No Straight Road Takes You There // Haymarket Books, 2025

Rebecca Solnit’s latest collection of essays reads like a sequel to her earlier collection, Hope in the Dark. It is intelligent, full of empathy, and asks the right sort of questions about what sort of society we want to live in. The book explores social change—how it happens and what circuitous paths it takes. This book challenges the reader to be a better person and better citizen for positive change.

The essays are beautifully written. They are both grounded and meandering in Solnit’s familiar (classic?) prose style. Anyone familiar with her work will adore this book; it is no exception to her growing library of titles aimed at the things which should concern us as caring humans.

This book take a definitive stance on the question: What role should artists and writers play in addressing social issues? It’s a moral question. It says—you should face things head-on. In this way (and many others) it is a book about bravery and truth and community, and what stories we decide to tell. Solnit, again and again, teaches us that writing can change the world, one person at a time. And, that often real, positive social change comes through the unsung actions of a few brave (often tired, often scared) people.

No Straight Road Takes You There—Read this book twice, you will be a better person for it.