Call Them by Their True Names

American Crises

hardcover, 166 pages

Published Sept. 11, 2018 by Haymarket Books.

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(2 reviews)

"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"--

2 editions

Review of 'Call Them by Their True Names' on Goodreads

First of a few post-2016 reflections this summer, covers/relives the doubts and fears and outrage while always drawing us back to the big picture justice issues that deserve our undistracted attention. Maybe you need this, maybe you don't, but Solnit expresses my own felt place in our collective mental space well.

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