Giles Slade is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

writer and

social critic Social criticism is a form of academic or journalistic criticism focusing on social issues in contemporary society, in respect to perceived injustices and power relations in general. Social criticism of the Enlightenment The origin of modern ...

, best known as

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

of ''Made to Break: Technology and Obsolescence in America''. He was born in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada, and educated at Mutchmore Public School. Slade trained as a journalist, and also worked for a time for

Harlequin Enterprises Harlequin Enterprises ULC (known simply as Harlequin) is a publisher of romance novel, romance, women's fiction and various other genres under multiple publishing imprints. Founded in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1949, from the 1960s, it grew into the l ...

, writing

adventure novel Adventure fiction is a type of fiction that usually presents danger, or gives the reader a sense of excitement. Some adventure fiction also satisfies the literary definition of romance fiction. History In the introduction to the ''Encycloped ...

s. He studied at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

, defending his doctorate in

cultural history Cultural history records and interprets past events involving human beings through the social, cultural, and political milieu of or relating to the arts and manners that a group favors. Jacob Burckhardt (1818–1897) helped found cultural history ...

. Slade lived and worked in the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

for many years. After earning his doctorate he taught at colleges and universities internationally, throughout

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

, for another decade. He returned to Canada with his family and settled in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

(2002). His 2006 book, ''Made to Break: Technology and Obsolescence in America'', documents the history of the

planned obsolescence In economics and industrial design, planned obsolescence (also called built-in obsolescence or premature obsolescence) is the concept of policies planning or designing a good (economics), product with an artificially limited Product lifetime, u ...

phenomenon in America. It won the International Publisher's Gold Medal (IPPY award) for best Environment/Ecology/Nature book of 2007, and the resulting media interest of some 200+ high profile interviews helped to spread his ideas. The book was released in a paperback edition in October 2007. The documentary film '' The LightBulb Conspiracy'' is based in part on Giles Slade’s ''Made To Break: Technology and Obsolescence in America,'' and includes an interview with the author. It was made by Spanish filmmaker Cosima Dannoritzer and both broadcast on television in Europe, then shown at film festivals (including DOXA in Vancouver, 2012). Slade wrote a column for Huffington Post from 2007 to 2011, and continues to publish critical perspectives and commentary in a variety of popular journals.

Books

* * *
Brokedown Palace (aka The North American Ark)
available as chapter downloads, se
Giles Slade on Scrib'd

External links

*Author biography, ABCBookworl

*Author biography, Huffington Pos
''Made to Break'' - Giles Slade - Harvard University Press
*2007 Independent Publishers Book Award

*Interview at Powells.co

*DOXA Film Festiva
''The Big Disconnect'' - Giles Slade - Prometheus
*Mother Jones article reprint cawrecycles.or

*NICHE Network in Canadian History & Environment interview

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slade, Giles 1953 births American non-fiction writers Canadian non-fiction writers Writers from Ottawa Writers from Vancouver Living people University of Southern California alumni