Breaking Together

Breaking Together argues that modern societies have already begun to collapse. Jem Bendell reaches this conclusion after two years of research by an interdisciplinary team. In his account, monetary systems have driven people to harm one another and the natural world so severely that the foundations of society have given way. Rather than stopping at despair, the book looks at how people can face the full weight of this predicament and, in doing so, find the freedom to live with more courage and creativity.

Bendell contends that reclaiming our freedoms is necessary both to cushion the fall and to regenerate the living world. He proposes an ecolibertarian program that would free people from the schemes of anxious elites, covering political thinking and practical action in a damaged world. Throughout, the book shows that people can move through collapse together rather than drifting apart.

The early chapters examine economic, monetary, energy, biosphere, climate, food and societal collapse in turn. The later chapters take up the freedom to know, freedom from progress, freedom from banking, freedom in nature, freedom to collapse and grow, and freedom from fake green globalists, before a concluding chapter.

Reviewers describe the book as blending personal reflection with hard data from many fields, and they note that it introduces catagenesis, the creative renewal of society after collapse. Professor Bendell's work is aimed at readers who want to protect part of the world but dislike being told what to do. A free epub edition is scheduled for release later in 2023.