Book Reviews
"The Story of B, an adventure of the Mind and Spirit" by Daniel Quinn
1996, Bantam Books, New York.
"The Story of B" is a continuation of the journey begun in "Ishmael". It adopts a similar teacher / pupil scenario in which we the readers become the pupils and are challenged to think about the unquestioned beliefs and assumptions that have shaped the world's dominant culture over the past 10,000 years.
Father Jared Osbourne is sent by his Order on a mission to Europe, to uncover a possible candidate for the mantle of Antichrist. His Order's covert centuries-old mandate is to know before all others of the existence of an Antichrist, and to suppress or destroy him.
Father Jared discovers that the man who is known only as "B" is quietly teaching the forgotten and hidden history of the world, and man's imprint upon the world. In unraveling the beliefs and assumptions on which the dominant culture has been built, B inevitably challenges the foundations of the Christian Church.
After penetrating the inner circle of B's disciples, Father Jared becomes the chosen disciple.
The subsequent adventures will keep you guessing until the end.
One of the fascinating ideas propounded by Quinn is that 10,000 years ago this dominant culture was the first to put food under lock and key. This struck me as the first and most blasphemous privatization of communal property, which has ultimately led to all the inequalities and inequities of the present global economic order.
The privatization of food. The extinction of all other cultures' communal property rights to food.
Another insightful idea is the basis of today's dominant form of agriculture:
"One particular style [of agriculture] that has been the basis of our agriculture from its beginnings ten thousand years ago to the present moment - the basis of our culture and found in no other. It's ours, it's what makes us us. For its complete ruthlessness toward all other life-forms on this planet and for its unyielding determination to convert every square meter on this planet to the production of human food. I've called it totalitarian agriculture."
"Totalitarian agriculture is based on the premise that all the food in the world belongs to us."
- The Story of B, p259-60
Believe me, you'll enjoy "The Story of B"