Hans Baer—anthropologist, product of complex cultural interactions, and self-described gadfly—presents a deeply personal account of a world on the cusp of decision. He presents a stark choice: ecological justice and survival in a world of more modest but also more dependable resources for all, or a headlong rush into the cataclysm orchestrated for profit by the already grossly overpaid against the rest of humanity. This accessibly written account of an activist life should move us all to thought and action.

Michael Herzfeld, author of Cultural Intimacy: Social Poetics and the Real Life of States, Societies, and Institutions

Perhaps the fate of being an anthropologist means always at some level being a “cultural malcontent,”’ Hans A. Baer muses in this wonderful memoir spanning seven decades, which reveals in sometimes painful ways how the personal and the political are intertwined. Turning his critical instinct into a virtue, Baer shows how engagement for a better world is possible for an academic, but at a cost. A lapsed Catholic, born in Peru of German parents, raised in the US and now settled in Australia, Baer’s fascinating story is about a wide-ranging and interdisciplinary, radical and uncompromising, generous and wise intellectual, but it also opens a window into a recent past of political and academic battles, some lost, some won – and as Baer reminds us, the struggle continues. Highly recommended.

Thomas Hylland Eriksen

How did the world came to be such a 'screwed up place?' Scholar-activist Hans Baer takes us on a rollicking journey through three continents; multiple corporate, religious and academic institutions; and a variety of political paradigms. Grappling with Societies and Institutions in an Era of a Socio-Ecological Crisis is one of those rare finds: a book that is both an enjoyable read, while also being a font of wise, inspirational ideas that have the potential to change the world.

Debbi Long