The Mother of All Questions

A provocative collection of essays on feminism. Along with her bestseller Men Explain Things to Me, it should be given to everyone who has ever tried to "mansplain" something to you -- Best of the Arts in 2017 * i paper *
Time and again she comes running towards you with a bunch of hopes she has found and picked in the undergrowth of the times we are living in. And you remember that hope is not a guarantee for tomorrow, but a detonator of energy for action today -- John Berger
There's a new feminist revolution - open to people of all genders - brewing right now and Rebecca Solnit is one of its most powerful, not to mention beguiling, voices -- Barbara Ehrenreich
No writer has better understood the mix of fear and possibility, peril and exuberance that's marked this new millennium. Rebecca Solnit writes as independently as Orwell; she's a great muralist, a Diego Rivera of words. Literary and progressive America is in a Solnit moment, which given her endless talent should last a very long time -- Bill McKibben
Rebecca Solnit is a national literary treasure: a passionate, close-to-the-ground reporter with the soul and voice of a philosopher-poet. And, unlike so many who write about the great injustices of this world, she is an optimist, whose faith is deeply grounded in a knowledge of history -- Adam Hothschild
A clarion voice of reason -- Celeste Ng
Solnit's literary prose brings a sense of dignity to whatever she examines, and her personal history as an environmental and anti-war activist means that she routinely focuses her analysis on multiple asymmetries of power instead of gender-related ones alone -- Charlotte Shane * TLS *
Silence and violence are terrifically tackled by Rebecca Solnit in her excellent new essay collection... Solnit both exposes and dismantles the narratives that have propped up patriarchy... Exploring the ways we dehumanise one another, the book is also infused with hope for a more humane world. Here is an eloquent clarion call for empathy -- Anita Sethi * i paper *
A brilliantly sharp-edged, quick-tongued set of essays... Solnit is both a stylist and a fighter, distinguished by her rare combination of grit and grace -- Robert MacFarlane * New Statesman *
[A] well-timed book... elegant -- Michelle Dean * Guardian *
An intellectual, lyrical and well-argued thesis for why women did not just sit in the caves thousands of years ago ... well worth it * Independent *
Super -- Ellen Page * Observer *