The Lost Cause

(Paperback)

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Its thirty years from now. Were making progress, mitigating climate change, slowly but surely. But what about all the angry old people who cant let go For young Americans a generation from now, climate change isn't controversial. It's just an overwhelming fact of life. And so are the great efforts to contain and mitigate it. Entire cities are being moved inland from the rising seas. Vast clean-energy projects are springing up everywhere. Disaster relief, the mitigation of floods and superstorms, has become a skill for which tens of millions of people are trained every year. The effort is global. It employs everyone who wants to work. Even when national politics oscillates back to right-wing leaders, the momentum is too great; these vast programs cannot be stopped in their tracks. But there are still those Americans, mostly elderly, who cling to their red baseball caps, their grievances, their huge vehicles, their anger. To their "alternative" news sources that reassure them that their resentment is right and pure and that "climate change" is just a giant scam. And they're your grandfather, your uncle, your great-aunt. And they're not going anywhere. And theyre armed to the teeth. The Lost Cause asks: What do we do about people who cling to the belief that their own children are the enemy When, in fact, they're often the elders that we love

Reviews

Completely delightful...Neither utopian nor dystopian, it portrays life in SoCal in a future woven from our successes (Green New Deal!), failures (climate chaos anyway), and unresolved conflicts (old MAGA dudes). I loved it. * Rebecca Solnit *
An urgent call to action It is rare to read realistic depictions of climate disaster that inspire hope rather than despair, but this lively work of cli-fi does * The Guardian *
This chronicle of mutual aid is politically perceptive, scientifically sound, and extraordinarily hopeful even amidst the smoke. Forget the Silicon Valley bros these are the California techsters we need rebuilding our world, one solar panel and prefab insulated wall at a time. * Bill McKibben *
Offering a deeply political take on the future... As with the latter work of Kim Stanley Robinson, this is a novel that not only deftly asks how we can build a better world, but sketches out how we might do so * SFX Magazine *
This book looks like our future and feels like our present its an unforgettable vision of what could be. Even a partly good future will require wicked political battles and steadfast solidarity among those fighting for a better world, and here I lived it along with Brooks, Ana Luca, Phuong, and their comrades in the struggle. Along with the rush of adrenaline I felt a solid surge of hope. May it go like this. -- Kim Stanley Robinson
Simultaneously hopeful and nihilistic [A] horrifyingly plausible vision of the route to the future * SciFi Now *
The always-excellent Doctorows new novel is set a generation from now, when climate change is a fact of lifeas ever, Doctorow takes an intriguing approach * New Scientist *
There is a passion in Doctorows writing that you cannot help but be swept away by... thought provoking * SF Book *
[Doctorow is] an excellent communicator of what is possible and we need voices like his, if we going to avoid being sucked into an abyss ruled by corporate overlords * GeekDad *
Invites readers to ponder the complexities of bridging the gap between generations and finding common ground in the face of a global crisis * The Review Geek *

Author Bio

Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, most recently Radicalized and Walkaway, science fiction for adults; How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism, nonfiction about monopoly and conspiracy; In Real Life, a graphic novel; and the picture book Poesy the Monster Slayer. His latest book is Attack Surface, a standalone adult sequel to Little Brother; his next nonfiction book is Chokepoint Capitalism, with Rebecca Giblin, about monopoly, monopsony and fairness in the creative arts labour market (Beacon Press, 2022). In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.