The Myth Gap: What Happens When Evidence and Arguments Aren't Enough

Product Description

Once upon a time our society was rich in stories. They united us and helped us to understand the world and ourselves. We called them myths. Today, we have a myth gap. Does that matter? Alex Evans argues powerfully and persuasively that it does. In this time of global crisis and transition- mass migration, inequality, resource scarcity, and climate change - it is only by finding new myths, those that speak to us of renewal and restoration, that we will navigate our way to a better future. It is stories, rather than facts and pie-charts,that have the power to animate us and bring us together in to change the world. Drawing on his first-hand experience as a political adviser within British government and at the United Nations, and examining the history of climate change campaigning and recent contests such as Brexit and the US presidential election, Alex Evans explores- *how tomorrow's activists are using narratives for change, * how modern stories have been used and abused, * where we might find the right myths that will take us from a dark age of uncertainty towards the broad, sunlit uplands that we all seek.Once upon a time our society was rich in stories. They united us and helped us to understand the world and ourselves. We called them myths. Today, we have a myth gap. Does that matter? Alex Evans argues powerfully and persuasively that it does. In this time of global crisis and transition- mass migration, inequality, resource scarcity, and climate change - it is only by finding new myths, those that speak to us of renewal and restoration, that we will navigate our way to a better future. It is stories, rather than facts and pie-charts,that have the power to animate us and bring us together in to change the world. Drawing on his first-hand experience as a political adviser within British government and at the United Nations, and examining the history of climate change campaigning and recent contests such as Brexit and the US presidential election, Alex Evans explores- *how tomorrow's activists are using narratives for change, * how modern stories have been used and abused, * where we might find the right myths that will take us from a dark age of uncertainty towards the broad, sunlit uplands that we all seek.
Alex Evans is a Senior Fellow at New York University's Center on International Cooperation (CIC), with nearly twenty years' experience in climate and development policy. He is currently on secondment to the Business Commission on Sustainable Development as its Research Director. Alex has worked as Special Adviser to two UK Secretaries of State for International Development (Hilary Benn and Valerie Amos), as an expert on climate change in the UN Secretary-General's office, and with think tanks including Chatham House and the Brookings Institution. He has also worked as a consultant on futures and foreign policy for organizations from Oxfam to the US National Intelligence Council. Alex lives in North Yorkshire and is married with two children.