The incomparable Rebecca Solnit, author of more than a dozen acclaimed,
prizewinning books of nonfiction including Men Explain Things To Me,
brings the same dazzling writing to the essays in The Encyclopedia of
Trouble and Spaciousness; hailed by the Los Angeles Times as
globally wide-ranging and topically urgent and the Boston Globe as
luminous and precise.. As the title suggests, the territory of Solnit's
concerns is vast, and in her signature alchemical style she combines
commentary on history, justice, war and peace, and explorations of
place, art, and community, all while writing with the lyricism of a poet
to achieve incandescence and wisdom.
Gathered here are celebrated iconic essays along with little-known
pieces that create a powerful survey of the world we live in, from the
jungles of the Zapatistas in Mexico to the splendors of the Arctic. This
rich collection tours places as diverse as Haiti and Iceland; movements
like Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring; an original take on the
question of who did Henry David Thoreau's laundry; and a searching look
at what the hatred of country music really means.
Solnit moves nimbly from Orwell to Elvis, to contemporary urban
gardening to 1970s California macramé and punk rock, and on to searing
questions about the environment, freedom, family, class, work, and
friendship. It's no wonder she's been compared in Bookforum to Susan
Sontag and Annie Dillard and in the San Francisco Chronicle to Joan
Didion.
The Encyclopedia of Trouble and Spaciousness proves Rebecca Solnit
worthy of the accolades and honors she's received. Rarely can a reader
find such penetrating critiques of our time and its failures leavened
with such generous heapings of hope. Solnit looks back to history and
the progress of political movements to find an antidote to despair in
what many feel as lost causes. In its encyclopedic reach and its
generous compassion, Solnit's collection charts a way through the
thickets of our complex social and political worlds. Her essays are a
beacon for readers looking for alternative ideas in these imperiled
times.
