Summary

The next section of the book investigates some of the ways that change occurs, both small-scale and large. Using the evidence provided in the previous section, "The Millennium Arrives," and the triumphant stories already laid out, Solnit asserts that "Activism is not a journey to the corner store, it is a plunge into the unknown" (61), arguing that activists need to be just as concerned with the implementation of good will as they do with the elimination of evil. Solnit uses the abolition of American slavery as an example, imagining what it may have been like if Reconstruction had received more attention and a stronger effort in the wake of Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation. Solnit's next meditation on change begins with a reflection on the difference between hope and faith, arguing that faith is more "mystical" and that every activist effort is ultimately...