Just finished reading the updated edition of Rebecca Solnit's short book Hope in the Dark. It's not perfect - a bit US-centric and oddly hostile to the word "left" for someone who is so positive about the Zapatistas, desde el abajo y a la izquierda - but still a great antidote to the politics of radical despair. A good essay of hers linked to the book is free online here:
"We write history with our feet and with our presence and our collective
voice and vision. And yet, and of course, everything in the mainstream
media suggests that popular resistance is ridiculous, pointless, or
criminal, unless it is far away, was long ago, or, ideally, both."
