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#essays — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #essays, aggregated by home.social.

  1. M.H.R.

    The Passion and Redemption of a Proletarian Seer It’s barely been ten days but this is different. I wrote the following piece on M.H.R., as I like to call him, many months ago. And, even though I’ve sent it out to a range of outlets, no one wants to publish it. So (partly to test the possibility of using this newsletter as a very occasional substack as well) I’m sharing it directly with you. In the light of the film that was made about him, M.H.R. feels not only significant but also […]

    therakha.org/2026/07/24/m-h-r/

  2. M.H.R.

    The Passion and Redemption of a Proletarian Seer It’s barely been ten days but this is different. I wrote the following piece on M.H.R., as I like to call him, many months ago. And, even though I’ve sent it out to a range of outlets, no one wants to publish it. So (partly to test the possibility of using this newsletter as a very occasional substack as well) I’m sharing it directly with you. In the light of the film that was made about him, M.H.R. feels not only significant but also […]

    therakha.org/2026/07/24/m-h-r/

  3. M.H.R.

    The Passion and Redemption of a Proletarian Seer It’s barely been ten days but this is different. I wrote the following piece on M.H.R., as I like to call him, many months ago. And, even though I’ve sent it out to a range of outlets, no one wants to publish it. So (partly to test the possibility of using this newsletter as a very occasional substack as well) I’m sharing it directly with you. In the light of the film that was made about him, M.H.R. feels not only significant but also […]

    therakha.org/2026/07/24/m-h-r/

  4. M.H.R.

    The Passion and Redemption of a Proletarian Seer It’s barely been ten days but this is different. I wrote the following piece on M.H.R., as I like to call him, many months ago. And, even though I’ve sent it out to a range of outlets, no one wants to publish it. So (partly to test the possibility of using this newsletter as a very occasional substack as well) I’m sharing it directly with you. In the light of the film that was made about him, M.H.R. feels not only significant but also […]

    therakha.org/2026/07/24/m-h-r/

  5. M.H.R.

    The Passion and Redemption of a Proletarian Seer It’s barely been ten days but this is different. I wrote the following piece on M.H.R., as I like to call him, many months ago. And, even though I’ve sent it out to a range of outlets, no one wants to publish it. So (partly to test the possibility of using this newsletter as a very occasional substack as well) I’m sharing it directly with you. In the light of the film that was made about him, M.H.R. feels not only significant but also […]

    therakha.org/2026/07/24/m-h-r/

  6. Book Review: The Beginning Comes After the End by Rebecca Solnit


    Author: Rebecca Solnit
    Title: The Beginning Comes After the End
    Publication Info: Haymarket Books (2026)
    Other Books Read by This Author:

    Summary/Review:

    The Beginning Comes After the End is a balm in a time of rising authoritarianism, supremacist movements, environmental degradation, and climate crises.  While this collection of essays is a work of hope, I think it would be wrong to characterize it as blindly optimistic.  Solnit reminds us of the real gains made since World War II in movements for civil rights and liberation, environmentalism, and indigenous repatriation.  The movements of the past and their interconnections serve as examples of the world being changed for the better.  And while destructive forces are now intent on destroying these gains, it helps to remember that their backlash is rooted in their belief that these things they hate are powerful and world-changing.  Solnit’s work offers a vision that points us back toward that better world.

    Favorite Passages:

    Only in the long view can you see the patterns emerging, the way the present builds on the past, the way past surprises guarantee more surprises are coming, the ingredients of change over years, decades, centuries. If you don’t see time on the scale of change, you don’t see change.

    The assumption is that we might be at the end of something, even the end of time, for those fond of apocalypse and doom, but we couldn’t possibly be at the beginning of something else. We assume that the present is not in labor to bring forward a future unlike itself. And it is easier to see the old world dying, than the new world being born

    Ideas have power, and while those who support them often dismiss that power, those who fear them recognize they can change the world . . . Ideas are seeds in that they are beginnings; if they succeed, they do so as they take on more tangible and concrete forms

    The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean that we cannot save anything and everything we can save is worth saving.

    Recommended books:

    Rating: ****

    #Activism #BookReviews #Books #Essays #History #Hope #Politics #SocialChange
  7. Book Review: The Beginning Comes After the End by Rebecca Solnit


    Author: Rebecca Solnit
    Title: The Beginning Comes After the End
    Publication Info: Haymarket Books (2026)
    Other Books Read by This Author:

    Summary/Review:

    The Beginning Comes After the End is a balm in a time of rising authoritarianism, supremacist movements, environmental degradation, and climate crises.  While this collection of essays is a work of hope, I think it would be wrong to characterize it as blindly optimistic.  Solnit reminds us of the real gains made since World War II in movements for civil rights and liberation, environmentalism, and indigenous repatriation.  The movements of the past and their interconnections serve as examples of the world being changed for the better.  And while destructive forces are now intent on destroying these gains, it helps to remember that their backlash is rooted in their belief that these things they hate are powerful and world-changing.  Solnit’s work offers a vision that points us back toward that better world.

    Favorite Passages:

    Only in the long view can you see the patterns emerging, the way the present builds on the past, the way past surprises guarantee more surprises are coming, the ingredients of change over years, decades, centuries. If you don’t see time on the scale of change, you don’t see change.

    The assumption is that we might be at the end of something, even the end of time, for those fond of apocalypse and doom, but we couldn’t possibly be at the beginning of something else. We assume that the present is not in labor to bring forward a future unlike itself. And it is easier to see the old world dying, than the new world being born

    Ideas have power, and while those who support them often dismiss that power, those who fear them recognize they can change the world . . . Ideas are seeds in that they are beginnings; if they succeed, they do so as they take on more tangible and concrete forms

    The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean that we cannot save anything and everything we can save is worth saving.

    Recommended books:

    Rating: ****

    #Activism #BookReviews #Books #Essays #History #Hope #Politics #SocialChange
  8. Book Review: The Beginning Comes After the End by Rebecca Solnit


    Author: Rebecca Solnit
    Title: The Beginning Comes After the End
    Publication Info: Haymarket Books (2026)
    Other Books Read by This Author:

    Summary/Review:

    The Beginning Comes After the End is a balm in a time of rising authoritarianism, supremacist movements, environmental degradation, and climate crises.  While this collection of essays is a work of hope, I think it would be wrong to characterize it as blindly optimistic.  Solnit reminds us of the real gains made since World War II in movements for civil rights and liberation, environmentalism, and indigenous repatriation.  The movements of the past and their interconnections serve as examples of the world being changed for the better.  And while destructive forces are now intent on destroying these gains, it helps to remember that their backlash is rooted in their belief that these things they hate are powerful and world-changing.  Solnit’s work offers a vision that points us back toward that better world.

    Favorite Passages:

    Only in the long view can you see the patterns emerging, the way the present builds on the past, the way past surprises guarantee more surprises are coming, the ingredients of change over years, decades, centuries. If you don’t see time on the scale of change, you don’t see change.

    The assumption is that we might be at the end of something, even the end of time, for those fond of apocalypse and doom, but we couldn’t possibly be at the beginning of something else. We assume that the present is not in labor to bring forward a future unlike itself. And it is easier to see the old world dying, than the new world being born

    Ideas have power, and while those who support them often dismiss that power, those who fear them recognize they can change the world . . . Ideas are seeds in that they are beginnings; if they succeed, they do so as they take on more tangible and concrete forms

    The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean that we cannot save anything and everything we can save is worth saving.

    Recommended books:

    Rating: ****

    #Activism #BookReviews #Books #Essays #History #Hope #Politics #SocialChange
  9. Book Review: The Beginning Comes After the End by Rebecca Solnit


    Author: Rebecca Solnit
    Title: The Beginning Comes After the End
    Publication Info: Haymarket Books (2026)
    Other Books Read by This Author:

    Summary/Review:

    The Beginning Comes After the End is a balm in a time of rising authoritarianism, supremacist movements, environmental degradation, and climate crises.  While this collection of essays is a work of hope, I think it would be wrong to characterize it as blindly optimistic.  Solnit reminds us of the real gains made since World War II in movements for civil rights and liberation, environmentalism, and indigenous repatriation.  The movements of the past and their interconnections serve as examples of the world being changed for the better.  And while destructive forces are now intent on destroying these gains, it helps to remember that their backlash is rooted in their belief that these things they hate are powerful and world-changing.  Solnit’s work offers a vision that points us back toward that better world.

    Favorite Passages:

    Only in the long view can you see the patterns emerging, the way the present builds on the past, the way past surprises guarantee more surprises are coming, the ingredients of change over years, decades, centuries. If you don’t see time on the scale of change, you don’t see change.

    The assumption is that we might be at the end of something, even the end of time, for those fond of apocalypse and doom, but we couldn’t possibly be at the beginning of something else. We assume that the present is not in labor to bring forward a future unlike itself. And it is easier to see the old world dying, than the new world being born

    Ideas have power, and while those who support them often dismiss that power, those who fear them recognize they can change the world . . . Ideas are seeds in that they are beginnings; if they succeed, they do so as they take on more tangible and concrete forms

    The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean that we cannot save anything and everything we can save is worth saving.

    Recommended books:

    Rating: ****

    #Activism #BookReviews #Books #Essays #History #Hope #Politics #SocialChange
  10. Book Review: The Beginning Comes After the End by Rebecca Solnit


    Author: Rebecca Solnit
    Title: The Beginning Comes After the End
    Publication Info: Haymarket Books (2026)
    Other Books Read by This Author:

    Summary/Review:

    The Beginning Comes After the End is a balm in a time of rising authoritarianism, supremacist movements, environmental degradation, and climate crises.  While this collection of essays is a work of hope, I think it would be wrong to characterize it as blindly optimistic.  Solnit reminds us of the real gains made since World War II in movements for civil rights and liberation, environmentalism, and indigenous repatriation.  The movements of the past and their interconnections serve as examples of the world being changed for the better.  And while destructive forces are now intent on destroying these gains, it helps to remember that their backlash is rooted in their belief that these things they hate are powerful and world-changing.  Solnit’s work offers a vision that points us back toward that better world.

    Favorite Passages:

    Only in the long view can you see the patterns emerging, the way the present builds on the past, the way past surprises guarantee more surprises are coming, the ingredients of change over years, decades, centuries. If you don’t see time on the scale of change, you don’t see change.

    The assumption is that we might be at the end of something, even the end of time, for those fond of apocalypse and doom, but we couldn’t possibly be at the beginning of something else. We assume that the present is not in labor to bring forward a future unlike itself. And it is easier to see the old world dying, than the new world being born

    Ideas have power, and while those who support them often dismiss that power, those who fear them recognize they can change the world . . . Ideas are seeds in that they are beginnings; if they succeed, they do so as they take on more tangible and concrete forms

    The fact that we cannot save everything does not mean that we cannot save anything and everything we can save is worth saving.

    Recommended books:

    Rating: ****

    #Activism #BookReviews #Books #Essays #History #Hope #Politics #SocialChange
  11. Hagitude author Sharon Blackie: ‘At 60 I wasn’t ready to give up, I was just starting’
    By Lisa Allardice

    The writer of cult hit If Women Rose Rooted is on a mission to bring folklore to modern readers. She talks about confronting her fears, communing with nature – and the power that comes with age

    theguardian.com/books/2026/jul

    #Fairytales #Books #Culture #Essays #Feminism #Psychology #TheGuardian #LisaAllardice

  12. Hagitude author Sharon Blackie: ‘At 60 I wasn’t ready to give up, I was just starting’
    By Lisa Allardice

    The writer of cult hit If Women Rose Rooted is on a mission to bring folklore to modern readers. She talks about confronting her fears, communing with nature – and the power that comes with age

    theguardian.com/books/2026/jul

    #Fairytales #Books #Culture #Essays #Feminism #Psychology #TheGuardian #LisaAllardice

  13. The Sky Is Yellow

    We fixed this before, or at least were on our way to fixing things. So what do we do now? There are choices we need to make. 

    christianeknight.com/the-sky-i

    #Essays #climate

  14. The Sky Is Yellow

    We fixed this before, or at least were on our way to fixing things. So what do we do now? There are choices we need to make. 

    christianeknight.com/the-sky-i

    #Essays #climate

  15. The best books to read in July: new paperbacks from Andrew O’Hagan, Miriam Toews and Oyinkan Braithwaite
    By Guardian Staff

    Looking for a new reading recommendation? Here are some fantastic new paperbacks, from the gripping story of an international murder case to a state-of-the-nation yarn

    theguardian.com/books/ng-inter

    #Books #Culture #Paperbacks #OyinkanBraithwaite #Fiction #Biographybooks #Truecrimebooks #Autobiographyandmemoir #Essays #Thrillers #TheGuardian #GuardianStaff

  16. The best books to read in July: new paperbacks from Andrew O’Hagan, Miriam Toews and Oyinkan Braithwaite
    By Guardian Staff

    Looking for a new reading recommendation? Here are some fantastic new paperbacks, from the gripping story of an international murder case to a state-of-the-nation yarn

    theguardian.com/books/ng-inter

    #Books #Culture #Paperbacks #OyinkanBraithwaite #Fiction #Biographybooks #Truecrimebooks #Autobiographyandmemoir #Essays #Thrillers #TheGuardian #GuardianStaff

  17. The best books to read in July: new paperbacks from Andrew O’Hagan, Miriam Toews and Oyinkan Braithwaite
    By Guardian Staff

    Looking for a new reading recommendation? Here are some fantastic new paperbacks, from the gripping story of an international murder case to a state-of-the-nation yarn

    theguardian.com/books/ng-inter

    #Books #Culture #Paperbacks #OyinkanBraithwaite #Fiction #Biographybooks #Truecrimebooks #Autobiographyandmemoir #Essays #Thrillers #TheGuardian #GuardianStaff

  18. The best books to read in July: new paperbacks from Andrew O’Hagan, Miriam Toews and Oyinkan Braithwaite
    By Guardian Staff

    Looking for a new reading recommendation? Here are some fantastic new paperbacks, from the gripping story of an international murder case to a state-of-the-nation yarn

    theguardian.com/books/ng-inter

    #Books #Culture #Paperbacks #OyinkanBraithwaite #Fiction #Biographybooks #Truecrimebooks #Autobiographyandmemoir #Essays #Thrillers #TheGuardian #GuardianStaff

  19. The best books to read in July: new paperbacks from Andrew O’Hagan, Miriam Toews and Oyinkan Braithwaite
    By Guardian Staff

    Looking for a new reading recommendation? Here are some fantastic new paperbacks, from the gripping story of an international murder case to a state-of-the-nation yarn

    theguardian.com/books/ng-inter

    #Books #Culture #Paperbacks #OyinkanBraithwaite #Fiction #Biographybooks #Truecrimebooks #Autobiographyandmemoir #Essays #Thrillers #TheGuardian #GuardianStaff

  20. A short scene, one that kinda sums up my legal experience suing a generative AI company: a long-titled short essay

    Paul Tremblay discusses a moment in the court room that summed up his experience suing a generative AI company.
    bookriot.com/paul-tremblay-on-

    #Essays

  21. A short scene, one that kinda sums up my legal experience suing a generative AI company: a long-titled short essay

    Paul Tremblay discusses a moment in the court room that summed up his experience suing a generative AI company.
    bookriot.com/paul-tremblay-on-

    #Essays

  22. The Art of Opposition by Courttia Newland review – piercing essays on culture and creativity
    By Diana Evans

    The novelist issues a inspiring call for artists to exercise their autonomy in a world of gatekeepers

    theguardian.com/books/2026/jul

    #Essays #Books #BlackBritishculture #Culture #TheGuardian #DianaEvans

  23. The Art of Opposition by Courttia Newland review – piercing essays on culture and creativity
    By Diana Evans

    The novelist issues a inspiring call for artists to exercise their autonomy in a world of gatekeepers

    theguardian.com/books/2026/jul

    #Essays #Books #BlackBritishculture #Culture #TheGuardian #DianaEvans

  24. The Brexit Effect, 2016-2026 edited by Anthony Seldon review – life without EU
    By Fintan O’Toole

    Essays by the great and the good address the legacy of Brexit, but ignore the nationalist elephant in the room

    theguardian.com/books/2026/jul

    #Historybooks #Politicsbooks #Books #Culture #Essays #Brexit #TheGuardian #FintanOToole

  25. The Brexit Effect, 2016-2026 edited by Anthony Seldon review – life without EU
    By Fintan O’Toole

    Essays by the great and the good address the legacy of Brexit, but ignore the nationalist elephant in the room

    theguardian.com/books/2026/jul

    #Historybooks #Politicsbooks #Books #Culture #Essays #Brexit #TheGuardian #FintanOToole