Reasons for Hope in Turbulent Times, with Rebecca Solnit

Welcome to Intelligence Squared, where great minds meet. I'm producer Mia Sorrenti. At a time of democratic backsliding, climate anxiety and rapid technological change, is there still reason for hope? And where progress feels fragile, how can we tell whether society is moving backwards or simply facing resistance to hard-won gains? On today's episode, the award-winning writer, historian and activist Rebecca Solnit joins Maithe Lee Rao, journalist, book critic, and podcaster, to discuss why the past four decades have seen extraordinary social progress and why hope remains an essential ingredient in movements for change.

Let's join our host, Maitha Lee Rao now with more. You're listening to Intelligence Squared. I'm Maitha Lee Rao. Rebecca Solnit, welcome to the show. My pleasure.

Hello, hello. Rebecca, before I read The Beginning Comes After the End, I went back and reread Hope in the Dark, which was first published in 2004. And I'm one of the readers who actually picked up that book a decade later at the start of the Trump years when it was re-released and had a big surge in popularity. And if I'm honest with you, I'll I'll I'll be honest with you. It it it um has it's

We already have this episode, so unlocking it is cheap and permanent: the full transcript (51 minutes, 7,340 words), segment and word-level timestamps, and .txt, .srt, .vtt and word-level JSON downloads, as many times as you like, forever.

No account needed, we create one from your checkout email. With credits it is 1 credit; packs start at 5 episodes for $3.49, and monthly plans are cheaper still.