Writer, historian, and activist Rebecca Solnit is the author of eighteen or so books on feminism, western and indigenous history, popular power, social change and insurrection, wandering and walking, hope and disaster, including the books Men Explain Things to Me and Hope in the Dark, both also with Haymarket; a trilogy of atlases of American cities; The Faraway Nearby; A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster; A Field Guide to Getting Lost; Wanderlust: A History of Walking; and River of Shadows, Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West (for which she received a Guggenheim, the National Book Critics Circle Award in criticism, and the Lannan Literary Award). A product of the California public education system from kindergarten to graduate school, she is a columnist at Harper's and a regular contributor to the Guardian.
"An elegant reminder that activist victories are easily forgotten,
and that they often come in extremely unexpected, roundabout
ways."
--The New Yorker "No writer has better understood the mix of fear
and possibility, peril and exuberance that's marked this new
millennium. Rebecca Solnit writes as independently as Orwell; she's
a great muralist, a Diego Rivera of words. Literary and progressive
America is in a Solnit moment, which given her endless talent
should last a very long time."
--Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org and author of Deep Economy
"Hope In the Dark changed my life. During a period of pervasive
cynicism and political despair, the first edition of this book
provided me with a model for activist engagement that I have held
dear ever since. Today, as movements for climate, racial, and
economic justice sweep the globe, its message is more relevant than
ever. In her inimitable and inspiring way, Solnit reminds us that
social change follows an unpredictable path. Despite all the
obstacles, we must not lose sight of the fact that profound
transformation is possible. This book's compact size belies its
true power. It provides succor and sustenance, fuel and fire, for
those fighting for a more just world."
--Astra Taylor, author, The People's Platform: Taking Back Power
and Culture in the Digital Age "Rebecca Solnit is a national
literary treasure: a passionate, close-to-the-ground reporter with
the soul and voice of a philosopher-poet. And, unlike so many who
write about the great injustices of this world, she is an optimist,
whose faith is deeply grounded in a knowledge of history. This is a
book to give you not just hope but zest for the battles ahead."
--Adam Hochschild, author, King Leopold's Ghost "Time and again she
comes running towards you with a bunch of hopes she has found and
picked in the undergrowth of the times we are living. And you
remember that hope is not a guarantee for tomorrow, but a detonator
of energy for action today."
--John Berger, author, Ways of Seeing "A slim, potent book penned
in the wake of the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq; a book
that has grown only more relevant and poignant in the decade
since."
--Maria Popova, Brain Pickings Praise for earlier editions:
"Seemingly lost in the woods of deceit and banality, bereft of
hope, we are confronted by Rebecca Solnit and her astonishing
flashlight. In a jewel of a book that is poetic in substance as
well as style, she reveals where we were, where we are and the
step-by-step advances that have been made in human rights, as we
stubbornly stumble out of the darkness."
--Studs Terkel "In this inspired meditation on the very nature of
action and the reasons one thing leads to another, Rebecca Solnit,
with her customary intellectual penetration, freshness of
expression, and high elegance, finds new springs of hope in dark
times."
--Jonathan Schell "In this extraordinary book, Rebecca Solnit's
prose grows poetic wings that enable her to soar to a visionary
height. The good news that she brings back is that our
struggles--with persistence and courage--are indeed the seeds of
kindness."
--Mike Davis "Move over Joan Didion...Solnit is who Susan Sontag
might have become if Sontag had never forsaken California for
Manhattan."
--San Francisco Chronicle "Can you imagine a cross between Joan
Rivers and Simone de Beauvoir? I didn't think so, but no likelier
hybrid comes to mind.... Solnit is the real activist deal: the type
who gets arrested at nuclear test sites and mans the barricades at
the World Trade Organization demonstrations in Seattle. She's also
the real freelance intellectual deal: the much rarer type who earns
her living generating reams of thoughtful, wide-ranging
nonfiction."
--Newsday "This is the ultimate 'feel-good' book for exhausted
campaigners and activists . . . an intensely personal account, a
meditation on activism and hope."
--The Guardian "An inspired observer and passionate historian,
[Solnit] is one of the most creative, penetrating, and eloquent
cultural critics writing today. In her most personal critique to
date, she reflects on the crucial, often underrated accomplishments
of grassroots activists. Solnit contemplates such well-studied
revolutions as the American civil rights movement and the fall of
the Berlin Wall, but more significantly she reflects on such recent
events as successful protests against nuclear testing in Nevada,
the Zapatista uprising, the anti-corporate globalization movement,
the "unprecedented global wave of protest" against the war in Iraq,
and such hopeful ecological successes as the return of wolves to
Yellowstone and the restoration of the Los Angeles River. Solnit's
rousing celebration of people who work tirelessly behind the scenes
and courageously on the streets for justice and environmental
health harmonizes beautifully with Studs Terkel's Hope Dies Last,
and helps readers understand more clearly where we stand as
individuals, as Americans, and as citizens of the world."
--Donna Seaman, Booklist "This slim volume, to quote the author's
own reflections on the quincentennial of Columbus's discovery of
America, is "a zigzag trail of encounters, reactions, and
realizations." Solnit, recent winner of an NBCC award for criticism
for River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild
West, rambles from place to place and topic to topic in a
discursive examination of the current state of leftist protest and
activism. Unwilling to accept the bleak, almost apocalyptic
worldview of many of her progressive counterparts, Solnit
celebrates the hope and optimism that recent episodes reveal. She
points to the resurrection of indigenous causes represented by
Zapatismo, the WTO protests in Seattle and Cancun and the worldwide
protests against the U.S.-led war in Iraq, and other smaller, more
marginal protests. Solnit argues persuasively that engaged,
thoughtful dissent is far healthier today than many believe.
Activists, who operate by nature on the fringes of hierarchies of
economy and power, often fail to recognize the power of activity
that seems inconsequential. Her goal, in essence, is "to throw out
the crippling assumptions with which many activists proceed." While
Solnit's goal is admirable and her prose graceful, this book
suffers from the same confusion and disorganization she recognizes
as necessarily inherent to activism itself. Her examples are
diverse yet disjointed; she is overly reliant on the words of
others; and she often wanders into spiritual mumbo-jumbo and
platitudes. While these tendencies hamper the clarity of her
argument, fans of Solnit and progressives may find much to admire
here."
--Publishers Weekly
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