New York Magazine - USA (2020-03-30)

58 newyork| march30–april12, 2020

A ParadiseBuiltin Hell:The

ExtraordinaryCommunities

ThatArisein Disaster,

ANDHopein theDark:Untold

Histories,WildPossibilities
by Rebecca Solnit

Everyonefeelsaloneina

crisis,atfirst.Thisonehas

madethe isolationcon-

crete,andoppressive,with

socialdistancingalienating

eachofus:thoseluckyand

healthyenoughtowantto

helpadvisedonlytokeepto

themselves,thosedoingthefront-linework

providinghealthcareandfoodandmedi-

cineleft lonelyandexposed,thosesickand

dyingforcedtosufferalone.It is anespe-

ciallymodern,andAmerican,copingmech-

anism:retreatingevenfurtherintoatom-

izedlivesandaway fromeachother.

Itneedn’t bethat way.In fact, asthe

incomparableRebeccaSolnithasshown

throughoutherlong,meandering,brilliant

career,butespeciallyinthesetwobooks,it

mustnotbe.A ParadiseBuiltinHellis an

eye-openingaccountofhowmuchhope

andsolidarityemergesinthefaceof sudden

disaster;andHopeintheDark,writtenfor

activists,showsuswhat canbedone,politi-

cally, evenwhenprogressseemsimpossible

andcontinuingthefightexhausting.These

lessonswillmatterenormously inthe

monthsaheadasthepandemicgiveswayto

thefightaboutwhat kindofsocietywillbe

erectedinitsaftermath.Butthey alsooffer

deepcomfortnow, asantidotesnotjust to

feelingsofhelplessnessbutloneliness.

davidwallace-wells

TheWater Dancer

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Whatareourrolesinperi-

odsofdangerandstruc-

turaldisintegration?Ta-

NehisiCoates’santebellum

fictionTheWaterDancer

hasnothingtodowithlit-

eralillnessorplague,but

it’ s thebookI can’t stop

thinkingaboutnow.Thestorybeginsasa

violenteconomyiscrumblingunderthe

weightof itsownunsustainability. It offersa

remarkableviewofhowpoweranddepen-

dencework:howeconomiesarebuiltin

sucha wayastorenderthoseabusedwithin

them(andonwhosebackstheyaremade)

reliantonthatsystemof abusefortheircon-

tinuedstability. It is a usefulway tothink

aboutwhathappenswhenintolerable,but

seeminglypermanent,systemscollapse;

now,ofcourse,I amthinkingabouthow

swiftlysystemscanbedecimatedbyillness.

rebecca traister

HerbertHoover

by William E. Leuchtenburg

Thereis nothingquitesoter-

rifyingasplungingintoan

economiccatastropheunder

a presidentwhois devoidof

basicadministrativecompe-

tenceandhumanempathy.

ButWilliamLeuchtenburg’s

concise history, Herbert

Hoover,servesasa goodreminderthat those

twotraits,whilenecessary, areinsufficient.

Hoover’s résuméwasalmost eerilysuited

tothetask.DuringWorldWarI, hebril-

liantlyleda reliefefforttofeedstarvingcivil-

iansinwar-tornEurope.AftertheU.S.

enteredthewar,hecommandeda national

food-conservationcampaignthat wasso

successfulitgaverisetoaneponymous

term: Hooverize, toeconomize in the

nationalinterest. Afterthewar, hewassent

backtoEurope,designingfromscratcha

campaigntofeedchildren,withequalsuc-

cess.Hisnamespawnedanotherword:In

Finnish,hoovermeant“tohelp.”

ButwhentheDepressionhit,Hoover

toggledbetweendenialandfatalism.There

was“minimumactualsuffering,”hesaidin

December 1930 withthecountryalready

grippedbydeprivation.He insistedthat “our

peoplehavebeenprotectedfromhunger

andcold”while millionsshiveredand

starved.Eventually,hespawnedyet more

eponymousterms,like “Hooverflags,”for

theliningsofemptypocketsturnedinside

out,and“Hoovervilles,”forcollectionsof

shantieshousingthehomeless.

jonathanchait

TheEvidenceof ThingsNotSeen

by JamesBaldwin

Between 1979 and 1981, at least 22

children—almost all of them black

boys—and six adults were murdered in

Atlanta in what authorities came to

believe were related crimes. James Bald-

win, who traveled to the city on assign-

ment for Playboy magazine, is less preoc-

cupied with the case’s procedural

elements than how it affected the city’s

mood. On its face, this 125-page explora-

tion of the Atlanta Child Murders case

has few clear parallels with today’s crisis.

But the fundamental terror and uncer-

tainty of the moment will be more than a

little familiar. Today’s readers will see

curfews imposed and frightened parents

removing their children from schools en

masse; vulnerable people left to the

wolves as elected leaders are fatally slow

to recognize the severity of what’s unfold-

ing; widespread scapegoating and prof-

fering of conspiracy theories.

zak cheney-rice

This Life: Secular Faith and

Spiritual Freedom

by Martin Hägglund

In the movies, humanity

unites to stop the end of

the world. Real life can be

less inspiring. Politicians

can’t agree on solutions,

people are hoarding sup-

plies, and New York City

is building makeshift

emergency morgues. But for philosopher

Martin Hägglund, realizing our mortality

doesn’t have to be depressing—it can also

be inspiring, conferring a political respon-

sibility on the living. “Our time together is

illuminated by the sense that it will not

lastforever and that we need to take care

ofone another because our lives are frag-

ile,” he writes. If we only get one chance to

exist, we should learn to exist well. Häg-

glund believes that pursuit is incompati-

blewithcapitalism,whichalienatesus

fromeachotheranddehumanizesus.

Instead,democraticsocialismchartsthe

pathforward.Byreorientinglifearound

thepursuitofhumanflourishinginstead

ofprofit,socialismpromisesa morebear-

ableexistence,andnotjust forus.The

waywerespond,ordon’t,tothecoronavi-

ruswon’t determineoureternalfates.

Butit willshapetheworldthatweleave

toourchildren. sarahjones

Get Some Perspective

Political writers on the books they’re reaching for now.

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