A Review of Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities by Rebecca Solnit.

Julianne Burgess

doi:10.26522/brocked.v29i1.660

Abstract

Rebecca Solnit's book makes the case for hope as a commitment to social action in an uncertain world. The author draws from her own history of activism and her study of environmental, political and cultural history, to shine a light on long forgotten transformative victories. Solnit argues that we are living in a time of exciting, unprecedented social change.

Highlights

Power, previous revolutions, capitalism, colonialism, and traditional Marxism
Solnit asserts that we are living in an extraordinary time of transformative movements, heroes and shifts in consciousness, as evidenced by Black Lives Matter, the climate justice movement, and resurgent feminism
The beginning of the insurgency is often traced to the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia, but Solnit tracks it back to past events and the quiet organizing that was taking place out of sight, and to: the comic book about Martin Luther King and civil disobedience that was translated into Arabic and widely distributed in Egypt shortly before the Arab Spring

Summary

Introduction

Power, previous revolutions, capitalism, colonialism, and traditional Marxism. Solnit argues the Zapatistas have articulated a new form of political discourse that has caught the imaginations of activists globally, and whose legacy is still being written. Solnit asserts that we are living in an extraordinary time of transformative movements, heroes and shifts in consciousness, as evidenced by Black Lives Matter, the climate justice movement, and resurgent feminism. One of her most intriguing examples of how unpredictable change can be is the Arab Spring uprising of 2011.

Results

Conclusion