Slavoj Žižek

too-late-to-awaken

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more

source_10558

By signing up, I confirm that I'm over 16. To find out what personal data we collect and how we use it, please visit our <a href="/company/about-us/notices/privacy-policy/">Privacy Policy</a>

Keep an eye out for a confirmation in your inbox

Stories, ideas and giveaways to help you spark young imaginations

source_10972

The latest books, activities and tips to help you grow little readers

source_10975

About us

About Us (Header 4)

john-le-carre-a-legacy-of-spies-960-2.jpg

Margaret Atwood

Richard Osman

Malorie Blackman

George Orwell

marian_keyes_mobile_320x200px.png

Elif Shafak

shonfaye

Authors (Header 3)

Books (Header 2)

Company

Features (Header 1)

Penguin Shop (Header 5)

Useful links

Power in the Era of Post-Humanity

Like A Thief In Broad Daylight

Chronicles of a Year of Acting Dangerously

The Courage of Hopelessness

Refugees, Terror and Other Troubles with the Neighbours

Against the Double Blackmail

Philosophy in Transit

Event

From the End of History to the End of Capitalism

Trouble in Paradise

Too Late to Awaken

It's here! Browse the 2024 Penguin Christmas gift guide

The most dangerous philosopher in the West

Žižek is a thinker who regards nothing as outside his field: the result is deeply interesting and provocative

Žižek leaves no social or cultural phenomenon untheorized, and is master of the counterintuitive observation

Žižek is to today what Jacques Derrida was to the '80s: the thinker of choice for Europe's young intellectual vanguard

What Lies Ahead When There is No Future?

The most provocative philosopher of our times returns with a rousing and counterintuitive analysis of our global predicament 
 
We hear all the time that it's five minutes to global doomsday, so now is our last chance to avert disaster. But what if the only way to prevent a catastrophe is to assume that it has already happened - that we're already five minutes past zero hour? 
 
Why do we seem unable to avert our course to self-destruction? Too Late to Awaken sees Slavoj Žižek deliver his most forceful, hopeful account of our discontents yet. Surveying the interlocking crises we currently face - global warming, war, famine, disease - he points us towards the radical, emancipatory politics that we need in order to halt our drift towards disaster. 
 
Pithy, urgent and witty, Žižek's diagnosis reveals our current geopolitical nightmare in a startling new light, and shows why, in order to change our future, we must reimagine our past.

Slavoj Žižek is a Hegelian philosopher, a Lacanian psychoanalyst, and a Communist. He is International Director at the Birkbeck Institute for Humanities, University of London, UK, Visiting Professor at the New York University, USA, and Senior Researcher at the Department of Philosophy, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

We hear all the time that we're moments from doomsday. Around us, crises interlock and escalate, threatening our collective survival: Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with its rising risk of nuclear warfare, is taking place against a backdrop of global warming, ecological breakdown, and widespread social and economic unrest. Protestors and politicians repeatedly call for action, but still we continue to drift towards disaster. We need to do something. But what if the only way for us to prevent catastrophe is to assume that it has already happened-to accept that we're already five minutes past zero hour? 
 
Too Late to Awaken sees Slavoj Žižek forge a vital new space for a radical emancipatory politics that could avert our course to self-destruction. He illuminates why the liberal Left has so far failed to offer this alternative, and exposes the insidious propagandism of the fascist Right, which has appropriated and manipulated once-progressive ideas. Pithy, urgent, gutting and witty, Žižek's diagnosis reveals our current geopolitical nightmare in a startling new light, and shows how, in order to change our future, we must first focus on changing the past.

Too Late to Awaken

Select a format:

Retailers:

Summary

Reviews

About the author

Slavoj Žižek

More from this Author

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter