Orwell's Roses by Rebecca SolnitMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book is many things, but what I think is at its centre is a thesis about beauty. Solnit uses the cultural legacy of Orwell to explore how we find dignity and purpose in our political selves. Her idea is that we can find in Orwell's writing more than just dystopia; there are also moments of beauty and compassion. To avoid the tendency to fascism, we need a richer reading of the world. A reading that looks one way to stare fascism in the face, and then the other, to find beauty and truth.
Near the middle of the book, Solnit quotes Hannah Arendt: "The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist." Whilst Solnit quite deliberately has little specific to say about the present state of the political world, her writing is a perfect foundation for addressing so much of it. What I took most from the book was the need to do the hard work necessary to build better worlds. There's an urgent need to resist the laziness of leaders and the media who say what is easy and expedient. Instead, we need to take the time to explore complexity, reach compromises, and add beauty to the world.
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