The Habit of Turning the World Upside Down

By: Howard Mansfield

Narrated by: Howard Mansfield

Length: 5 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

In The Habit of Turning the World Upside Down, Howard Mansfield returns with thoughtful linked narratives examining a crucial and overlooked element of American identity: property.

The book draws its title from Alexis de Tocqueville, who said in 1831, “It would seem that the habit of changing place, of turning things upside down, of cutting, of destroying, has become a necessity of [the American’s] existence.”

Divided into two distinct parts, the book is written in Mansfield’s characteristic format of individual stories connected by themes. Through these stories, he invites us to take a closer look at how property—buying it, selling it, stealing it, and defending it—has become a quintessentially American value.

"If you seek a manual for turning the world upside down,” Mansfield concludes, “you can find it in the preceding pages. Draw an arbitrary boundary through a desert, cutting an ancient world in two; enslave Africans to drain an immense swamp; clear-cut mountains until the slash catches fire and the runoff from the rains floods rivers; march through the wilderness attempting to claim a feudal realm; flatten hills and farms to make a highway that runs straight and fast; push gas pipelines and transmission towers across the land in a blind march toward profit; load the atmosphere with carbon dioxide until winter is summer and the seas rise to take away your great cities."

Mansfield offers that one way forward is to recognize that the world is broken. Or, he suggests, we must question what exactly property means.

"It’s our habit to turn the world upside down, to make night into day, to unbend rivers and blast through mountains," he writes. "Our nation is founded upon this habit we have called by many names, including Manifest Destiny and The Pursuit of Happiness. A habit this ingrained will not be remedied by a reform movement or by a new set of laws. To break this habit we need to change how we view ourselves and our property."

“When land becomes property, lines will be drawn—between white and native peoples, utility companies and homeowners, coastal cities and rising seas. In The Habit of Turning the World Upside Down, Howard Mansfield walks these permeable borders, and delivers a rich and compelling exploration of the joys and perils associated with claiming our temporary place on earth.” (Kate Whouley, author of Cottage for Sale, Must Be Move)

“I absolutely love this book, a thoughtful, sometimes heart-breaking examination of the American idea of property. Although a stinging indictment of such concepts as private property and eminent domain, more than anything it troubles the definition of property versus land. This powerful book will slice you to the bone with its sweeping intelligence, austere poetics, and utter kindness. Mansfield is a modern explorer, sure-footed and consumed, uneclipsed, his a great mind, his a rousing voice. The essay “Three Days on a Warming Planet” brought me to my knees. Let me say again: I love this book.” (Janisse Ray, author of Ecology of a Cracker Childhood)

©2018 Howard Mansfield (P)2023 Howard Mansfield