September 22, 2025: Recent Scholarly Reads: Action Without Hope

[It’s beena while since I shared a series on scholarly books I’ve had the pleasure ofchecking out recently, and for this latest iteration I wanted to highlightrecent reads that have offered inspiration in these very tough times!]

I’ve beendeeply invested in the concept of critical optimism since at least myfourth book, which for most of its development was entitled Hard-Won Hope(a concept that remained at its heart). But as I wrote in this August2021 Saturday Evening Post Considering History column, it’s becomeincreasingly difficult to find reasons for such critical optimism in the faceof unfolding histories like the climate crisis (among others in recent years). Whichmade me particularly excited to learn about and check out Nathan K. Hensley’s wonderfulbook Actionwithout Hope: Victorian Literature after Climate Collapse (2025). Itdoesn’t hurt that Hensley’s unique approach opens up really compelling newsides to longtime favorites of mine like George Eliot’s Middlemarch. Butultimately, Hensley’s book is a particularly vital example of the thing I spendso much of my time trying to model and support, in this space and everywhereelse: public scholarship, connecting our scholarly subjects to every layer ofour world and every audience that’s part of it.

Next recentread tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Recent reads you’d share?