Harper's Magazine recently ran a column by Rebecca Solnit entitled "The Habits of Highly Cynical People."  In the piece, Solnit talks about "naive cynicism" which she defines as a mindset that "bleeds the sense of possibility and maybe the sense of responsibility out of people." 

When Occupy Wall Street began five years ago, the movement was mocked, dismissed, and willfully misunderstood before it was hastily pronounced dead. Its obituary has been written dozens of times over the years by people who’d prefer that the rabble who blur the lines between the homeless and the merely furious not have a political role to play.

The inability to assess what OWS accomplished comes in part from the assumption that historical events either produce straightforward, quantifiable, immediate results, or they fail to matter. It’s as though we’re talking about bowling: either that ball knocked over those pins in that lane or it didn’t. But historical forces are not bowling balls. (Solnit, Rebecca. "The Habits of HIghly Cynical People." Harper's Magazine. May 2016) 

In response to Solnit's thoughtful piece, here is a list of books about some recent uprisings that may one day, in retrospect, be viewed as the tipping point for significant social and political change.

Arab Spring

• A Rage for Order: The Middle East in Turmoil from Tahrir Square to ISIS by Robert F. Worth
• Voices of the Arab Spring: Personal Stories From the Arab Revolutions by Asaad al-Saleh

Occupy Wall Street

• The Occupiers: The Making of the 99 Percent Movement by Michael A. Gould-Wartofsky
• Occupy by Noam Chomsky
• Occupying Wall Street: The Inside Story of An Action That Changed America by Writers for the 99%

Black Lives Matter

• From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
• Black Lives Matter by Sue Bradford Edwards and Duchess Harris

Have trouble reading standard print? Many of these titles are available in formats for patrons with print disabilities.

Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend. And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for more recommendations!