Fort Lauderdale, August 2005: Throughout twelve years of teaching Philosophy on both college and university campuses, Professor Mahoney has watched the steady slide of so many students into ever-more-cynical depths of socio-political disconnection. “It has been painful to watch,” he says, “and so...at times...like most everyone else, I have looked away.”
Finally tired of “looking away,” Mahoney has written The Great Despiser. It’s all about connections. Intended as a promotional piece for the dialectical-discourse groups Mahoney has organized with his students, The Great Despiser tells the story of an articulate nineteen year old community college student, Brad, and his passionate search for the authentic throughout the summer of 2004. Brad can be described as the “primal scream” of a psychically mute and passively-driven generation. Through Brad’s experiences, The Great Despiser scaffolds a common bridge toward honest, open and enabling communications amongst the most diverse elements of our modern culture.
Testimony to this professor’s communicative architecture are the following expressions of two of his students’ enthusiasms for their newly-honed skills:
“This book provides a great story line with highly developed characters who take on a more realistic life-applicable journey than most authors have dared take you on before. The Great Despiser sets a platform for dialectical-discourse—the very fine art of speaking of even our most sensitive differences in a way that is void of either egotistical argumentation or distracting hysteria.”
Shelley Mulock
“In these days of change and rapid innovation, our lives have changed. The world has become a smaller place. Technologies have put us in touch. That’s true. But what’s the trade-off?
“Along with all the material progress, has come a dreadful dehumanization. Never has the world been so connected and yet so disconnected. With attitudes and mind-sets constantly screaming, ‘Why ask why?’ we are driven apart by our lack of understanding. The Great Despiser presents a long-term solution—‘dialectical-discourse’—a way of talking, in depth, about even our most sensitive differences—without arguing. Nothing could be more challenging; nothing could be more urgently needed.
“Well written and clever, this book not only achieves its goal, it is damn near impossible to put down.”
Asim Perez
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The Great Despiser Publication: June 2005 Author: Jim Mahoney Paperback Hardcover ISBN: 1-59526-152-4 ISBN: 1-59526-151-6 Pages: 312 Pages: 312 Price: $22.95 Price: $36.95 Size: 6 x 9 Size: 6 x 9
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