Rebecca Solnit's Reading List

The author, most recently, of the essay collection "Call Them by Their True Names: American Crises" keeps an eye on the "daily eruptions of the internet": "Like a lot of us, I'm hypervigilant about the crazy stuff going on."

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By the Book: Rebecca Solnit (2018)

NYT By the Book column (2018-08-16).

Source: www.nytimes.com

How to Write an Autobiographical Novel

Alexander Chee · Buy on Amazon

"Alexander Chee's "How to Write an Autobiographical Novel" is probably the most recently published thing in the stack, and it's wonderful."

The Road to Wigan Pier

George Orwell · 1937 · Buy on Amazon

"It's a tossup between Orwell's "The Road to Wigan Pier" and Roxane Gay's "Hunger.""

Hunger

Roxane Gay · 2017 · Buy on Amazon

"It's a tossup between Orwell's "The Road to Wigan Pier" and Roxane Gay's "Hunger.""

Labyrinths

Jorge Luis Borges · Buy on Amazon

"More than any other book, Jorge Luis Borges's "Labyrinths," which I discovered when I was 15, showed me what was possible in short prose nonfiction."

Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology

David Graeber · Buy on Amazon

"I'm sure some people have heard of David Graeber's thrilling "Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology," but I think it's relatively obscure."

Direct Action: Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism

L. A. Kauffman · Buy on Amazon

"L. A. Kauffman's "Direct Action: Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism" is the best overview of how protest works — when it does — and what it's achieved over the past 50 years."

The Far Away Brothers

Lauren Markham · Buy on Amazon

"Lauren Markham's "The Far Away Brothers" is a beautiful book about two unaccompanied-minor refugees, why they left and what it means to be an undocumented immigrant in the United States."

The Unconquerable World

Jonathan Schell · Buy on Amazon

"Jonathan Schell's "The Unconquerable World" is a stirring history of the rise of nonviolence as a counterforce to state power and violence."

At the Dark End of the Street

Danielle L. McGuire · Buy on Amazon

"Danielle L. McGuire's "At the Dark End of the Street" is a feminist counter-history of Rosa Parks and the civil rights movement."

We Gon' Be Alright

Jeff Chang · Buy on Amazon

"Jeff Chang's "We Gon' Be Alright" is a brilliant update to what a lot of us assume is the state of cities and race in the United States."

Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations

Charles F. Wilkinson · Buy on Amazon

"Charles F. Wilkinson's "Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations" is a surprisingly encouraging book about cultural revival and Native people making and taking power since World War II."

Bury the Chains

Adam Hochschild · Buy on Amazon

"to write one of them I'd have to be the Adam Hochschild who wrote "Bury the Chains.""

Death Comes to the Archbishop

Willa Cather · Buy on Amazon

"to write one of them I'd have to be … the Willa Cather who wrote "Death Comes to the Archbishop.""

Favorite books (2023)

Favorite books recommended by Rebecca Solnit, as compiled by radicalreads.com. Source article: https://radicalreads.com/rebecca-solnit-favorite-books/.

Source: radicalreads.com

The Maine Woods

Henry David Thoreau · Buy on Amazon

The Land of Little Rain

Mary Austen · Buy on Amazon

Death Comes to the Archbishop

Willa Cather · Buy on Amazon

Arctic Adventure

Peter Freuchen · Buy on Amazon

Encounter with an Angry God

Carobeth Laird · Buy on Amazon

Names on the Land