Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics
By : Rebecca Solnit
Comment : 687
Storming the Gates of Paradise Landscapes for Politics Rebecca Solnit has made a vocation of journeying into difficult territory and reporting back as an environmentalist antiglobalization activist and public intellectual Storming the Gates of Paradise
Title: Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics
Author: Rebecca Solnit
Rebecca Solnit has made a vocation of journeying into difficult territory and reporting back, as an environmentalist, antiglobalization activist, and public intellectual Storming the Gates of Paradise, an anthology of her essential essays from the past ten years, takes the reader from the Pyrenees to the U.S Mexican border, from San Francisco to London, from open sky toRebecca Solnit has made a vocation of journeying into difficult territory and reporting back, as an environmentalist, antiglobalization activist, and public intellectual Storming the Gates of Paradise, an anthology of her essential essays from the past ten years, takes the reader from the Pyrenees to the U.S Mexican border, from San Francisco to London, from open sky to the deepest mines, and from the antislavery struggles of two hundred years ago to today s street protests The nearly forty essays collected here comprise a unique guidebook to the American landscape after the millennium not just the deserts, skies, gardens, and wilderness areas that have long made up Solnit s subject matter, but the social landscape of democracy and repression, of borders, ruins, and protests She ventures into territories as dark as prison and as sublime as a broad vista, revealing beauty in the harshest landscape and political struggle in the most apparently serene view Her introduction sets the tone and the book s overarching themes as she describes Thoreau, leaving the jail cell where he had been confined for refusing to pay war taxes and proceeding directly to his favorite huckleberry patch In this way she links pleasure to politics, brilliantly demonstrating that the path to paradise has often run through prison.These startling insights on current affairs, politics, culture, and history, always expressed in Solnit s pellucid and graceful prose, constantly revise our views of the otherwise ordinary and familiar Illustrated throughout, Storming the Gates of Paradise represents recent developments in Solnit s thinking and offers the reader a panoramic world view enriched by her characteristically provocative, inspiring, and hopeful observations.
Free Read [Poetry Book] ☆ Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics - by Rebecca Solnit Ô
Rebecca Solnit 144 Rebecca Solnit
Title: Free Read [Poetry Book] ☆ Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics - by Rebecca Solnit Ô
Posted by:Rebecca Solnit
Solnit is a hero to me; she defines what activism can mean and accomplish. I read these essays, and I get the message: not all you do will change the world dramatically, but you have to at least care, at least FEEL some sort of passion for the planet we live on, and then do something about it! I have never been willing to be arrested for protesting, but I imagine I might be on a FBI list for emails against Bush's policies and circulating a Swiss German poster of Bush Her main focus is environmen [...]
blue-collar mind says:
Good news. Help is here. I was handed this book in the author's home city of San Francisco at the City Lights bookstore in 2007 by a bookseller who had noted that I lived in New Orleans; as he handed it to me from the new book area, he shared that Solnit was actually in New Orleans, researching. I have to confess that upon hearing that, I rolled my eyes at another outside voice come to tell our story but after leafing through it, I bought it anyway and went back to my quiet hotel and read it thr [...]
Venessa says:
This is not a quick and easy read, but not because it is bad; indeed, it took me longer to read than I would have wished because others kept putting holds on it and I would have to get a copy from another library! Still, I read it slowly, because it is one of those books that you want to read slowly and digest and you find yourself thinking about the issues Solnit raises and wanting to thoroughly commit them to memory before moving on. Solnit tackles favorite subjects of hers (and mine) here: pe [...]
Vendela says:
Solnit is always an incredibly read. She is stellar when discussing the early environmental activists of California and the US, even more stellar and affecting when getting into anti-war activism, and even when I disagree with her I can do so intelligently, carrying on the discussion begun by the essay in my head. When she's wrong, she's wrong in a way I can most often respect (aside from her very occasional forays into elitism that makes her both dismiss the internet and come off as, well, elit [...]
Technical difficulties with the e-book
solnit is officially my favorite writer of the moment. this is a collection of essays, ranging from 2006 back to the mid-nineties. as such, there not as uniformly great as a field guide to getting lost, which i also read recently. but when she's got a good idea, she follows through with it in surprising and illuminating ways. the quality of the work often follows the theme of its content. for my money, any time solnit discusses american history, art or gender, her writing is rich, informative an [...]
I'm on a Rebecca Solnit binge. This one might be a little drier, as it's a collection of articles and so far my biggest fault with it is the print is really small. I'm excited to see where she takes me and I love that she can combine journalism, memoir, and critical thought into the same piece I was on the brink of abandoning this book, however, until Pablo commented on my review and gave me the wherewithal to continue. I'm so glad I did! Once I allowed myself to skip a few of the essays, I was [...]
I like this book as much for its form as for its content - a book of essays that mix personal memoir, political opinion, history, and journalism, into a readable and unique clutch of statements. I'm always looking for essays that don't smack of "crackademics" or go too heavy on the theory (although there's an essay about following Benjamin's last walk, his escape from France into Spain in WWII, after which he died). The book is mainly about the Western part of the country, and ends with a focus [...]
Tawny says:
I love Solnit. She is one of my favorite authors.A lot of this collection is really good and engaging, but some of the essays were a little bit boring and kept me from finishing the book in a timely way.I finally just started skipping things that didn't hold my interest, and that worked pretty well.Definitely not my recommendation for your first foray into her work, but it's pretty good if you like her and geography and etc.
Jane Hammons says:
The essays in this book are beautiful. Not sure why Solnit is not a more widely read writer. I'd stack her up against Susan Orlean any day. Solnit is very up front about her politics, which perhaps costs her some readers. But her beliefs are what drives the writing, so there isn't any way around that. Art, landscape, architecture--she analyzes them all with a unique vision.
Solnit interweaves so many facts and ideas that reading her books is like eating a bowl of spaghetti -- every strand leads to another. This is a book for anyone who loves the western United States, in all its beauty and all its turmoil. Tough going at times because of her wide-ranging knowledge, but keep trudging because the view at the top is terrific.
I had this book out of the portland library and have been looking for a copy around here to finish it. Its full of beautiful, informative essays on gold mining, the anti-nuclear movement, native land struggles, etc. Relevant for building a case against Bank of America and others who invest in extraction and devastation.
Chris Shaffer says:
A great introduction to an amazing thinker, activist, historian, cultural critic, art critic. Solnit's ability to weave seemingly disparate elements into a single narrative is truly powerful and moving. Plus, she's just so good at uncovering the hypocrisies in American history and politics. Prepare to have thoughts provoked.
Meredith Warner says:
Just picked this up at the Strand this weekend. Picked through it a bit. Solnit makes her way through some territory she covered in "Wanderlust." Yet another great interview on Against the Grain: againstthegrain/audio6.06.
Some essays were eloquent and insightful, but some were tedious and repetitive. I'll probably revisit some of the essays in the years to come, but there are many I'll never look at or think about again.
I'm not sure this comparison has been made too often, but as a former Chicagoan living in San Francisco, she's my Studs Terkel, a writer whose wholly committed to and celebrates the virtues of my city I most appreciate while fighting for the ideas I most wish to fight for.
Keight says:
Link to booklog
awesome perspective, eye-opening, almost lyrical read.
All the right stuff at just the right time. This book is an incredible collection of Solnit's previously uncollected essays.
Excellent book for those who work with and on the land.
C Some interesting essays, but a lot of them were way too long-winded and went on uninteresting tangents. Still, some interesting reads.
Braden Bernards says:
Absolutely excellent. Unparalleled in its prose, and sharp in a way few books achieve on modern political geography, landscapes of dissent, and landscapes of possibility.
Rebecca Solnit, be still my heart. More journalistic than literary, but still mindblowingly brilliant and thought-provoking.
Well. I liked certain chapters very much, and Solnit writes about themes I really care about. But some chapters got too factual and journalistic, so I ended up skipping them.
Wonderful essays.
I stole this from Leslie when I was out west. Stayed up late reading last night and, as expected, AMAZING.
Lizzie Simon says:
This is a must read---I can't possibly put into words my respect for Rebecca Solnit and this book.
Tattered Cover Book Store says:
Photographer and author Stephen Trimble recommended this as part of the Rocky Mountain Land Library's "A Reading List For the President Elect: A Western Primer for the Next Administration".
I am in love with her writing. Not as in, I really like it, but like I find it precious and infatuating.
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