The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins

A tale of diversity within humans damaged landscapes, The Mushroom at the End of the World follows one of the strangest commodity chains of these times—the matsutake mushroom—to explore the unexpected corners of capitalism. Here, readers witness the varied and peculiar worlds of matsutake commerce: the worlds of Japanese gourmets, capitalist traders, Hmong jungle fighters, industrial forests, Yi Chinese goat herders, Finnish nature guides, and more. These companions also lead readers into fungal ecologies and forest histories to better understand the promise of cohabitation in a time of massive human destruction. By investigating one of the world’s most sought-after fungi, The Mushroom at the End of the World presents an original examination into the relation between capitalist destruction and collaborative survival within multispecies landscapes, the prerequisite for continuing life on Earth.