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  • Published: 25 September 2018
  • ISBN: 9781623172633
  • Imprint: North Atlantic
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 248
  • RRP: $32.99

Radical Joy for Hard Times

Finding Meaning and Making Beauty in Earth's Broken Places



When the latest environmental devastation--a clearcut forest, a mountaintop mining site--breaks your heart, this book provides ideas and inspiration to find joy, make art, and experience ritual, all told with a heartfelt journalistic style.

In a time of uncertainty and devastation--from pandemics to environmental catastrophe--a call to action for finding beauty, creating art, and healing in community.  

When a beloved place is decimated by physical damage, many may hit the donate button or call their congressperson. But award-winning author Trebbe Johnson argues that we need new methods for coping with these losses and invites readers to reconsider what constitutes “worthwhile action.” She discusses real wounded places ranging from weapons-testing grounds at Eglin Air Force Base, to Appalachian mountain tops destroyed by mining. These stories, along with tools for community engagement—ceremony, vigil, apology, and the creation of art with on-site materials—show us how we can find beauty in these places and discover new sources of meaning and community.

  • Published: 25 September 2018
  • ISBN: 9781623172633
  • Imprint: North Atlantic
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 248
  • RRP: $32.99