There are reasons to be hopeful

I must admit I hadn't heard of the author before. I stumbled upon this book by chance and found it sounded interesting. It is, in essence, a kind of memoir ("lessons from a lifetime of activism"), mixed with a manual on activism. Barlow has certainly led an active life, fighting on the forefront of a number of issues, including feminism, indigenous rights and the climate crisis. She retells her most important battles, highlighting important points on the way. She includes current events which have yet to be sorted out and fought for.

What an interesting yet dense book. I certainly enjoyed learning more about the author's incredibly full and fascinating life. By seeing how far the issues she's fought for have come, I did get a bit of hope, even though there are still so many unresolved issues. There are so many new things I learned from this book, and I am very inspired to be more active myself in the future. As there is a lot of information in this book, I will probably reread it at some point. As a side note, there were some formatting issues with this ARC, which I'm sure will be resolved in the final copy.

I will be honest. I am not finding it easy to be hopeful. I look around the world and see chaos. I see a future in ruins. I listen to the news, my friends, and social media and find my pessimism magnified. I needed this book. Therefore, I was pleased that the publisher invited me to see a copy of the arc. Last year I reviewed Maude Barlow’s book, whose water is it anyway?. I really liked it. I really liked this book too.

This book’s theme is hope. Not blind optimism, but a hope built on; small victories, lessons learnt from failure, and a life lived well. It is; part memoir, part activism manual, and a call to arms. The author mines her life in activism to outline how activists can find hope in; both victories and failures, the process of campaigns, and the companionship that she draws from her fellow activists.

This book’s theme is hope. Not blind optimism, but a hope built on; small victories, lessons learnt from failure, and a life lived well. It is an activist looking back over her shoulder and encouraging others to follow in her footsteps. Did I say that I loved this book? Read it.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
I saw this author in a webinar last fall with several other authors of social justice related books and was excited to read this, and I enjoyed it very much. I found the author's progression through causes from feminism to water and environmental issues really interesting, and I especially liked the lessons that the author drew from her experiences, and the small sections where she had comments from other people she'd worked with. (the formatting of these boxes was terrible in the ARC but I am sure that will be fixed in the final product.) It can be hard to keep hope when most people around you don't seem to even understand the depth of the problems around us, and books like this can help shine a light when we need it. Loved the author contributing her experience to this.