The Feng-Shui Left

In this book, Mauricio-José Schwarz questions new trends in a certain vein of progressive thought and wonders how it is possible that a sector of the left-wing has strayed so far from the path of reason and knowledge established in the 18th Century, replacing it with mystical new age visions, a rejection of science, post-modern relativism, increasingly wild conspiracy theories (many of them invented by the right) and other strange beliefs and practices.

The Feng-Shui Left provides a historical overview of paths running from the Enlightenment and the French Revolution to concepts of post-truth and ‘alternative facts’, focusing on some of the beliefs that are common among the ‘esoteric left’ that fly in the face of scientific knowledge and established facts. Writing from his left-wing perspective, he examines the dangers and problems associated with support for dubious alternative therapies, resistance of medicine and vaccinations, the anti-transgenic movement and concepts such as chemtrails, the Illuminati and Chemical phobia.