Underground: A Human History of the Worlds Beneath Our Feet
- ISBN-10
- 0812996755
- ISBN-13
- 9780812996753
- Series
- Underground
- Category
- History
- Pages
- 288
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2019-01-29
- Publisher
- Random House
- Author
- Will Hunt
Description
“[A] winningly obsessive history of our relationship with underground places” (The Guardian), from sacred caves and derelict subway stations to nuclear bunkers and ancient underground cities—an exploration of the history, science, architecture, and mythology of the worlds beneath our feet NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR When Will Hunt was sixteen years old, he discovered an abandoned tunnel that ran beneath his house in Providence, Rhode Island. His first tunnel trips inspired a lifelong fascination with exploring underground worlds, from the derelict subway stations and sewers of New York City to sacred caves, catacombs, tombs, bunkers, and ancient underground cities in more than twenty countries around the world. Underground is both a personal exploration of Hunt’s obsession and a panoramic study of how we are all connected to the underground, how caves and other dark hollows have frightened and enchanted us through the ages. In a narrative spanning continents and epochs, Hunt follows a cast of subterraneaphiles who have dedicated themselves to investigating underground worlds. He tracks the origins of life with a team of NASA microbiologists a mile beneath the Black Hills, camps out for three days with urban explorers in the catacombs and sewers of Paris, descends with an Aboriginal family into a 35,000-year-old mine in the Australian outback, and glimpses a sacred sculpture molded by Paleolithic artists in the depths of a cave in the Pyrenees. Each adventure is woven with findings in mythology and anthropology, natural history and neuroscience, literature and philosophy. In elegant and graceful prose, Hunt cures us of our “surface chauvinism,” opening our eyes to the planet’s hidden dimension. He reveals how the subterranean landscape gave shape to our most basic beliefs and guided how we think about ourselves as humans. At bottom, Underground is a meditation on the allure of darkness, the power of mystery, and our eternal desire to connect with what we cannot see. Praise for Underground “A mesmerizingly fascinating tale . . . I could not stop reading this beautifully written book.”—Michael Finkel, author of The Stranger in the Woods “Few books have blown my mind so totally, and so often. In Will Hunt’s nimble hands, excursion becomes inversion, and the darkness turns luminous. There are echoes of Sebald, Calvino, and Herzog in his elegant and enigmatic voice, but also real warmth and humor. . . . An intrepid—but far from fearless—journey, both theoretically and terrestrially.”—Robert Moor, New York Times bestselling author of On Trails
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2024-05-14
- 273 pages
- Ebook
- University of Pennsylvania Press
-
- 2020-04-28
- 305 pages
- Paperback
- Random House Trade Paperbacks
Similar books
-
Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier
By Julian Assange, Suelette DreyfusAs riveting as the finest detective novel and meticulously researched, Underground follows the hackers through their crimes, their betrayals, the hunt, raids and investigations. It is a gripping tale of the digital underground.
-
Underground
By Craig SpectorA truly original metaphysical thriller---gory and intense, satisfying and unique--"Underground" is a startling vision of the nightmare dimension from one of the true masters of the genre.
-
Notes from Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture
By Stephen DuncombeTraces the history of zine publishing from its origins by science fiction cults, its growth with the 1960s counter culture, and its attachment to punk rock
-
TCM Underground: 50 Must-See Films from the World of Classic Cult and Late-Night Cinema
By Millie De Chirico, Quatoyiah MurryIn the pages of this book, you'll explore this unique order of films--primarily from the 1960s, '70s, and '80s--with insightful reviews, behind-the-scenes stories, subgenre sidebars, and full-color and black-and-white photography throughout ...
-
The Underground Press in America
By Robert J. GlessingThe Underground Press in America
-
Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom
By Shane W. EvansOne of School Library Journal's Best Nonfiction Books of 2011 A few well chosen words and spellbinding images pack an emotion wallop not soon forgotten in this picture book for young readers about the Underground Railroad.
-
Underground U.S.A.: Filmmaking Beyond the Hollywood Canon
By Steven Jay Schneider, Xavier MendikWhether it's city folk breaking down in 2000 Maniacs, Hicksville or Egypt invading smalltown USA through the catering of Fuad Ramses? Yes we are. Geographical perversity is as old as civilisation itself. We have evidence of geographical ...
-
Veniss Underground: A Novel
By Jeff VanderMeerIn this tale, epic and mythological in scope, VanderMeer takes the reader below the surface of the earth to the dark and decadent future.
-
The Underground
By Hamid IsmailovReviews "Hamid Ismailov has the capacity of Salman Rushdie at his best to show the grotesque realization of history on the ground." —Literary Review "The dream of grandeur is more than justified by the artfulness of The Underground, which ...
-
Thunder Underground
By Jane YolenIn this collection of poems that's a science, poetry, and adventure story all rolled into one, noted children's poet Jane Yolen takes readers on an expedition underground.