A book that provides some brightness, passion, and intelligence in dark times.
An inspiring guidebook for climate activists.
Solnit and Lutunatabua bring together a wide range of like-minded international contributors who provide essays or engage in interviews with the editors. Beginning with a rallying cry, Solnit, who won the Kirkus Prize for her book of essays Call Them by Their True Names, writes that the climate movement has done a lot but “not enough yet.” Mary Annaïse Heglar’s impassioned “Here’s Where You Come In” addresses the need for climate commitment, with each person doing whatever they can. A conversation with oil policy analyst Antonia Jubasz looks at the fossil fuel industry, which “has been suffering death by a thousand cuts for years.” In “A Climate Scientist’s Take on Hope,” Joelle Gergis brings up some stunning statistics—e.g., only 3% of the Earth’s land ecosystems are ecologically intact. The takeaway message is direct and urgent: “What we do over this coming decade is literally a matter of life or death.” Leah Cardamore Stokes points out that by 2021, “more than 85 percent of the new power built that year can run on renewables.” Gloria Walton and Farhana Sultana discuss how our shared solution to climate change must include marginalized communities worldwide. Jade Begay examines the significant climate work being done in Indigenous communities. Renato Redantor Constantino chronicles the important, heated debate among countries at the 2015 Paris Agreement talks. Julian Aguon states a frightening fact: Micronesia “may become uninhabitable as early as 2030” due to rising sea levels. One uplifting fact from “An Extremely Incomplete List of Climate Victories”: In 2010, Germany’s renewable energy generated more than 100 billion kilowatt-hours, 17% of national supply. Jacquelyn Gill writes that the “Earth has left us a roadmap for how to survive the climate crisis,” and Nikayla Jefferson’s piece on the 2021 Hunger Strike for Climate Justice is heart-rending.
A book that provides some brightness, passion, and intelligence in dark times.Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781642598971
Page Count: 220
Publisher: Haymarket Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Maher calls out idiocy wherever he sees it, with a comedic delivery that veers between a stiletto and a sledgehammer.
The comedian argues that the arts of moderation and common sense must be reinvigorated.
Some people are born snarky, some become snarky, and some have snarkiness thrust upon them. Judging from this book, Maher—host of HBO’s Real Time program and author of The New New Rules and When You Ride Alone, You Ride With bin Laden—is all three. As a comedian, he has a great deal of leeway to make fun of people in politics, and he often delivers hilarious swipes with a deadpan face. The author describes himself as a traditional liberal, with a disdain for Republicans (especially the MAGA variety) and a belief in free speech and personal freedom. He claims that he has stayed much the same for more than 20 years, while the left, he argues, has marched toward intolerance. He sees an addiction to extremism on both sides of the aisle, which fosters the belief that anyone who disagrees with you must be an enemy to be destroyed. However, Maher has always displayed his own streaks of extremism, and his scorched-earth takedowns eventually become problematic. The author has something nasty to say about everyone, it seems, and the sarcastic tone starts after more than 300 pages. As has been the case throughout his career, Maher is best taken in small doses. The book is worth reading for the author’s often spot-on skewering of inept politicians and celebrities, but it might be advisable to occasionally dip into it rather than read the whole thing in one sitting. Some parts of the text are hilarious, but others are merely insulting. Maher is undeniably talented, but some restraint would have produced a better book.
Maher calls out idiocy wherever he sees it, with a comedic delivery that veers between a stiletto and a sledgehammer.Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9781668051351
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
