Kingsnorth's nonfiction writing tends to address macro themes like environmentalism, globalisation, and the challenges posed to humanity by civilisation-level trends.

Kingsnorth spent his childhood in southern England with two younger brothers (one went on to work with Friends of the Earth, the other for Citibank).

[1] Kingsnorth was educated at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, and St Anne's College, Oxford, where he studied modern history.

After chaining himself to a bridge alongside fifty others, Kingsnorth was arrested, an event that solidified the importance of protest for him.

But he found this work frivolous and uninspiring, so after less than a year Kingsnorth left[2] to join the environmental campaign group EarthAction.

Since 2009 it has run a series of summer festivals and smaller events, produced bi-annual anthologies of "uncivilised" writing and art, and built up an international collection of writers and artists who aim to "offer up a challenge to the foundations of our civilisation".

[citation needed] After travelling through Mexico, West Papua, Genoa in Italy, and Brazil, Kingsnorth wrote his first book in 2003, One No, Many Yeses.

[1] This was Kingsnorth's first successful book, resulting in reviews by all major newspapers and citations in speeches by both David Cameron and the archbishop of Canterbury.

Writing the book involved travelling for months to interview Englishmen working in traditional institutions, including pubs, shops, and farms.