This book, and all of Solnit's work, is an attempt to nail down the sources of that power, to pin them to the page. Try this casually tossed-off description of the "smog-filtered Los Angeles light," which "always gave me the impression that a thrifty God had replaced our incandescent sun with diffused fluorescent light.
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In Solnit's reading, the most important event of recent years may not be Sept. Instead, it's the World Trade Organization talks in Seattle, when tens of thousands managed for a morning to locate one of those diffuse centers of power. Delegates arriving at the conference discovered every street blocked by nonviolent protesters linking arms and chanting -- a remarkable experience for people used to wielding power in their nations.
Many of the delegates tried to summon police to help them force their way in. But there were no police to be found until an hour or two later, when they suddenly appeared in mini-tanks, firing rubber bullets and pepper spray in a full-blown police riot. Solnit has followed the anti-globalization movement ever since, braving tear gas and police brutality in Miami, Cancun and other such international conclaves-cum-mass-protests. But there's much more than political reportage in this volume. Solnit began her career as an art critic, and an essay on the photography of Eliot Porter and how it has shaped the way we see nature hums with insight; it also shows off her skills as a historian -- the pocket history of the Sierra Club and its longtime chief David Brower retells a story I thought I knew.
'Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics' by Rebecca Solnit
Her art-world credentials are also put to good use in an arch and acid fantasia called "The Wal-Mart Biennale," in which she imagines what new pieces Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton might add to the museum she's assembling with her billions and some taxpayer cash in Bentonville, Ark.
Perhaps some sweatshop workers could be included amid the Hudson River School scenery.
Solnit may be at her best in her depictions of California -- Baja and Alta and the border that now runs through them. Anyone wishing to maintain sentimental fantasies about the forty-niners or the Bear Flag Revolt should leave this book on the shelf. Close mobile search navigation Article navigation.
Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics | Rebecca Solnit
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