Hope in the Dark

Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities

By: Rebecca Solnit

Narrated by: Tanya Eby

With Hope in the Dark, Rebecca Solnit makes a radical case for hope as a commitment to act in a world whose future remains uncertain and unknowable. Drawing on her decades of activism and a wide knowledge of environmental, cultural, and political history, Solnit argues that radicals have a long, neglected history of transformative victories, that the positive consequences of our acts are not always immediately seen, directly knowable, or even measurable, and that pessimism and despair rest on an unwarranted confidence about what is going to happen next. Originally published in 2004, now with a new foreword and afterword, Solnit's influential book shines a light into the darkness of our time in an unforgettable new edition.

©2016 Rebecca Solnit (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"An inspired observer and passionate historian, Solnit, whose River of Shadows (2003) won a National Book Critics Circle Award, is one of the most creative, penetrating, and eloquent cultural critics writing today." ( Booklist)

Truly awful narrator

The book is informative and engaging. I have purchased it in print to finish. The narration is absolutely terrible- like turning on an automated text reader on your computer. Really really bad.

Trump Notwithstanding

This book is a little behind after tfg, but the points are valid & worthwhile. So many of us in middle-class suburbia just aren't sure where to start resisting the oligarchy Republicans are working hard to impose.

Another beautiful look at life via activism

I adore this woman’s contribution to the world so much, and I appreciate this book in the expanse of all she stands for and sees and wants for the world. I notice i tend to personally enjoying the stories that lean more abstract and artful more frequently but I am certainly enriched as a human for digesting this yummy treat. Especially enjoyed the revisit to Paradise Made In Hell, the visual walk thru SF a home I miss so much, and the silver thread throughout to see the blessings and xall to action in the very gift of life on this planet with everyone else. Thank you for including the LGBT historical points and disaster starshine as part of a normalized context of looking at stuff, not an exceptionalized highlighted oddity.

Interesting Perapectives

I enjoyed this book as it challenged some of my perspectives and presents the problems of being puritan in ideologies. I enjoyed the author’s thoughts on needing to find a “radical center” - commonality with others who may seem diabolically opposed to one another. I also enjoyed her thoughts on hope in a new light and her assertion that pessimism and optimism can remove you from taking actual action. While my views on some things were different than the authors, I am glad that I listened for to her underlying thoughts and feel I learned valuable things by listening to this book.

Fierce, fearless and empowering

As a climate activist for more than 6 years this is one of the best books about untold history and how to communicate courage, hope and joy. Rebecca looked at crises from a longer view of time and wider perspective of movements. I will come back to it again and again.

Galvanizing

I spent years assuming I knew roughly what was in this book, but finally reading it has changed my life. Solnit helped me make sense of activism, hope and despair. It’s also a wryly funny book. Five stars for Solnit’s amazing book, zero stars for the publishers who chose a narrator who makes it all sound like an uplifting tampon commercial and can’t pronounce key terms like “transnational.”

Hope in a difficult age

The book focuses on maintaining a hopeful disposition while engaging in activism. The book uses specific examples to help reframe the purpose of activism from impossible end goals to achievable progress through dedication and celebration of the process.

Helpful

In a time that often feels hopeless to me, Rebecca’s work helped me see other options.

"Perfection is a stick used to beat the possible."

This a thoughtful and inspiring read I plan to share with others. The author observes that, "Critical thinking without hope is cynicism. Hope without critical thinking is naivity."  Every conflict is in part a struggle over the story being told. Too often the story being told is one of despair even when examples of success and possibilities exist all around us and throughout history. She wrote this book to share many inspiring examples of change and progress since, "Memory produces hope, (while) amnesia produces despair." She also wrote it to encourage action. Afterall, hope can serve as a basis for action, but it can't be a substitute for it. She summed her thoughts up succinctly, "You can't begin without hope but without action it dissipates."

This Helped Me

This books is helpful as long as you have a realistic view of what hope is. Good thoughts and perspective for people who care and are trying not to give up.