100,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock πŸ‡³πŸ‡Ώ

Auckland Bookstore open today until 5pm! πŸŽ‰

Hope In The Dark

Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities
Series: Canons
3.97 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating.
( 11,524 ratings, 1,583 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Hope In The Dark by Rebecca Solnit explores the power of hope, especially in dire political and social climates. It encourages embracing uncertainty and finding motivation in the possibility of change, arguing that transformative acts often come unexpectedly from the margins of society. This book provides a compelling argument for optimism in activism.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2799
OVERNIGHT NZ-WIDE DELIVERY

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book may appeal to you if you find inspiration in exploring the power of perseverance and activism in challenging times. It offers a compelling perspective on how hope can be a driving force for social and political change, even in the face of uncertainty.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

This updated edition confirms Solnit's seminal work as a timeless classic on politics and change.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description
Hope In The Dark by Rebecca Solnit is an inspiring exploration of the power of hope amidst the turbulence of contemporary life. In a world often overshadowed by political unrest, environmental challenges, and social inequalities, Solnit presents a compelling argument for maintaining optimism. Through vivid storytelling and profound insight, she unveils the latent potential of social and political movements, illustrating how even the smallest acts of resistance can catalyse significant change. Solnit leads readers through a historical landscape marked by pivotal moments over the past five decades. She reflects on transformative events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, the global protests against the war in Iraq, and various grassroots movements that have redefined the social fabric. Each example serves to illuminate how perseverance, creativity, and collective action can overcome even the darkest of times. The book is not merely a historical recount; it is a deep, philosophical engagement with the concept of hope. Solnit draws upon the thoughts and works of influential figures like Virginia Woolf, Mahatma Gandhi, Jorge Luis Borges, Walter Benjamin, and VΓ‘clav Havel, weaving their wisdom into a tapestry that underscores the unpredictable nature of progress. Hope In The Dark challenges the conventional narrative of despair by showcasing the interconnectedness of actions and outcomes. Solnit emphasises that the future is unwritten and that every individual has the agency to contribute to positive change. Her eloquent prose sparks a sense of empowerment, urging readers to remain steadfast in their beliefs and actions, even when the road ahead appears uncertain. This book is a vital read for anyone seeking reassurance and inspiration in times of adversity. It not only offers a historical perspective but also serves as a guide for effective political engagement and personal resilience. Through Rebecca Solnit's keen observations and heartfelt reflections, Hope In The Dark is a luminous beacon, illuminating the path forward with the boundless possibilities that hope engenders.

Series: Canons

View all
  • Bird by Bird
    Bird by Bird is not just a guide to writing; it's a deeply moving, insightful journey through the mind and spirit of a writer. Anne Lamott, acclaimed novelist and memoirist, shares her wealth of experience in this witty, honest, and profoundly down-to-earth book. A compendium of advice, anecdotes, and encouragement, it has remained a timeless resource for writers and aspiring...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Garden of Evening Mists
    The Garden of Evening Mists is the international bestseller shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and the winner of both the Man Asian Literary Prize and the Walter Scott Prize. Teoh Yun Ling was seventeen years old when she first heard about Aritomo and the garden. But a war would come to Malaya, and a decade would pass before she...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Gift
    The Gift by Lewis Hyde is a profound exploration of the role of creativity in a world increasingly dominated by money and materialism. At its core, this modern masterpiece delves into the very nature of a "gift" and examines how it can inspire and transform our lives, art, and culture. Hyde weaves together insights from literature, anthropology, and psychology to...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3299
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Trip to Echo Spring
    Why did numerous celebrated authors become entwined with the grip of alcoholism? In The Trip to Echo Spring, Olivia Laing weaves an evocative journey across America, probing the intricate interplay between creativity and alcohol through the intertwined lives and works of six literary giants: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, John Berryman, John Cheever, and Raymond Carver. Laing embarks...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Outrun
    The Outrun by Amy Liptrot is a deeply moving memoir that beautifully narrates the journey of a woman seeking redemption and recovery amidst the rugged, untamed landscapes of the Orkney Islands. After a harrowing decade-long struggle with alcohol addiction, thirty-year-old Amy returns to her childhood home in Orkney, seeking solace and healing. In this hauntingly honest account, she immerses herself...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Hope In The Dark
    Hope In The Dark by Rebecca Solnit is an inspiring exploration of the power of hope amidst the turbulence of contemporary life. In a world often overshadowed by political unrest, environmental challenges, and social inequalities, Solnit presents a compelling argument for maintaining optimism. Through vivid storytelling and profound insight, she unveils the latent potential of social and political movements, illustrating...
    Paperback
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The First Bad Man
    The First Bad Man is a Guardian literary highlight and a Huffington Post 'One to Watch'. 'Astounding', says Lena Dunham, creator of Girls and author of Not That Kind of Girl. The First Bad Man brings together all of Miranda July's talents. It's a book that must be read and purchased in duplicateβ€”one for you, one for a friend. Don't...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • To the River
    Over sixty years after Virginia Woolf's tragic drowning in the River Ouse, Olivia Laing embarks on a journey that intertwines the natural world with poignant reflections on life and literature. In To the River, Laing sets out to walk along the banks of this historic river, tracing its path from its source to the sea. This journey is not just...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • How to Lose a Country
    How to Lose a Country is a warning to the world that populism and nationalism don't march fully-formed into government; they creep. Award-winning author and journalist Ece Temelkuran identifies the early warning signs of this phenomenon, sprouting up across the world from Eastern Europe to South America, in order to arm the reader with the tools to recognise it and...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Under The Skin
    With an introduction by David Mitchell. Isserley spends most of her time driving. But why is she so interested in picking up hitchhikers? And why are they always male, well-built, and alone? An utterly unpredictable and macabre mystery, Under the Skin is a genre-defying masterpiece.
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    Backorder
    Ships mid August
  • My Father's Notebook
    When he was a boy, Aga Akbar, the illegitimate, deaf-mute son of a Persian nobleman, travelled with his uncle to a cave on nearby Saffron Mountain. Once there, he was to transcribe a cuneiform inscription over three thousand years old. Decades later, his son, Ishmael - a political dissident in exile - attempts to translate a notebook filled with a...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Abundance
    Annie Dillard has spent a lifetime examining the world around her with eyes wide open, drinking in all things intensely and relentlessly. Whether observing a sublime lunar eclipse or a moth consumed in a candle flame, the trembling of lily pads on a pond or hundreds of red-winged blackbirds taking flight, Dillard's awe at the fragility of the natural world...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

A short, elegant, and passionate polemic on progressive political engagement, Hope In The Dark by Rebecca Solnit highlights hope as a source of energy for action today. Solnit's poetic succinctness and ability to connect past activism with future inspiration make her work profoundly relevant. Described as fascinating and beautifully written, this book serves as a beacon in dark times, offering a hopeful perspective on human rights advancements and the power of direct action.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781782119074

Publisher: Canongate Books

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 28 July 2016

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Canongate Canons

Edition: Main - Canons Edition

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 10.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 134g

Pages: 176

About the Author

Rebecca Solnit has written eighteen acclaimed works of non-fiction, including Wanderlust: A History of Walking and A Field Guide to Getting Lost. An activist, columnist and cultural historian, she has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Lannan Literary Award. She lives in San Francisco.

Also by Rebecca Solnit

View all
  • Men Explain Things to Me
    Rebecca Solnit's essay Men Explain Things to Me has become a touchstone of the feminist movement, inspired the term 'mansplaining', and established Solnit as one of the leading feminist thinkers of our timeβ€”one who has inspired everyone from radical activists to BeyoncΓ© Knowles. Collected here in print for the first time is the essay itself, along with the best of...
    Hardback
    $4500
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Wanderlust
    What does it mean to be out walking in the world? From pilgrimages to protest marches, mountaineering to meandering, this modern classic weaves together numerous histories to trace a range of possibilities for this most basic act. Touching on the philosophers of Ancient Greece, the Romantic poets, Jane Austen's Elizabeth Bennett, AndrΓ© Breton's Nadja, and more, Rebecca Solnit considers what...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    Backorder
    Ships early August
  • Cinderella Liberator
    A retelling of Cinderella from A Fairy Tale Revolution, a series designed to breathe new life into old stories, for modern girls and boys. Rebecca Solnit retells Cinderella. A Fairy Tale Revolution is here to remix and revive our favourite stories. 'She looked like a girl who was evening, and an evening that had become a girl...' In the kitchen,...
    Hardback
    $3600
    Elsewhere:
    $4000
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • River of Shadows
    In 1872, Eadward Muybridge, a British photographer who had landed in California during the Gold Rush, captured images of high-speed movement. These photographs would go on to lay the foundations for motion pictures, changing the west coast of America, and the world, forever. River of Shadows is both a bold and original biography of a true pioneerβ€”his trailblazing work, and...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • City of Women London Tube Wall Map (A2, 16.5 x 23.4 Inches)
    A feminist reclamation of London's hidden history, through a reimagining of the city's iconic Tube map. Londoners Reni Eddo-Lodge and Emma Watson have reimagined the iconic Tube map, in collaboration with Rebecca Solnit, to celebrate the lives of women and non-binary people who have left a lasting impact on the city. The new map, unveiled on International Women's Day in...
    Sheet map, rolled
    $4299
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Orwell's Roses
    'I loved this book... An exhilarating romp through Orwell's life and times' - Margaret Atwood Outside my work the thing I care most about is gardening - George Orwell Inspired by her encounter with the surviving roses that Orwell is said to have planted in his cottage in Hertfordshire, Rebecca Solnit explores how his involvement with plants, particularly flowers, illuminates...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Faraway Nearby
    Gifts come in many guises. One summer, Rebecca Solnit was given three boxes of ripening apricots, fruit from a neglected tree that her mother, gradually succumbing to memory loss, could no longer tend to. In this courageous, heartbreaking memoir, Solnit draws from this unexpected inheritance, weaving her own story into fairy tales and the lives of others. Encompassing the Marquis...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Whose Story Is This?
    Who gets to shape the narrative of our times? The current moment is a battle over that foundational power. Women, people of colour and non-straight people are telling other versions, and white men in particular are fighting to preserve their own centrality. In this outstanding collection of essays by one of the most prescient and insightful commentators today, Solnit appraises...
    Hardback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3299
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Mother of All Questions
    Following on from the success of Men Explain Things to Me comes a new collection of essays in which Rebecca Solnit opens up a feminism for all of us: one that doesn't stigmatise women's lives, whether they include spouses and children or not. Solnit brings empathy to the silences in men's lives as well as the silencing of women's lives,...
    Hardback
    $3299
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Infinite City
    What makes a place? Infinite City, Rebecca Solnit's brilliant reinvention of the traditional atlas, searches out the answer by examining the many layers of meaning in one place, the San Francisco Bay Area. Aided by artists, writers, cartographers, and twenty-two gorgeous colour maps, each of which illuminates the city and its surroundings as experienced by different inhabitants, Solnit takes us...
    Paperback
    $5699
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • A Field Guide To Getting Lost
    With a new afterword by the author In her map to loss, losing and being lost, Rebecca Solnit explores the challenges of living with uncertainty. Meandering eclectically through memory and mortality, Hitchcock movies and heartbreak, Solnit's beloved account of staying off the beaten path sheds glittering new light on the way we live now. A Field Guide To Getting Lost...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Nonstop Metropolis
    Winner of the 2017 Brendan Gill Prize from the Municipal Arts Society of New York "The maps themselves are things of beauty . . . A document of its time, of our time." β€”Sadie Stein, New York Times "One is invited to fathom the many New Yorks hidden from history’s eye." β€”Maria Popova, Brain Pickings Nonstop Metropolis, the culminating volume...
    Paperback
    $5699
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks

More from Politics & Current Affairs

View all
  • New Release
    One Last Question, Prime Minister
    From Muldoon to Luxon, untold stories from the House of Parliament Barry Soper has spent close to five decades questioning New Zealand's prime ministers.From the imposing, larger-than-life characters of Rob Muldoon and David Lange, to the golden age of Helen Clark and John Key, and the post-Covid era of Jacinda Ardern and the 'Chrises', Soper's insight and nose for a...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    (6)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    Regime Change
    From the two reporters who have covered him more closely than perhaps anyone else over the past decade comes this definitive portrait of Donald Trump in the White House and the first year of his second presidency. Based on hundreds of interviews and unprecedented reporting from deep within the administration’s most closely guarded rooms, Regime Change takes the reader into...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Elsewhere:
    $4299
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    A Different Kind of Power
    #1 New Zealand bestseller #1 Amazon bestseller #2 Audible bestseller #3 New York Times bestseller #3 Sunday Times bestseller #4 Australian bestseller From the former prime minister of New Zealand, then the world’s youngest female head of government and just the second to give birth in office, comes a deeply personal memoir chronicling her extraordinary rise and offering inspiration to...
    Paperback
    $3200
    Elsewhere:
    $4000
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • A Different Kind of Power
    Ockham Winner
    A Different Kind of Power
    What if we could redefine leadership? What if kindness came first? Jacinda Ardern grew up the daughter of a police officer in small-town New Zealand, but as the 40th Prime Minister of her country, she commanded global respect for her empathetic leadership that put people first. This is the remarkable story of how a Mormon girl plagued by self-doubt made...
    Hardback
    $4799
    Elsewhere:
    $5999
    (7)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Signed Copy
    Go Hard or Go Home
    From the front bench to rock bottom:Β Go Hard or Go HomeΒ is Kiri Allan's fearless memoir of ambition, disruption and survival in NZ politics and beyond. Kiri Allan's six-year political career spanned some of the most challenging times in recent history. Events a government might encounter once in a generation stacked up: a terrorist attack, a volcanic eruption, destructive and deadly...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $4000
    Pre-order
    Out 4 Aug 2026
  • New Release
    Suicidal Empathy
    The bestselling author of The Parasitic Mind shows why empathy in politics leads to civilizational collapse. What happens when a society elevates victimhood to a virtue and decides that punishment is cruel? You get the disease Dr. Gad Saad calls suicidal empathy. And the West may be terminally infected. In his new book, Suicidal Empathy, Saad unleashes a blistering critique...
    Paperback
    $3099
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    The Day After: How to Wield Power in a Post-Trump World
    From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Shameless, Brian Tyler Cohen explores how Republicans have abused power, how Democrats have refused to exercise power when they held it, and how progressives should wield power if they are fortunate enough to win a free and fair election in a post-Trump world. The Day After: How to Wield Power in...
    Paperback
    $3099
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Careless People
    Shocking and darkly funny, Careless People gives you a front-row seat to the decisions that are shaping our world and the people who make them. Welcome to Facebook. Sarah Wynn-Williams, a young diplomat from New Zealand, pitched for her dream job. She saw Facebook's potential and knew it could change the world for the better. But, when she got there...
    Paperback
    $2800
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Discipline
    Silence is complicity, but how do we confront the cost of speaking up? Sydney, May 2021. Ashraf is an academic whose career and personal life are in freefall. Hannah is a young journalist struggling to honour the voices of her community. When a Year 12 Al-Bayinnah College student is arrested for protesting a university's ties to an Israeli weapons manufacturer,...
    Paperback
    $4000
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Handmaid's Tale
    The bestselling dystopian classic that became a cultural phenomenon and inspired an award-winning TV series. THE SUNDAY TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER Go back to where it all began with the dystopian novel behind the award-winning TV series. 'As relevant today as it was when Atwood wrote it.' Guardian I believe in the resistance as I believe there can be no...
    Paperback
    $2000
    Elsewhere:
    $2400
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Shattered Lands
    'A sparkling debut by an outstanding young historian' – PETER FRANKOPAN 'This book is a revelation … both original and important' – MISHAL HUSAIN A history of modern South Asia told through five partitions that reshaped it. As recently as 1928, a vast swathe of Asia – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, Bhutan, Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and...
    Paperback
    $3699
    Elsewhere:
    $4500
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Keep Calm – We Are Coming
    Keep Calm β€” We Are Coming briefly backgrounds the New Zealand Special Air Service deployment in Afghanistan β€” then goes into action. While primarily training Afghan forces, in Kabul the NZSAS had to respond to a series of β€˜spectacular attacks’ by heavily armed Taliban fighters wearing suicide vests and determined to inflict major casualties. In the words of those who...
    Paperback
    $4000
    Elsewhere:
    $4500
    In Stock
    Ships Monday

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 80,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.