In a March 2026 interview with The New York Times, author Rebecca Solnit said, “Change can feel overwhelming, and we’re living through an era of huge changes—widespread democratic backsliding, massive technological disruption, and the ongoing slow-motion disaster of the climate crisis. But what if there was a different and more hopeful story to tell about all of this upheaval?”
In her latest book, The Beginning Comes After the End, Solnit explores an optimistic interpretation of change, one that aims to establish stability in a world tilted dangerously off-kilter. Her newest publication is a fitting bookend to her earlier work that grapples with the challenges that led us to our present moment.
Solnit’s writing asks the reader one primary question: How do we look past the perceived lack of control that comes with our times and start to find coalitions of care, in order to take real collective action?
Listen to or read the transcript of the full interview between Rebecca Solnit and New York Times journalist David Marchese to learn how leaning into uncertainty is an act of defiance, solidarity, and organizing.
And if you’d like to read one of Solnit’s many books, you can find her written works here.