Call them by their true names : American crises (and essays)

by Rebecca Solnit

Paper Book, 2018

Status

Checked out

Tags

Publication

Chicago, Illinois : Haymarket Books, 2018.

Description

"Changing the world means changing the story, the names, and the language with which we describe it. Calling things by their true names cuts through the lies that excuse, disguise, avoid, or encourage inaction, indifference, obliviousness in the face of injustice and violence. In this powerful and wide-ranging collection, Solnit turns her attention to battles over meaning, place, language, and belonging at the heart of the defining crises of our time. She explores the way emotions shape political life, electoral politics, police shootings and gentrification, the life of an extraordinary man on death row, the pipeline protest at Standing Rock, and the existential threat posed by climate change."--

User reviews

LibraryThing member splinfo
what a voice. happy Rebecca Solnit lives in my world.
LibraryThing member KimMeyer
I've read a lot of Solnit's work, and I particularly like the essays in this collection.
LibraryThing member Smokler
Ms Solnit is brilliant, as always, but she isn't always edited well by her publisher who, in her 4th essay collection for Hey Day books has once again, put her work in kind of a jumbled nonsense of a pile. If you can stand that these essays seem thrown about like yesterday's laundry, you'll be
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fine. On their own, they are magical, particularly "Preaching to the Choir"
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LibraryThing member japaul22
I always love [[Rebecca Solnit]]'s essays, and this collection was particularly good. The uniting focus is that words and labels matter and that small actions can add up to big change. Though times are dark, this collection is surprisingly hopeful. The essays sparked my anger but also made me proud
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of the way many in our country are standing up and making their dissatisfaction public.

I bought a bunch of Solnit's collected essays and I think I'll pick up another right away. Solnit's writing is always points out the uncomfortable and always challenges me to reassess my biases. Plus her skill in the use of the English language is remarkable.
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LibraryThing member wunder
These essays are about hope, but hope as a verb. Hope as something you do, you act on. Whether it works or not, you keep doing hope.
LibraryThing member nmele
For a collection of topical essays this book served me as a reminder of how we got to the disarray of politics and the divide in our society. More than that, Solnit analyzes and resists our tendency to live with lies and euphemisms rather than face hard facts. It heartens me to know that some
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commentators are not simply rambling on about our problems but actually addressing them.
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Awards

National Book Award (Longlist — Nonfiction — 2018)
Kirkus Prize (Finalist — Nonfiction — 2018)
Golden Poppy Book Award (Shortlist — Non-Fiction — 2018)

Language

Original publication date

2018-09-04

ISBN

9781608469468

Local notes

essay
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