It’s been a struggle to avoid quoting from this superb book while I’ve been reading it. Every page deserves to be printed out, blown up and given out in the street. But I can’t take it any more. So here is the first quote…unfortunately there will be more to follow:

The new irrationalism is an expression of despair by people who feel impotent to improve their lives and suspect that they are at the mercy of secretive, impersonal forces, whether these be the Pentagon or invaders from Mars. Political leaders accept it as a safe outlet for dissent, fulfilling much the same function that Marx attributed to religion- the heart of a heartless world, the opium of the people. Far better for the powerless to seek solace in crystals, ley-lines and the myth of Abraham than in actually challenging the rulers, or the social and economic system over which they preside.