The Booksmith

The Beginning Comes After the End Notes on a World of Change 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.

I wrote a book! It's trickling out, already in some bookstores. And I'm doing a bunch of events for it (see below). More info on book in alt text.

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valentines day cards available at the booksmith

last chance to avoid sleeping on the couch 👀

Booksmith will be closed Friday, January 30 for the general strike to abolish ICE. Show up how you can, we'll see you out there.

and if you saw the previous thread—sorry! we are real people making decisions in real time!!! we love you, thanks for your patience ✊💛

Booksmith will be closed Friday, January 30 for the general strike to abolish ICE. Show up how you can, we'll see you out there.

Need a manuscript critique? This literary auction is raising money to support Minnesotans. In further news of book people showing up for each other, and for the rest of us, a dedicated group of publishing and culture workers has organized an auction to raise funds in support of communiti…

If you want to support communities terrorized by ICE and DHS while getting query feedback or manuscript critiques, this is the auction for you.

Free Ebooks: Abolish ICE, Abolish the Border In solidarity with all those standing up for our communities against the brutality of immigrant detention and ICE occupation, we're offering free ebooks of three crucial books about migrant justice an...

In solidarity with all those standing up for our communities against the brutality of immigrant detention and ICE occupation, we're offering free ebooks of three crucial books about migrant justice and border abolition.

We’ve also added a list of additional recommended reading:

lil head's up that these tickets are half gone!

sign at th shop with the omar el akkad quote: the moral component of history, the necessary component, is simply a single question, asked over and over again: when it mattered, who sided with justice, and who sided with power?

Through Feb 1, we're collecting donations for Community Aid Network MN! Donations get you entered into a raffle for a $50 Booksmith gift card. booksmith.com/donateMN

bright green graphic for the event with a headshot of Rebecca Sonit and the cover image for THE BEGINNING COMES AFTER THE END

Just announced and going fast: @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social discusses THE BEGINNING COMES AFTER THE END, Monday, March 2, 7PM, at The Internet Archive. Get tickets before they're gone: booksmith.com/event/solnit26

oh hey, this is tonight! please join us!

or donate directly: www.canmn.org

graphic for slient reading party with little watercolor illustrations from around the shop

Another way to contribute: proceeds from our February 17th Silent Reading Party will benefit CANMN as well! booksmith.com/event/SRP226

sign at th shop with the omar el akkad quote: the moral component of history, the necessary component, is simply a single question, asked over and over again: when it mattered, who sided with justice, and who sided with power?

Through Feb 1, we're collecting donations for Community Aid Network MN! Donations get you entered into a raffle for a $50 Booksmith gift card. booksmith.com/donateMN

And of course, we've got more great stuff coming up: check out March events here, and save some dates booksmith.com/events/calen...

grahpic for silent reading party with little watercolor illustrations around the shop

Tuesday, 2/17, 7PM: it's SILENT READING PARTY. a chance to hang and read at the shop with no awkward smalltalk. Tickets: booksmith.com/event/SRP226

graphic for the event QUEER LOVE with names in candy hearts

Tuesday, 2/10, 7PM: Join us for an evening of queer love readings—expect the gushy and the shattered and the poetic and the messy and everything in between. RSVP: booksmith.com/event/queerl...

graphic for the event with headshots of gabriel tallent and r.o. kown and a cover image for CRUX

Monday, 1/26, 7PM: the phenomenal Gabriel Tallent (My Absolute Darling) drops by the shop to discuss his new novel CRUX, with R.O. Kwon. Please join us! booksmith.com/event/crux

flyer for the drag show with a collage of images

Next week, on Thursday the 22nd, the return of READ MY LIPS, our monthly bookish drag show! Get tickets before they're gone: booksmith.com/event/RML126

photo of a pink sweatshirt with a pug on it tacked to a pillar at the shop

some upcoming events! ✨

a massive stack of HEATED RIVALRY (no, this is not all of them)

to answer your question: yes

stacks of books: how to relax - thich nhat hanh the orange and other poems - wendy cope the employees - olga ravyn my year of rest & relaxation - otessa moshfegh all about love - bell hooks sky daddy - kate folk one day, everyone will have always been against this - omar el akkad enshittification - cory doctorow martyr! - kaveh akbar butter - asako yuzuki if cats disappeared from the world - genki kawamura i who have never known men - jacqueline harpman all fours - miranda july pure colour - sheila heti lucky day - chuck tingle demon copperhead - barbara kingsolver the how - yrsa daley-ward how to fuck like a girl - vera blossom on lying and politics - hannah arendt stay true - hua hsu parable of the sower - octavia butler four thousand weeks - oliver burkeman bury our bones in the midnight soil - v.e. schwab sunrise on the reaping - suzanne collins finding my way - malala yousafzai

for the curious: in no particular order, our top 25 bestselling books of the 2025 ✨

JAMES MERRILL CHRISTMAS TREE From loes torn hamin Had been fed, looked after, kept still, Meant, I knew— of course I knew - That it would be only a matter of weeks, That there was nothing more to do. Warmly they took me in, made much of me, The point from the start was to keep my spirits up. I could assent to that. For honestly, It did help to be wound in jewels, to send Their colors flashing forth from vents in the deep Fragrant sables that cloaked me head to foot. Over me then they wove a spell of shining — Purple and silver chains, eavesdripping tinsel, Amulets, milagros: software of silver, A heart, a little girl, a Model T Two staring eyes. Then angels, trumpets, BUD and BEA (The children's names) in clownlike capitals, Somewhere a music box whose tiny song Played and replayed I ended before long By loving. And in shadow behind me, a primitive IV To keep the show going. Yes, yes, what lay ahead Was clear: the stripping, the cold street, my chemicals Plowed back into the Earth for lives to come — No doubt a blessing, a harvest, but one that doesn't bear, Now or ever, dwelling upon. To have grown so thin. Needles and bone. The little boy's hands meeting About my spine. The mother's voice: Holding up wonderfully! No dread. No bitterness. The end beginning. Today's Dusk room aglow For the last time With candlelight. Faces love-lit, Gifts underfoot. Still to be so poised, so Receptive. Still to recall, to praise.

James Merril’s poem “Christmas Tree,” written while he was dying of AIDS. 1995.

pink sweatshirt with yellow iggy illustration tacked to a pillar inside the shop

✨ HOLIDAY HOURS ✨

We are here 11AM - 7PM every day, except:
Christmas Eve: 11AM - 4PM
Christmas Day: CLOSED
Boxing Day: Normal Hours

New Year's Eve: 11AM - 4PM
New Year's Day: Normal Hours

We have some books left! And give great recommendations! And do free gift wrapping! Come on down!

also yes: we have power. and we hope you do too!

pink sweatshirt with yellow iggy illustration tacked to a pillar inside the shop

✨ HOLIDAY HOURS ✨

We are here 11AM - 7PM every day, except:
Christmas Eve: 11AM - 4PM
Christmas Day: CLOSED
Boxing Day: Normal Hours

New Year's Eve: 11AM - 4PM
New Year's Day: Normal Hours

We have some books left! And give great recommendations! And do free gift wrapping! Come on down!

If you need some last-minute gifts, books are the very best thing you can buy. Support your local indie bookstore, and give your friends and family a gift that will keep them warm and entertained during the holidays!

we are SO sorry to have to tell you this: the 16th of December is *triple checks watch* TOMORROW

PSA: December 12th is, against all odds, TOMORROW