A review by stellahadz
Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities by Rebecca Solnit

hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

This was a slow read for me - that's not necessarily a bad thing, but I think this book might be better enjoyed as something to pick up occasionally, read a chapter or two, and reflect upon. Given that it's a collection of essays about a central topic, reading it all at once can make it feel repetitive. That being said, I think the message that Solnit gets across in this book is one that bears repeating. Hope in the Dark isn't a "feel good" book, it's a "here's how we can be and do good" book. Solnit writes intelligently and beautifully about what it feels like to practice hope (she is very clear that hope is only productive when it is lived and not merely felt) in times when it appears futile. She draws on examples of social and environmental movements from across the world to encourage us to see dark times as "dark as in inscrutable, not as in terrible." As someone with a sometimes all-consuming fear of the unknown, this was an important message for me.