As ever, Rebecca Solnit has put together a fascinating and informative collection of work that feels essential and relevant to where and how we are right now in the world. What I love most about many of these pieces is that they offer a perspective that offers hope, even when speaking about dark subjects. She reminds us that we are resilient, that we can take a long view, and that we can be optimistic. It was a breath of fresh air, and one much needed by this particular reader.

Another thought-provoking anthology of essays from one of the most influential voices in progressive America. Solnit touches on many topics here, from climate catastrophe to feminism to democracy, always in beautiful prose and fresh ways.

Just keep in mind that this is a collection of separate, previously published pieces, so it is best read in small bites.

Thanks to the publisher, Haymarket Books, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

Thought provoking essays that tackle political responsibility and accountable activism. All of these essays to some degree made me turn inward and realize my own participation in passive and active demonstrations that bit by bit influence the world at large. At times inspiring, but, these essays never overshadow the true objective of the personal power of knowledge all along.

Rebecca Solnit once more collects insightful, clear, and hopeful essays about our world today. This volume is a counterpart to her earlier collection of political essays, "Hope in the Dark," which remains timely even when the issues discussed in 2004 have morphed in unexpected directions. Solnit is tender about humanity, able to see our failures but also our triumphs, and insisting upon the importance of those triumphs when despair is so much easier to reach for. She understands the hard work that goes into activism and change, and how there is very seldom immediate gratification relating to the work we do. More often it is slow progress, with apparent setbacks along the way that are dispiriting, sure, but that don't get to be the final word. A good reminder to hope and do work that aligns with your hope. And, as always, so elegantly written.

I absolutely adored this essay collection. Though the essays come from different times and places, this still felt like a tight and cohesive body of work. Every essay felt right, and none were any less important than the others. This was my first time reading Solnit's writing, and I loved her framing of hope as something that exists to spur action, rather than as the passive thing others think it to be. She discusses a range of topics, each grounded in reality and providing wonderful perspectives on how we ought to respond to current events. Among these were climate change, Indigenous rights, and the Trump presidency, but there were many more.

I was also pleasantly surprised by how she weaves personal anecdotes about nature and everyday life into her thoughts on political action. Slowing down is not a flaw, despite how our capitalist society obsessed with productivity might portray it; it is a vital thing we can all do in order to better consider long-term actions, as well as to appreciate the positives.

I really need to read more of her work now, and perhaps also reread this once it has been published so I can closely look at the essays again.

Another wonderful and resonant collection from Rebecca Solnit. Such beautiful (and much needed!) meditations on hope and the power of collective action.

No Straight Road Takes You There is a book of essays by Rebecca Solnit that explores the intersection of politics, literature, and imagining how the world could be.

I previously read Men Explain Things To Me many years back and remember really enjoying Solnit’s writing and her collection of essays. I was not able to get pulled into this book in the same way though and ultimately did not finish reading this book.

I don’t think it is the fault of the author but rather my expectations of the work, going in. I think I was expecting more of a memoir style of writing, which is not what this book is trying to do. If someone is looking for a collection of essays that includes cultural and literary critiques, perspectives on politics and current sociocultural issues in the news, this might be up their street. I was hoping for essays that felt more personal and were in the style of memoir, so this wasn’t ultimately for me!

I've read everything that Rebecca Solnit has written. She's one of those few authors where I will immediately read anything they put out just because I'm such a fan of their previous works. I've read her work as I've matured, and I'm proud to say that she has had an enormous impact on the way that I understand what's happening in society as it goes through changes. This new set of essays are fantastic and give us the language and context we need to make sense of everything going on in the world right now.

"No Straight Road Takes You There" is more than just a collection of essays; it’s a heartfelt meditation on the beauty of life's unpredictability. Solnit encourages us to accept the complexities and contradictions that come with our experiences, fostering a sense of resilience and hope amid uncertainty.

This book is a must-read for fans of Solnit's work, as well as for anyone seeking to deepen their understanding of the intricacies of the human experience. In a world that often insists on clear-cut paths, Solnit's reflections on the winding roads of life offer a refreshing perspective.

I sometimes have the same issue with essay collections as I do with short story collections -- because you will naturally like some more than others, I often fall into giving them all 3 stars. This has happened again with this one by Rebecca Solnit. I have read several of her earlier books and felt the same. In this case, there are some essays here that happened pre or early Covid that feel either dated or not quite ripe for "post" consideration and those were the ones that fell a bit flat to me. Others were more evergreen (climate change) or more current/relevant. As always, some great nuggets in here, though.

I took my sweet time with Solnit's newest collection of acutely timely essays, not because it isn't good, but because in the current state of the world, I wanted—needed—to space these small injections of hope out for as long as I could.

"Even when the rock's at the bottom of the pool, the ripples are still spreading."

No Straight Road Takes You There begins with an essay about a three-hundred-year-old violin, and ends with one about a prisoner with a dream of seeing the ocean and visiting his mother's grave. A large variety of topics are covered in between, but the one Solnit returns to time and again is the climate crisis: At a time when every news headline feeds the vision of a bleak, uncertain future, Solnit is an optimistic realist, and makes a case for the fact that uncertainty holds potential; that not all is yet lost; that it's worth to dream of and fight for a better world.

"...the future is not as it is so often spoken of—as a place that already exists, toward which we are trudging—but as a place that we are creating with what we do and how we do it (or don't) in the present. (...) Hope is that recognition and a commitment to the pursuit of the better possibilities within the spaciousness of the unknown, the not yet created."

The thread connecting these essays is Solnit's plea to stop, zoom out, and look at the bigger picture, especially when things seem hopeless. Change is the only constant, but more often than not, it isn't one big event; it happens slowly, incrementally, and is often only noticeable when you take a moment to look back at where we started out.

As ever, her writing is engaging and accessible with flashes of poetic beauty, and her commentary sharp, nuanced, and compassionate; Solnit has a uniquely refreshing way of acknowledging all the ways in which the world sucks, while also leaving room for hope, reminding us of how far we have come, and how much further we can go—challenging work lies ahead, but not impossible work. In these bleak times, that's a comforting, inspiring thought.

A range of essays and/or articles that also date back to the years just prior to the pandemic or the war in Ukraine, so while they are generally interesting and certainly still valid, they most of the time, bear the brunt of time. Moreover, they are sometimes so U.S.-centered, that they bore me, because the details of the stories she tells, are not that well known to overseas audiences.

Una serie di saggi e/o articoli che risalgono anche agli anni appena precedenti alla pandemia o alla guerra in Ucraina, quindi, anche se in generale sono interessanti e sicuramente ancora validi, accusano il piú delle volte, il peso del tempo. Inoltre a volte sono talmente U.S. centered, che mi annoiano perché i dettagli delle storie che racconta, non sono poi cosí noti al pubblico di oltre oceano.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

Rebecca Solnit will be remembered for her works. They will sit alongside Mary Wollstonecraft, Betty Friedan and Bell Hooks.

This is a collection of essays about how we as a society solve large problems. From Discrimination to sexism to the environment no problem has an easy solution. No change happens instantaneously and no matter how deep in the trudges of our moral failings there is always a way out. Coming into 2025 with a feeling of despair this book offers a glimmer of hope that maybe not all is lost. Perhaps we will find a way to get someplace better.

Rebecca Solnit has done it again. My favorite thing about Rebecca's work is that I can rely on her to make me pause and think more seriously about things I encounter regularly but haven't considered on a deeper level. Take string instruments, for example. What a beautiful collection of essays. I love her ability to break my heart and make it grow ten times at the simultaneously. Being able to grow with Rebecca Solnit over the last 15 or so years has been such a privilege, I hope to have that privilege for 15 more years, or more. I'll take as much as she will give me!

Thank you NetGalley and Haymarket, this was a perfect reflection on the last several years of our lives.

Solnit’s latest collection (though she doesn’t like to call it that) contains her expected clear-eyed prose and direct focus on topics that matter to many: climate change, politics, abortion, feminism. The work here is strong and I would particularly like every person in the US to read “Abortion Is an Economic Issue” and really sit with what she has to say. It starts a series of pieces in the second half of the “Revisions” section that are powerful. And for those who shake with climate anxiety, please read “Changing the Climate Story.” I think that piece will make a lot of people breathe a little easier.

Rebecca Solnit has had an enormous impact on the way I see and understand the world. Her books have shaped the way I think, given me language for things I felt but did not know how to express. This latest collection of essays is everything I thought - and hoped - it would be. She dissects our current situation and provides thoughtful, compassionate, and most importantly, hopeful commentary. Look, I am the first to admit this is not an unbiased review. I am a huge fan. But there is a reason I am such a fan. Solnit has a way of examining and describing the world which acknowledges all the awfulness but leaves room for wonder and joy too. Thank you to the author, Haymarket Books, and NetGalley for the eARC.

[a copy of this book was provided to me by the published from netgalley. thank you!]

4.5⭐️

a timely and thoughtful collection of essays from rebecca solnit. i love solnit’s work, and this was just as good as her previous publications

3.5 Stars

While some essays were stronger than others, overall this was a great compilation of essays covering the past few years and focusing on feminism, climate change, and other social issues.

I always appreciate Rebecca Solnit's essays, and these were no different. This is a collection of essays that Solnit wrote for different publications over the past few years. Most of them are still acutely relevant today, though some of the information or commentary has been overtaken by recent events. I would have liked it if the author could have updated some of the pieces, but they are still plenty interesting as they are.

The collection mostly revolves around the themes of climate change, feminism, and politics, with topics ranging from renewable energy to abortion laws to the left/right divide in American politics. The variety of the topics sometimes gave me a little whiplash as I moved between the essays, but on the whole they are united by a sense of addressing some of the most urgent topics of our time.

Solnit doesn't shy away from tackling systemic problems head-on, breaking down the topics in a comprehensible, accessible manner. The general tone of the essays, however, is not as despairing as one might think, but rather optimism-in-spite-of-everything. Solnit emphasizes the dangers of despair and nihilism, and convincingly makes the case that societies won't change if their people lose hope that change is possible. She calls out a lack of imagination in the general population, and encourages us to dream bigger.

Ultimately, there seem to be three big takeaways from these essays: 1) We need to believe that a better world is possible 2) and can be realized through incremental changes 3) if we emphasize collective activity over individual responsibility. That's a message I can very much get behind. I would certainly recommend this collection.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

The clarity and hope that exist in these essays realistically portray what is going on in this country, but also tell the stories of the actions so many people are taking to counteract the darkness. This is not an easy read, but I consider it to be essential. I only wish that some of the author's more recent essays that appear in her newsletter Meditations in an Emergency could be included as well. Recommended reading for all Americans.