Look Out - by Edward McPherson (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

"A charming, idiosyncratic meditation on the human urge to see further, and more, in this cultural history of the 'aerial view' . . . McPherson makes an elliptical and enchanting case for reinserting wherever possible the ground-level, human perspective . . . Redolent with insights into the ethical quandary of history-making, as well as the author's own sense of awe at the full sweep of the human story, this is a wonder."
--Publishers Weekly, starred review

As if Borges and Didion took a tour with Sebald through the beauty and terror of our present and past, Look Out is a profound and prismatic investigation of taking the long view.

Look Out is an exploration of long-distance mapping, aerial photography, and top-down and far-ranging perspectives--from pre-Civil War America to our vexed modern times of drone warfare, hyper-surveillance at home and abroad, and quarantine and protest. Blending history, reporting, personal experience, and accounts of activists, programmers, spies, astronauts, artists, inventors, and dreamers, Edward McPherson reveals that to see is to control--and the stakes are high for everyone.

The aerial view--a position known in Greek as the catascopos, or "the looker-down"--is a fundamentally privileged perspective, inaccessible to those left on the ground. To the earthbound, (in)sights from such rarified heights convey power and authority. McPherson casts light on our fetishization of distance as a path to truth and considers the awe and apocalypse of taking the long view.

Review Quotes

"Using research, observations from walks, personal experiences and scientific studies, Look Out covers a lot of ground in 304 pages. A brisk read that never overwhelms the reader with heaps of data or heavy-handed opinions, it is both an exploration of McPherson's curiosities and an alarm call to the dangers of creating a surveillance society . . . A finely crafted adventure of science, discovery and geo-politics, Look Out gives readers a smorgasbord of the topical. A book with many moving parts, it is an agile read filled with keen observations that serve as an atlas for understating how to view our world, and the subjects that shape our acuity of it."
--Rob Levy, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"[Look Out is] a wonderful collection of insights and observations about, well, insight and observation . . . McPherson has written a searching book, acutely reflective of this dizzying moment."
--Christopher Shaberg, Pittsburgh Review of Books

"Edward McPherson doesn't write books so much as detonate them. His latest, Look Out, is a controlled explosion--meticulously wired, conceptually loaded, and timed with precision . . . What elevates Look Out from a brilliant collection of cultural essays into something truly urgent is its refusal to let distance stand in for insight. Again and again, McPherson forces us back to the ground: to the awkward human scale of memory, error, and loss . . . In a cultural moment addicted to short-termism and shallow takes, McPherson makes a hard case for historical density, for perspective as responsibility, not privilege. This collection of essays asks you to stop scrolling and start seeing, not because the view is beautiful, but because it matters."
--WORLD

"A charming, idiosyncratic meditation on the human urge to see further, and more, in this cultural history of the 'aerial view' . . . McPherson makes an elliptical and enchanting case for reinserting wherever possible the ground-level, human perspective . . . Redolent with insights into the ethical quandary of history-making, as well as the author's own sense of awe at the full sweep of the human story, this is a wonder."
--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Look Out is a gift in what it demands from a reader which is, quite simply, attention. In form, in approach, and in topic, the book is rich, hyperfocused, and overwhelming in its generosity. To read this is like having a tour guide through a life you did not know you could experience."
--Hanif Abdurraqib, author of There's Always This Year

"High flying and impressively grounded . . . An exhilarating and urgent reckoning with human perspective."
--Walter Johnson, author of The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States

"This is a beautiful book about, first, how hard it is to see where we are in the world, and then why trying matters. In these deliciously wide-wandering essays--working through time and space, ancient pasts and bizarre futures--McPherson shows us the sightlines that technologies have enticed us with, and, in so doing, the human landscapes that they have obscured, or worse. Look Out makes you feel small and concerned but it also moves you forward with its thrilling, panoramic care--and with the idea that taking notice of where you are right now is infinitely valuable, a goal that we keep forgetting is right there."
--Robert Sullivan, author of Double Exposure and Rats

About the Author

Edward McPherson is the author of Buster Keaton: Tempest in a Flat Hat, The Backwash Squeeze and Other Improbable Feats, and The History of the Future: American Essays. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Pushcart Prize, among other awards. He teaches creative writing at Washington University in St. Louis.