Nietzsche's Earth: Great Events, Great Politics

Gary Shapiro examines Nietzsche's philosophical contributions and demonstrates how the nineteenth-century philosopher's ideas address contemporary concerns. By placing Nietzsche in dialogue with modern thinkers including Deleuze, Agamben, Foucault, and Derrida, Shapiro connects his work to current issues: globalization, the habitability of Earth, and geopolitical frameworks that define peoples and places. Shapiro explores Nietzsche's rejection of historical inevitability and the concept of history's end. He examines Nietzsche's foresight regarding large-scale human migration and his critique of nation-states' use of emergency declarations and states of exception to maintain power. The book then considers Nietzsche's vision of a transformed earthly garden and its relationship to an aesthetic of the Anthropocene, before concluding with an analysis of the political structure underlying Nietzsche's "philosophy of the Antichrist" and its connection to political theology. By positioning Nietzsche between his own era and the present—between Bismarck's Germany and post-9/11 America—the book invites reconsideration of both the philosopher and the trajectory of human history.