This is a slim book with an outsized afterlife.

What began as an essay about a dinner-party anecdote expands into an examination made through a mind becoming clear; of authority, gender, and who is assumed to be credible. Solnit’s traces how everyday condescension links quietly to institutional power, erasure, and violence.

Often reduced to its title, the book itself is more patient and more literary than the discourse it helped spark. It sits comfortably alongside Solnit’s broader project—mapping power through language, history, and attention—rather than functioning as a manifesto. Best read as a set of linked reflections rather than a single argument.