Paul Loeb: Initial Introduction
SECTION ONE: DARK BEFORE THE DAWN
Poem Andrea Gibson: Say Yes
Poem Seamus Heaney: From The Cure at Troy
Loeb Section One Introduction
Jungmin Choi: Lightsticks and K-Pop How South Koreans stopped a December 2024 coup, by a South Korean activist.
Howard Zinn: The Optimism of Uncertainty Drawing strength from the very uncertainty of social change, by the author of A People's History of the United States.
Nelson Mandela: The Dark Years Memoir of Mandela's Robben Island imprisonment.
Christo Brand: Guarding Mandela A coda from Mandela's Robben Island guard.
Vaclav Havel: Orientation of the Heart How Czech dissidents overthrew the seemingly immovable Communist dictatorship, by the former Czech President.
Bill McKibben: Here Comes the Sun How renewable sources have become the leading global source of global energy, even as the climate crisis deepens, by America's leading climate journalist.

SECTION TWO EVERYDAY GRACE
Poem: Wendell Berry: The Peace of Wild Things"
Loeb Section Two Introduction
Naomi Shihab Nye: Gate A-4 A story of unlikely grace in an airport boarding area by a powerful Palestinian-American poet.
Diane Ackerman: A Slender Thread Hope and despair in volunteering at a suicide prevention line, by the author of The Zookeeper's Wife and A Natural History of the Senses.
Scott Sanders: Mountain Music Hope and despair, as passed between generations, from Hunting for Hope
Rose Marie Berger: Getting Our Gaze Back Daily respite amid overload, from an editor of the progressive evangelical magazine Sojourners.
Henri Nouwen: Fragile and Hidden Catholic theologian Nouwen, popularizer of "The Wounded Healer," on daily grace.
Parker Palmer: There is a Season The seasons of the earth as metaphor for those of our personal and political life; by the author of The Courage to Teach and Let Your Life Speak
Danusha Goska: Political Paralysis An Indiana activist with a paralyzing physical disability talks about overcoming political immobilization, drawing on her history working with the Peace Corps and Mother Teresa.

SECTION THREE: REBELLIOUS IMAGINATION
Poem: Eduardo Galeano: Celebration of the Human Voice
Poem: Antonio Machado: Last Night As I Was Sleeping
Loeb Section Three Introduction
Susan Griffin: To Love the Marigold On imagination and hope, by the author of Women and Nature.
Ariel Dorfman: The Black Hole Recovering the hope of Chile under Salvador Allende, by the author of Death and the Maiden.
Walter Wink: Jesus and Alinsky Jesus as model for legendary community organizer Saul Alinsky, by the influential theologian.
Vern Huffman: Stories from the Cha Cha Cha Comic and creative nonviolent resistance in Rhodesia.
John Lewis: Walking With the Wind Sustaining metaphors from the legendary former Congressman and head of the civil rights group SNCC.
Sherman Alexie: Do Not Go Gentle A story about grief, despair, sexuality, and wild hope that transcends any political platforms, from the author of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.
Tony Kushner: Despair Is a Lie We Tell Ourselves Overcoming the traps of despair, by the author of Angels in America and the screenplay for Lincoln.

SECTION FOUR: COURAGE IS CONTAGIOUS
Poem: Marge Piercy: To Be of Use
Loeb Section Four Introduction
Paul Loeb: Refusing to be Quislings How Norwegian teachers successfully defied the Nazis.
Peter Ackerman and Jack DuVall: Resisting Terror How nonviolent resistance overthrew murderous dictatorships in Argentina, and freed the Jewish husbands of non-Jewish wives under Hitler.
Audre Lorde: The Transformation of Silence Classic essay on the costs of silence, by the pioneering lesbian poet.
Victoria Safford: The Small Work in the Great Work Opening the gates of hope, even when they seem elusive
Dan Savage: On Being Different Lessons on perseverance from the gay rights movement's successes.
Wael Ghonim: We are All Khaled Said Memoir of the Arab Spring from Egyptian activist whose Facebook page helped launch it.
Sister Rosalie Bertell: In What Do I Place My Trust? Essay on faith and hope for the environment, by a leading Catholic environmental activist.
Jim Wallis: Faith Works Lessons on Faith and persistence from the Sojourners founder and radical evangelical.

SECTION FIVE: The Turnings of History
Poem: Martin Espada—"Imagine the Angels of Bread"
Loeb Section Five Introduction
Mary Pipher: Reluctant Activists How she and a handful of Nebraska friends helped stop the Keystone XL pipeline, by the author of Reviving Ophelia.
Bill McKibben: Curitiba How this Brazilian city has become a global model for development that respects the earth and delights its inhabitants, by the author of Hope, Human and Wild.
Paul Loeb: Return to Curitiba My follow up visit, 15 years after McKibbben's.
Heather Cox Richardson: Ending Slavery How abolitionists changed the national debate in the pre-Civil War era, by the author of Letters From an American.
Andrew Carter: No Longtime Activist How Chicago communities resisted ICE and created a model for cities like Minneapolis.
Bill Moyers: The Progressive Story of America How Progressives and Populists of an earlier year reversed the attacks on democracy of unchecked wealth.

SECTION SIX: RADICAL DIGNITY
Poem Jalaluddin Rumi: How Have You Spent Your Life?
Loeb Section Six Introduction
Alexei Navalny: Patriot The Soviet dissident's inspiring prison journals.
Martin Luther King: Letter from Birmingham Jail King's classic text, with profound lessons for today.
Paul Loeb: The Real Rosa Parks My widely reprinted essay on Parks and persistence.
Billy Wayne Sinclair: Road to Redemption How Sinclair, who was in Louisiana's brutal Angola prison for 38 years helped to stop the selling of pardons at the cost of remaining another decade in jail.
Mary Catherine Bateson: Composing a Life Story How the most powerful journeys rarely take a straight line.
Jesmyn Ward: On Witness and Respair A stunning memoir on losing her husband, Black Lives Matter, and the value of human solidarity by the two-time National Book Award winning novelist.

SECTION SEVEN: SEEDS OF THE POSSIBLE
Elizabeth Barrette: Origami Emotion
Pablo Neruda: Childhood and Poetry
Loeb Section Seven Introduction
Jonathan Kozol: Ordinary Resurrections The hope that legendary children's advocate draws from the children he works with.
Marian Wright Edelman: Standing for Children by the founder of the Children's Defense Fund and author of A Letter to My Children
Rutger Bregman: The Real Lord of the Flies The real story of kids washed up on a deserted island, and how it counters the myth of a world of all against all.
Paul Hawken: You are Brilliant and the Earth is Hiring A call to engagement from the author of The Ecology of Commerce

SECTION EIGHT: BEYOND HOPE
Poems: Sam Hamill: From The New York Poem
W.H. Auden: From "September 1, 1939
Loeb Section Eight Introduction
Ian Bassin: The Hard-won Hope of the Long Defeat How losing can become winning, from the co-founder of Protect Democracy
Mary-Wynne Ashford: Staying the Course Wrestling with despair by the former president of International Physicians Against Nuclear War.
Joanna Macy: The Elm Tree Dance Despair and healing in a visit to the city most contaminated by Chernobyl's nuclear meltdown, by pioneering ecopsychologist Macy.
K.C. Golden: The Inevitability Trap Why we shouldn't succumb to predictions of the inevitable on any issue, by former Washington State director of energy policy.
Dave Roberts: Is There Hope on Climate Change The link between our actions and global choices.
Starhawk: Next Year in Mas'Ha Hope from an Arab-Israeli Seder in the occupied West Bank, by the author of Dreaming the Dark.
Nadezhda Mandelstam: Hoping Against Hope From her memoir of deportation under Stalin.
Sonya Vetra Tinsley, as told to Paul Loeb: You Have to Pick Your Team Making the choice between cynicism and commitment.
Margaret Wheatley: From Hope to Hopelessness Keeping on even when victory is elusive, by the author of Turning to Each Other.

SECTION NINE: ONLY JUSTICE CAN STOP A CURSE
Poem: Maya Angelou: Still I Rise
Loeb Section Nine Introduction
Alice Walker: Only Justice Can Stop a Curse How to get beyond rage and anger at an unjust world, by the author of The Color Purple.
Mark Hertsgaard: Kids, Trees and Climate Hope. Fighting for the future of his daughter. From the author of Earth Odyssey.
Terry Tempest Williams: The Clan of One-Breasted Women Classic essay on radiation survivors and hope, by the author of Refuge.
Desmond Tutu: No Future Without Forgiveness How South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission has helped inspire the world, from Ireland to Rwanda, by South African Nobel Peace Prize winner.