At a time when political, environmental and social gloom can seem overpowering, this remarkable book offers a lucid, affirmative and well-argued case for hope.

This exquisite work traces a history of activism and social change over the past five decades – from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the worldwide marches against the war in Iraq. Hope in the Dark is a paean to optimism in the uncertainty of the twenty-first century. Tracing the footsteps of the last centurys thinkers -including Woolf, Gandhi, Borges, Benjamin and Havel- Solnit conjures a timeless vision of cause and effect that will light our way through the dark, and lead us to profound and effective political engagement.