weeks. It’s always refreshing to get away for a while, and she’ll be there when I get back, all charged up by some adventure or other. Actually sort of exciting to think of being totally out of touch with her, with the editorial office, in fact with the whole country. No phone service, wire service indirect: uncanny isolation the Ecotopians have insisted on for 20 years! And in Peking, Bantustan, Brazil there always had to be an American interpreter, who couldn’t help dangling ties from home. This time there’ll be nobody to share little American reactions with.

And it is potentially rather dangerous. These Ecotopians are certainly hotheads, and I could easily get into serious trouble. Government’s control over population seems to be primitive compared to ours. Americans are heartily hated. In a jam the Ecotopian police might be no help at all–in fact they apparently aren’t even armed.

Well, ought to draft the first column. Mid-air perhaps not the worst place to begin.


WILLIAM WESTON ON
HIS JOURNEY TO ECOTOPIA


On board TWA flight 38, New York to Reno, May 3. As I begin this assignment, my jet heads west to Reno–last American city before the forbidding Sierra Nevada mountains that guard the closed borders of Ecotopia.

The passage of tiem has softened the shock of Ecotopia’s separation from the United States. And Ecotopia’s example, it is now clear, was not as novel as it seemed at the time. Biafra had attempted secession from Nigeria but failed. Bangladesh had successfully broken free of Pakistan. Belgium had in effect dissolved into three countries. Even the Soviet Union has had its separatist “minority” disturbances. Ecotopia’s secession was partly modeled on that of Quebec from Canada. Such “devolution” has become a worldwide tendency. The sole important counterdevelopment we can point to is the union of the Scandinavian countries–which perhaps only proves the rule, since the Scandinavians were virtually one people culturally in any event.

Nonetheless, many Americans still remember the terrible shortages of fruit, lettuce, wine, cotton, paper, lumber, and other western products which followed the breakaway of what had been Washington, Oregon, and Northern California. These problems exacerbated the general U.S. economic depression of the period, speeded up our chronic inflation, and caused widespread dissatisfaction with government policies. Moreover, Ecotopia still poses a nagging challenge to the underlying national philosophy of America: ever-continuing progress, the fruits of industrialization for all, a rising Gross National Product.

During the past two decades, we as a people have mostly tried to ignore what has been happening in Ecotopia–in the hope it will prove to be mere foolishness and go away. It is clear by now, however, that Ecotopia is not going to collapse as many American analysts at first predicted. The time has come when we must get a clearer understanding of Ecotopia.

If its social experimentation turns out to be absurd and irresponsible, it will then no longer tempt impressionable young Americans. If its strange customs indeed prove as barbaric as rumors suggest, Ecotopia will have to pay the cost in outraged world opinion. If Ecotopian claims are false, American policy-makers can profit from knowledge of that fact. For instance, we need to access the allegation that Ecotopia has no more deaths from air and chemical pollution. Our own death rate has declined from a peak of 75,000 annually to 30,000–still a tragic toll, but suggesting that measures of the severity adopted in Ecotopia are hardly necessary. In short, we should meet the Ecotopian challenge on the basis of sound knowledge rather than ignorance and third-hand reports.

My assignment during the next six weeks, therefore, is to explore Ecotopian life from top to bottom–to search out the realities behind the rumors, to describe in concrete detail how Ecotopian society actually operates, to document its problems and, where that is called for, to acknowledge its achievements. By direct knowledge of the situation in which our former fellow-citizens now find themselves, we may even begin to rebuild the ties that once bound them to the Union they so hastily rejected.


(May 3) Reno a sad shadow of its former goodtimes self. With the lucrative California gambling trade cut off by secession, the city quickly decayed. The fancy casino hotels are now mere flophouses–their owners long ago fled to Las Vegas. I walked the streets near the airline terminal, asking people what they thought of Ecotopia out here. Most replies noncommittal, though I thought I could sometimes detect a tinge of bitterness. “Live and let live,” said one grizzled old man, “if you can call what they do over there living.” A young man who claimed to be a cowboy smiled at my question. “Waaal,” he said, “I know guys who say they’ve gone over there to get girls. It isn’t really dangerous if you know the mountain passes. They’re friendly all right, so long as you aren’t up to anything. Know what, though? The girls all have guns! That’s what they say. That could shake you up, couldn’t it?”

Had a hard time finding a taxi driver willing to take me over the border. Finally persuaded one who looked as if he had just done 20 years in the pen. Had to promise not only double fare but 25 percent tip besides. For which I got a bonus of dirty looks and a string of reassuring remarks: “What ya wanta go in there for anyhow, ya some kind of a nut? Buncha goddamn cannibals in there! Ya’ll never get out alive–I just hope I will.”
Read less


Product details

Paperback: 181 pages
Publisher: Bantam; Reissue edition (March 1, 1990)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0553348477
ISBN-13: 978-0553348477
Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.5 x 8.2 inches


Customer reviews
4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
144 customer ratings


Top Reviews

Long John
5.0 out of 5 stars 
a green world
Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2014
Verified Purchase
First read this nearly 30 years ago - I borrowed a copy from a friend and skimmed through it - I always wanted to reread it more thoroughly, but I sort of forgot about it. Reading that Ernest Callenbach had died put it back into my memory and I decided to see what 40 years would do to its vision. As anybody who has visited Portland can tell you, some of it has become real - and more of it should. Looking back, it seems funny that Callenbach has to explain what biodegradable means or that composting and recycling were once unknown. Though we are still learning that laws against victim-less crimes should be abolished.

The "plot" to this story is largely superfluous - it follows that standard device of having a stranger going into an Utopia and describing it for people back home. This has been used as far back as Thomas Moores Utopia and in one of my favorite utopian novels, Island by Aldous Huxley. The stranger is usually converted to the utopian life. 

The story of how Ecotopia was created seems unlikely, but if you look at all the countries that have devolved since the mid 70s like the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia and all the areas that would like to split away, like Scotland, Flanders, Catalonia and most certainly Kurdistan, then perhaps this is not so wild of an idea. A lot of people in Texas are always saying they want independence. At any rate, what is important here is how a green society would work - Callenbach could have placed it on another planet for all the difference it would make (you know, like Pandora in Avatar).

One of the things I like about Callenbachs proposed world is how it doesn't fit neatly into any currently existing political or cultural viewpoint. Or at least not any that will likely be allowed onto the pages of the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal. His ideas will resonate best amongst the outsiders and freethinkers across the social spectrum, whether they be left or right or neither. But before you laugh it off, remember; a lot of these things have happened or are happening now. Perhaps back in the early 70s, when this book was being written, they only seemed possible through secession, but now they are being implemented state by state. The next twenty years should be be interesting - you can get a heads up by reading this book.

3 people found this helpful

HelpfulComment Report abuse

Roy Staples
5.0 out of 5 stars great book, but a frustrating read.Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2014
Verified Purchase
For those who read this book, I should warn you:
First, you must recognize the era the book was written in. Cold War mentality, strong ideas of nation and sovereignty, sexism rampant, to the point that the author's attitudes are actually more liberated.
Second, the author has a hard time making the character seem genuine and authentic. This is especially difficult to believe at the end of the book.
Third, that the author would concede that segregation would be a good policy seems tragically laughable. His naïveté on race relations is disgusting, from our perspective.

Nevertheless, one should read this book. If only for the exercise of allowing yourself to see that life here in America doesn't have to be this way.

5 people found this helpful

HelpfulComment Report abuse

K. Atherton
5.0 out of 5 stars 
One Great Idea!!
Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2013

Ah, but if we could actually build this society! Ecotopia is comprised of the States of Washington, Oregon, and Northern California. The California demarcation eliminates the southern part of the state.
The new "country" actually builds walls and borders to keep others out, but since they are on the West Coast, they continue to have trade relations with the far east. The have corporate giants Boeing, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Apple, Intel, Weyerhauser, and Nike! They create a completely eco friendly society where everything is used, reused, recycled, or re-purposed. Even the paper money bio-degrades if it is dropped on the ground where microbes in the soil begin the process of degradation.
The people are industrious, happy, healthy, and 100% committed to the eco friendly society.
Trees are worshipped…
And the President is a woman!
Very well written, very fantastic, and very beautiful.
A must read….

4 people found this helpful

HelpfulComment Report abuse

Mark M
4.0 out of 5 stars 
The author clearly had a lot of fun coming up with the details of the "utopia" described ...
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2015

The author clearly had a lot of fun coming up with the details of the "utopia" described in the book. Many of the aspects of the society seem a bit unlikely-- and kind of inconsistent with human nature. But cuodos to the author for coming up with something this detailed and more or less internally consistent. Note that there isn't really much of a plot here. The book is really more of a set of "travel essays" and "diary entries" that discuss how the society work and that show the gradual shift of the main character from being a skeptic to a lover of the utopia.

One person found this helpful

HelpfulComment Report abuse

Ingrid Straziota
5.0 out of 5 stars A view for an ecological way of life!Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2014
Verified Purchase
This book was written in the sixties and it is still so advanced in its outlook of a society geared towards conservation of not only the physical but also the social environment. There is a perfect physiology in the way people interact and assume customs and beliefs that are for the good of the comunity and for the individual. People are convinced of the way things should be done because they really believe that it is for the best of everybody, and not because of fear of punishment. It shows the principles of a true democracy, when people go beyond their selfish ideals and understand that the good of the comunity is the good for the individual. The book is well written, the characters are well developed and the story is enticing. I recomend it to anywone who is curious about alternative ways of handling conservation of the environment through a social fabric that is truly in tune to this.

One person found this helpful

HelpfulComment Report abuse

J. Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very good read!
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2015
Verified Purchase
I read this book several years ago, and just now ordered one for myself, to have as a resource. Callenbach posits a breakaway republic comprising Washington state, Oregon, and northern California, who secede from the United States and create a new state with protections for the environment built into its constitution. The story concerns a newsman, visiting from what's left of the old U.S., and his gradual conversion to the ways in which people think in the new state. A very good read!

One person found this helpful

HelpfulComment Report abuse

tli
4.0 out of 5 stars 
Decent
Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2019
Verified Purchase
Some interesting ideas, not all of which will be old hat to the modern reader. Ending wasn't great. There's a romance that serves a purpose but still manages to be grating.



HelpfulReport abuse

Mike
5.0 out of 5 stars Good readReviewed in the United Kingdom on January 3, 2015
Verified Purchase

Very good book which although impracticable is an excellent view of a future of uncertainty.


J. Tupone
4.0 out of 5 stars an entertaining readReviewed in Canada on December 21, 2008
Verified Purchase

Ernest Callenbach's novel is written in a clever and well thought out manner. The novel tells the story of an American journalist who travels to the independent state of Ecotopia which is a country formed by environmentalists who managed to secede northern California, Oregon and Washington from the American union. The journalist spends time in Ecotopia learning about the young society and how its inhabitants strive to live in a stable state with nature.

It is a well written novel and it is quite clever. The novel clearly serves as a kind of call to arms for environmentalists, not in the military sense but in a "how-to" manner. It describes in fair detail the system of government that has been put in place, how energy, food and consumer goods are produced and how the people live and interact with each other.

The novel reads a lot like a manifesto for a "new" kind of environmental movement and is also full of several contradictions and oddball ideas. One part talks about a secret 3 day war between the USA and Ecotopia shortly after independence and how the Ecotopians shot down about 7000 US combat aircraft. Well, today, the US air force has less than 7000 aircraft and it seems rather absurd that the strongest military on earth would be foolish enough to lose its entire air force in a few days. That being said, the novel is fiction of course.

Callenbach is an entertaining writer, but to really love this book I am fairly certain that you have to be a strong environmentalist. If you're not, you can still enjoy the story and be intrigued by the detail that Callenbach has put into the utopia he created.
Read less

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---




Se

==============

Ecotopia: (40th Anniversary Ed.) Paperback – November 1, 2014
by Ernest Callenbach (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars 25 ratings

Paperback
$12.0925 Used from $4.5025 New from $8.09

Twenty years have passed since Northern California, Oregon, and Washington seceded from the United States to create a new nation, Ecotopia. Rumors abound of barbaric war games, tree worship, revolutionary politics, sexual extravagance. Now, this mysterious country admits its first American visitor: investigative reporter Will Weston, whose dispatches alternate between shock and admiration. But Ecotopia gradually unravels everything Weston knows to be true about government and human nature itself, forcing him to choose between two competing views of civilization.

Since it was first published in 1975, Ecotopia has inspired readers throughout the world with its vision of an ecologically and socially sustainable future. This fortieth-anniversary edition includes Ernest Callenbach's final essay, “An Epistle to the Ecotopians,” and a new foreword by Callenbach's close friend and publisher, Malcolm Margolin.




Editorial Reviews

Review


An environmental classic. --Time

The newest name after Wells and Verne and Huxley and Orwell is Ernest Callenbach, creator of Ecotopia. --Los Angeles Times

''One of the most important utopian novels of the twentieth century that still has very important lessons to teach us. It will always convey to perfection the wild optimism of that moment: a feeling we need to recapture, adjusted for our time.'' --Kim Stanley Robinson

''One of the most important utopian novels of the twentieth century that still has very important lessons to teach us. It will always convey to perfection the wild optimism of that moment: a feeling we need to recapture, adjusted for our time.'' --Kim Stanley Robinson
From the Inside Flap


Twenty years have passed since Northern California, Oregon, and Washington seceded from the United States to create a new nation, Ecotopia. Rumors abound of barbaric war games, tree worship, revolutionary politics, sexual extravagance. Now, this mysterious country admits its first American visitor: investigative reporter Will Weston, whose dispatches alternate between shock and admiration. But Ecotopia gradually unravels everything Weston knows to be true about government and human nature itself, forcing him to choose between two competing views of civilization.

Since it was first published in 1975, Ecotopia has inspired readers throughout the world with its vision of an ecologically and socially sustainable future. This fortieth-anniversary edition includes Ernest Callenbach's final essay, "An Epistle to the Ecotopians," and a new foreword by Callenbach's close friend and publisher, Malcolm Margolin.
About the Author


Ernest Callenbach was a writer and editor known primarily for his environmental fiction and nonfiction. He founded and edited the internationally acclaimed Film Quarterly. He also concurrently edited University of California Press's extensive list of film books as well as books in art and science, including the California Natural History Guides series. He occasionally taught film at the University of California, Berkeley, and at San Francisco State University.

Product details

Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Banyan Tree Books; 40th Anniversary Epistle Edition edition (November 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 159714293X
ISBN-13: 978-1597142939
Follow
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Read reviews that mention
ecotopia california callenbach political today


Top Reviews

Joyce
5.0 out of 5 stars 
Prescient!
Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2017
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This book, called prescient in 2008, is more stunningly so today. Ecotopia translates “home place” and was born out of an attempt to deal with a practical issue – sewage. Written in 1975, it is set in the future of 1999. In 1980 the states of Washington and Oregon had joined northern California in seceding from the union. Most Americans have been barred from traveling to Ecotopia and the book is made up of the newspaper articles and the diary entries of Will Weston, the first American mainstream reporter to visit. The book is one of the manuals of the bioregional movement I have been a part of since 1984, as the country of Ecotopia was formed out of a vision of relating to the earth sustainably, emphasizing biology more than physics. The vision involves being rooted to place. Community relationships are central. Everyone is an artist of some kind and everyone sings and dances. Attitudes toward sex are looser and politically it is egalitarian (Ecotopia has a woman president). Ecological values rule.
In 2012, Callenbach, aware of his upcoming death, left an epistle to us Ecotopians. It is included in the 40th anniversary edition and can also be found online. It is his “thoughts and attitudes that may prove useful in the dark times we are facing.” He discusses hope, mutual support, practical skills, organizing, learning to live with contradictions, and the Big Picture. In one paragraph he describes with amazing specificity (in 2012, mind you) our present president. He closes with an encouragement to appreciate the Japanese wisdom of the beauty of wabi-sabi. “Let us embrace decay, for it is the source of all new life and growth.”

9 people found this helpful

HelpfulComment Report abuse

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Washington, Oregon and Northern California secede from the union! Great idea!Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2017
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Even though this book was written in 1985 a lot of the content is relevant today. Fun read and if it became reality I'd be the first in line at the gates of Ecotopia!


HelpfulComment Report abuse

Gregory Coffey
4.0 out of 5 stars Gift itemReviewed in the United States on June 15, 2019
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
As specified


HelpfulComment Report abuse

Jerry A. Moles
5.0 out of 5 stars California Magic in the 1960sReviewed in the United States on March 28, 2018
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Special book that reflected the ethos of the 1960s around Berkeley and NW California. Certainly worth a read.


HelpfulComment Report abuse

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great story, though written in the 70's so a ...Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2017
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Arrived promptly, and was in new condition. Great story, though written in the 70's so a bit dated in some areas. Would love to live there!


HelpfulComment Report abuse

Kassandra Juanebe
5.0 out of 5 stars Hey Millenials... Read this book!Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2017
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Fantastic. Deserves to be read by all the new generation of environmentalists.


HelpfulComment Report abuse

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five StarsReviewed in the United States on May 23, 2018
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Well-produced reprint of an old classic, with some bonus material.


HelpfulComment Report abuse

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five StarsReviewed in the United States on June 26, 2017
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
book was in new condition


HelpfulComment Report abuse

Ecotopia Emerging: Ernest Callenbach: 9780960432035: Amazon.com: Books

Ecotopia Emerging: Ernest Callenbach: 9780960432035: Amazon.com: Books






See this image


Follow the Author

Ernest Callenbach
+ Follow


Ecotopia Emerging Paperback – June 1, 1981
by Ernest Callenbach (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars 67 ratings

See all 5 formats and editions

This prequel to Callenbach's classic Ecotopia is a multi-stranded novel that dramatizes the rise and triumph of a powerful American movement to preserve the earth as a safe, sustainable environment.

The story springs from harsh realities: Toxic contamination of air, water, and food has become intolerable. Nuclear meltdowns threaten. Military spending burdens the economy. Politicians squabble over outdated agendas while the country declines. But then dedicated people begin to respond in their own ways to the crisis, and a fresh hope arises.

A panorama of history about to happen, Ecotopia Emerging weaves many individual destinies into an absorbing epic: the birthing pains of a new nation.

Editorial Reviews
Review


''The newest name after Wells, Huxley, and Orwell.''--Los Angeles Times

''No one I've given this book to has been able to put it down.'' --Renewal
About the Author


Ernest Callenbach, who also wrote Ecotopia, grew up in rural central Pennsylvania, attended the University of Chicago, and has lived in Berkeley, California, since 1954. He edited natural history, science, art, and film books for the University of California Press. He now devotes full time to writing (his newest book is Ecology: A Pocket Guide) and lecturing; he gardens ardently, has two compost bins, and walks a lot.


Product details

Paperback: 334 pages
Publisher: Heyday Books; First Edition edition (June 1, 1981)
Language: English

More about the author
› Visit Amazon's Ernest Callenbach Page


Customer reviews
3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5
67 customer ratings


Mr. C.
5.0 out of 5 stars They are both two of my favorite books.Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2014
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I have the original Ecotopia and now this "prequel". They are both two of my favorite books.

2 people found this helpful

HelpfulComment Report abuse

Bit Twiddler
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting readReviewed in the United States on April 11, 2010
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I read Ecotopia first. This was good prequel but personally think first was better. That being said, I was a lot younger when I read the first one and it had more impact on me. Am saving both for my granddaughters when they grow up.

One person found this helpful

HelpfulComment Report abuse

B. D. Hellmann
5.0 out of 5 stars We need another kind of society, and this is itReviewed in the United States on December 7, 2014
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
If you've read Ecotopia, you'll want to know how Callenbach conceived that terrific story'


HelpfulComment Report abuse

Joyce Adams
5.0 out of 5 stars Callenbach Pens Another WinnerReviewed in the United States on November 12, 2013
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
A great follow to one of the best books ever, "Ecotopia", and went straight to my favorites. The author makes more sense than most in his vision of what the future could be.

One person found this helpful

HelpfulComment Report abuse

jOHN GUERRIERO
5.0 out of 5 stars Five StarsReviewed in the United States on January 2, 2015
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
good sequel


HelpfulComment Report abuse

Aristeros
2.0 out of 5 stars Ecotopia Floundering: Doesn't Work as Propaganda, and is Not Even Remotely BelievableReviewed in the United States on April 5, 2015
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Callenbach's prequel novel to "Ecotopia," which describes the why and wherefore of a secession of a good chunk of the Pacific Northwest in favor of being green, takes an ethical stance of "the ends justify the means," or, more specifically, "It's okay to bomb places, because The System is evil and gave you cancer." The characters are fairly one-dimensional, with a lot of "tell" and not too much "show. The plot is a bit heavy-handed, with villains almost cartoonishly villainous, a government with over-the-top evil and incompetence, convenient plot devices (so I can power a city with how many solar cells?) where I'd have preferred at least pseudoscience, and so on.

This is to be expected of a propaganda piece, but it should not be taken as such. The trouble is, even when read as an attempt to convert, an even slightly skeptical reader will not be converted--this piece will only be loved by the leftist choir Callenbach is preaching to. As a manifesto-cum-fantasy, it's childish where with plot and character development it could have had literary and social value.

If you want an Ecotopia, it's not going to emerge this way, guys.

One person found this helpful

HelpfulComment Report abuse

Alexis
5.0 out of 5 stars A mostly realistic approach to the choices that need to be madeReviewed in the United States on August 7, 2011
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I loved this book because it is an entertaining and thoughtful approach to the eminent threats of environmental destruction. In the 21st Century and especially in the United States (because we have the luxury to think about how to improve our state) we should consider practical solutions to the imposing threats of environmental decay. We need to allow nature to thrive because that allows for us, as humans, to live better. This is one solution to that problem.

One person found this helpful

HelpfulComment Report abuse

Lynn Hamilton
3.0 out of 5 stars Clean, Green, and MeanReviewed in the United States on March 11, 2005
Format: Paperback
Ecotopia Emerging is a wonderfully detailed utopia based on the ecological values that have been emerging in the northwestern United States for around the past thirty years.

Callenbach, who first developed his notions into a sort of sim city, went on to convert into a novel. It starts with Vera Allwen, a strong-willed matriarchal type who launches a new political party based entirely on environmental principals. Gathering together a few of her best tree-hugging friends, Vera proceeds to lay the groundwork for a takeover of northern California, Oregon, and Washington. Callenbach, who is incredibly optimistic about human nature, imagines that Vera's ideas take off like wild fire, and, in no time, those three states declare themselves independent from the rest of the United States. "Ecotopia now!" is their fierce battle cry.

In many ways, Callenbach's book captures the intense ecological convinctions of many (not all) people who live in the northwest. And his novel is realistic to the extent that the Ecotopians don't expect to convert the rest of the country any time soon.

Callenbach has taken quite a bit of criticism for the poverty of his character development and story telling abilities. And it's true that his characters basically all talk like nice college professors, folksy, but knowledgeable. When the writer tries to create a different argot for his villain Whitey Whitehead, Whitey's ignorant patter sounds hopelessly corny and stereotypical.

But ultimately it's hard to fault Callenbach for his Ecotoia series. His vision is certainly one that is intended to save humanity from itself, and he has thought through the elements of a future Ecotopia with amazing thoroughness.

2 people found this helpful

HelpfulComment

Remembering Jim Lehrer | PBS NewsHour

Remembering Jim Lehrer | PBS NewsHour




Full Episodes
Podcasts
Subscribe
Live




By —

Anne Azzi Davenport
By —

Jeffrey Brown

101comments
Share

Remembering Jim LehrerNation Jan 23, 2020 1:00 PM EST


PBS NewsHour co-founder Jim Lehrer, a giant in journalism known for his tenacity and dedication to simply delivering the news, died peacefully in his sleep at home on Thursday, at the age of 85.

For Jim, being a journalist was never a self-centered endeavor. He always told those who worked with him: “It’s not about us.”

Night after night, Jim led by example that being yourself — journalist, writer, family man, citizen — can be a high calling.

For 36 years, Jim began the nightly newscast with a simple phrase: “Good Evening, I’m Jim Lehrer.”

As an anchor of several iterations of the NewsHour, Jim reported the news with a clear sense of purpose and integrity– even as the world of media changed around him.

Jim and his journalism partner Robert MacNeil’s approach to reporting the news became known as the “MacNeil-Lehrer style of journalism.” Their approach helped lay the foundation for modern public media reporting.

The nine tenets that governed his philosophy included the assumption that “the viewer is as smart and caring and good a person as I am,” that “there is at least one other side or version to every story,” that separating “opinion and analysis from straight news stories” must be done clearly and carefully, and last but not least: “I am not in the entertainment business.”

Jim Lehrer’s Rules

Do nothing I cannot defend.
Cover, write and present every story with the care I would want if the story were about me.
Assume there is at least one other side or version to every story.
Assume the viewer is as smart and caring and good a person as I am.
Assume the same about all people on whom I report.
Assume personal lives are a private matter until a legitimate turn in the story absolutely mandates otherwise.
Carefully separate opinion and analysis from straight news stories and clearly label everything
Do not use anonymous sources or blind quotes except on rare and monumental occasions. No one should be allowed to attack another anonymously.
“I am not in the entertainment business.”

Jim was born in 1934 in Wichita, Kansas, the son of Lois, a bank clerk, and Harry, a bus station manager.

He attended Victoria College in Texas and then studied journalism at the University of Missouri.

Having his father and brother before him enlist in the Marines, Jim served three years as an infantry officer in the late 1950s, including time in the Pacific. He saw no combat, but spoke often of how the experience shaped him.

“Seldom a day goes by, that I don’t know that I am doing something because of something I learned in the Marine Corps,” he said at a 2010 parade the Corps put on, in his honor.

In 1960, Jim married his lifelong partner and love, Kate Staples.

He also began his journalism career in earnest that year. He reported for both the Dallas Morning News and the Dallas Times-Herald from 1959 to 1966, covering local politics. He became the Times-Herald’s city editor in 1968.

On Nov. 22, 1963, a rainy morning, Jim was asked by an editor to check on one aspect of President John F. Kennedy’s visit to Dallas: Would the president’s limousine have a plexiglass bubble top attached to shield him and the first lady from rain? In 2014, he told the NewsHour that he approached a secret service agent to ask that question, and that the agent then proceeded to direct the bubble’s removal from the car.

Jim was also at the Dallas police station when Lee Harvey Oswald, Kennedy’s assassin, was brought in for questioning.

“I wrote his name down. I still have the notebook. I’m one of those people who asked, hey, did you shoot the president?” Jim recalled.

MacNeil, who would go on to become Jim’s lifelong friend and partner in journalism, also covered the assassination for NBC News. They both described the experience of bearing witness to such a significant historical event, and its long-lasting effects on them personally, during an appearance on the NewsHour.

“What I took away and have taken away — and it still overrides everything that I have done in journalism since — what the Kennedy assassination did for me was forever keep me aware of the fragility of everything, that, on any given moment, something could happen,” Jim said, “I mean, my God, if they could shoot the president–”

“And that president,” MacNeil added.

Jim said that because of that day, when he became city editor, he “had a rule that every phone that rang in that newsroom got answered, because you never knew who was on the other line.”



Lehrer’s television career was also launched in Dallas, at public station KERA. His move to the national stage with PBS was when he became a correspondent for what was then called the National Public Affairs Center for Television, or NPAT.

It was there he first joined MacNeil to cover another watershed moment — the Watergate hearings in 1973.

In addition to gavel-to-gavel coverage throughout the day, Jim presented a rebroadcast with analysis late into the night — some 250 hours in all. Jim Lehrer and Robert MacNeil’s broadcast helped guide viewers through hours of testimony, years before the concept of the 24-hour news cycle.

“The senators, as well as the rest of us who are interested, will have to make the ultimate choice between believing John Dean or Bob Haldeman. That’s the way it looks to me at 3:00 in the morning,” Jim reported at the time, while smiling. “Feel free to disagree.”

Some 70,000 letters poured in, praising the team and its work.

“We began life in October 1975 as ‘The Robert MacNeil Report,’” Jim said, reminiscing on the 40th anniversary of the Watergate hearings. “And months later, became ‘The MacNeil/Lehrer Report.’ In those days, we dealt with one story for half an hour.”

In 1983, the program expanded to one hour of news and analysis and was renamed The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. Twelve years later, MacNeil retired, and the program became The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

Over the years, Jim interviewed numerous leading figures on the world stage, including Margaret Thatcher and Yasser Arafat in the 1980s, South Korean President Kim Daejung and Chinese leader Jiang Zemin in the 1990s, and Jordan’s King Abdullah and Afghan President Hamid Karzai in the 2000s.

Jim daily examined major turning points in the life of the nation and world. He pressed experts from the business world and military brass, as well as America’s top political figures.

During one of Jim’s most notable interviews, he pressed President Bill Clinton about accusations regarding his sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky and the subsequent investigation into his conduct.

“The news of this day is that Kenneth Starr, independent counsel, is investigating allegations that you suborned perjury by encouraging a 24-year-old woman, former White House intern, to lie under oath in a civil deposition about her having had an affair with you,” Jim said in the interview with Clinton. “Mr. President, is that true?”

Clinton denied the allegation.

“That is not true. That is not true,” Clinton told Jim. “I did not ask anyone to tell anything other than the truth. There is no improper relationship and I intend to cooperate with this inquiry, but that is not true.”

Jim was calm and careful in moments of crisis, as demonstrated by his coverage of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

“I’m Jim Lehrer. Terrorists used hijacked airliners to kill Americans on this, September 11, 2001,” Jim reported on national television. “Another day of infamy for the United States of America.”

“Jim’s intelligence is so laser-like, no matter what he’s applying it to, that’s how he treats any situation, no matter how we treat a certain news story or what a news story means,” MacNeil said this of his partner.

“I learned a lot from him, about his very direct manner of interviewing,” MacNeil added. “And not being afraid to say ‘you don’t understand’ or ‘you don’t know.’ But also his extraordinary ability to listen. You know the hardest thing to do on TV is to listen.”



MacNeil described how Jim was able to moderate a discussion of several people and never drop important points.

“He’s brilliant at that. Nobody does it better than he does. Brilliant. I learned a lot about the fundamental meaning of fairness,” MacNeil said.

Perhaps nowhere was this seen better than on the largest stage of all, with upwards of 60 million viewers: as moderator of 12 presidential debates– more than any other person in U.S. history.

His first was in 1988, his last in 2012. In 1996 and 2000, he moderated all the presidential debates — the first person to do that.

For Americans, Jim would say, the debates are the one chance to take the measure of candidates side by side.

Jim’s wife, Kate, served as his main debate prep sounding-board.

“As soon as the process really gets underway it’s, ‘I’m Alice in Wonderland going in the rabbit hole. Praying to come out on the other side,’” Kate said in 2012 when discussing Jim’s book, “Tension City,” which was a reflection on his role in presidential debates.



Jim likened moderating the debates to “walking down the blade of a knife.”

“It’s not a lot of fun, but if you get to the other end, it’s really exciting,” Jim said in 2012. “When a debate is over that I moderate, I want to be able, I want everybody to say, O.K., here you have seen and heard the candidates for president of the United States on the same stage at the same time talking about the same things. You can judge them. I mean, do you like this guy? Is he telling the truth? All that kind of stuff. And you see them right there together — it’s a huge test.”

But Jim’s life wasn’t all tension and worldly affairs.

One of his great passions was on display in his basement at home and his office at work: the intercity bus memorabilia Jim had collected over the years. It was a reminder of his father’s career and his own childhood in Kansas.



There was also Jim Lehrer, the prolific writer. He was the author of some 20 novels, drawing on his life as a newsman, as well as his interest in history and politics. He also wrote plays and three memoirs.

One early novel, “Viva Max!”, was turned into a film starring Peter Ustinov and Jonathan Winters. The political satire featured a modern day Mexican general who crosses into the U.S.. to retake the Alamo.

“I write a little bit on my fiction everyday. It’s just what I do,” Jim once said.

Jim earned dozens of journalism awards and honorary degrees.

He was given the National Humanities Medal by Clinton, elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and with MacNeil, inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.

Although he insisted on not being the center of attention when reporting the news, at one important juncture in his life, Jim did tell a deeply personal story: the major heart attack that almost killed him in 1983.

The documentary “My Heart, Your Heart” captured how the scare led him to a change in diet and lifestyle. Among other things, he would become a committed afternoon “napper” — there was no disturbing Jim between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.

One priority that never changed was his family. Jim and Kate — herself the author of three novels — had three daughters: Jamie, Lucy and Amanda. He also had six grandchildren.

Jim stepped down as full-time anchor of the NewsHour in 2011.



Late in his tenure, he closed a speech to PBS stations managers this way:

“We really are the fortunate ones in the current tumultuous world of journalism right now, because when we wake up in the morning, we only have to decide what the news is and how we are going to cover it. We never have to decide who we are and why we are there. That is the way it has been for these nearly 35 years and that’s the way it will be forever. And for the NewsHour, there will always be a forever.”

From Judy Woodruff: Longtime PBS NewsHour Anchor and Co-Founder Jim Lehrer Has Passed Away at 85

The PBS NewsHour’s Gretchen Frazee and Molly Finnegan contributed to this report.

Go Deeper
jim lehrer
pbs newshour

Notable & Quotable: Jim Lehrer’s Rules of Journalism - WSJ

Notable & Quotable: Jim Lehrer’s Rules of Journalism - WSJ

Notable & Quotable: Jim Lehrer’s Rules of Journalism

‘Assume the viewer is as smart and caring and good a person as I am. Assume the same about all people on whom I report.’


Jan. 24, 2020 6:43 pm ET


News anchor Jim Lehrer moderates a presidential debate in Denver, Oct. 3, 2012. PHOTO: JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES

From Jim Lehrer’s Rules of Journalism. Lehrer died Thursday at 85:

 Jim Lehrer’s Rules of Journalism

1. ‘Assume the viewer is as smart and caring and good a person as I am. Assume the same about all people on whom I report.’

--------

. . . 2. Cover, write and present every story with the care I would want if the story were about me.


3. Assume there is at least one other side or version to every story.


4. Assume the viewer is as smart and caring and good a person as I am.

5. Assume the same about all people on whom I report. . . .

7. Carefully separate opinion and analysis from straight news stories and clearly label everything

8. Do not use anonymous sources or blind quotes except on rare and monumental occasions. No one should be allowed to attack another anonymously.

9. “I am not in the entertainment business.”



Jim Lehrer의 저널리즘 규칙 




1.‘시청자가 나만큼 똑똑하고 보살 피고 좋은 사람이라고 가정 해보십시오. 내가보고하는 모든 사람에 대해 동일하게 가정합니다. '. . . 

2. 이야기가 나에 관한 것이라면 내가 원하는 관심을 가지고 모든 이야기를 다루고, 쓰고, 발표하십시오. 

3. 모든 이야기에 적어도 하나의 다른면이나 버전이 있다고 가정하십시오. 

4. 시청자가 나만큼 똑똑하고 돌보아주고 좋은 사람이라고 가정합니다. 

5. 내가보고하는 모든 사람들에 대해 동일하게 가정하십시오. . . . 

7. 간단한 뉴스 기사와 의견 및 분석을 신중하게 분리하고 모든 것을 명확하게 표시합니다. 
8. 희귀하고 기념비적 인 경우를 제외하고 익명의 출처 나 맹인을 사용하지 마십시오. 익명으로 다른 사람을 공격해서는 안됩니다. 

9.“엔터테인먼트 사업이 아닙니다.”