Look Out: The Delight and Danger of Taking the Long View

Synopsis

"A charming, idiosyncratic meditation on the human urge to see further, and more, in this cultural history of the 'aerial view' . . . McPherson makes an elliptical and enchanting case for reinserting wherever possible the ground-level, human perspective . . . Redolent with insights into the ethical quandary of history-making, as well as the author&’s own sense of awe at the full sweep of the human story, this is a wonder."—Publishers Weekly, starred reviewAs if Borges and Didion took a tour with Sebald through the beauty and terror of our present and past, Look Out is a profound and prismatic investigation of taking the long view.Look Out is an exploration of long-distance mapping, aerial photography, and top-down and far-ranging perspectives—from pre–Civil War America to our vexed modern times of drone warfare, hyper-surveillance at home and abroad, and quarantine and protest. Blending history, reporting, personal experience, and accounts of activists, programmers, spies, astronauts, artists, inventors, and dreamers, Edward McPherson reveals that to see is to control—and the stakes are high for everyone.The aerial view—a position known in Greek as the catascopos, or &“the looker-down&”—is a fundamentally privileged perspective, inaccessible to those left on the ground. To the earthbound, (in)sights from such rarified heights convey power and authority. McPherson casts light on our fetishization of distance as a path to truth and considers the awe and apocalypse of taking the long view.

Copyright:

2025

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

Book Size:

304 Pages

ISBN-13:

9781662602962

Related ISBNs:

9781662602955

Publisher:

Astra Publishing House

Date of Addition:

10/21/25

Copyrighted By:

Edward McPherson

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

History, Nonfiction, Social Studies

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.