The Beginning Comes After the End

Notes on a World of Change

By: Rebecca Solnit

Narrated by: Rebecca Solnit

Rebecca Solnit offers a thrilling account of the sheer breadth and scale of social, political, scientific, and cultural change over the past three quarters of a century.

In this sequel to her enduring bestseller Hope in the Dark, Solnit surveys a world that has changed dramatically since the year 1960. Despite the forces seeking to turn back the clock on history, change is not a possibility; it is an inevitability.

The changes amount to nothing less than dismantling an old civilization and building a new one, whose newness is often the return of the old ways and wisdoms. In this rising worldview, interconnection is a core idea and value. But because the transformation is obscured within a longer arc of history, its scale is seldom recognized.

While the white nationalist and authoritarian backlash drives individualism and isolation, this new world embraces antiracism, feminism, a more expansive understanding of gender, environmental thinking, scientific breakthroughs, and Indigenous and non-Western ideas, pointing toward a more interconnected, relational world.

©2026 Rebecca Solnit (P)2026 Tantor Media

A Deeply Moving and Encouraging Book

As always, Rebecca, true to her name, is a “soul knitter.” She weaves and stitches together a message we need to hear.
I am an 80-year-old white man living in San Francisco, whose hopes for meaningful change in the 1970s and 80s were dashed by the backlash. Rebecca reminds us to take a long view and a broad view of change.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough!

The very book I was aching for

Already a die-hard fan of Solnit, this served as a culmination of a lifetime of deep reading and thinking which I appreciate more that I can say. I listened to her read it and then bought a print version for annotations and more to give as gifts. thank you, Rebecca Solnit, for making sanity out of wisdom.

It's the Narration

I couldn't focus on the story because of the breathy style of narration. Blame it on my misophonia, but I can't tolerate storytelling when it's whispery. I made it through two chapters and had to stop. I won't be able to finish listening.

Forward!

This book put meat on what I already have sensed and know. In the process, it made me feel less crazy and less depressed. For that, I am very grateful. Thank you.

Reasons for future hope by Rebecca Solnit

The author reviews events and changes in recent years in this book, and finds cause for hope. This includes new science, social changes and political events. She rejects most actions by Donald Trump and his minions, by certain billionaires, and by many technology companies. Her very feminine narration lacks forcefulness, but her ideas are powerful. I recommend this audiobook, but would add that for the listener, there are too many long sentences listing complex ideas, which would be better read than heard.