This Is Life: 10 Writers on Love, Fear, and Hope in the Age of Disasters

by Garrett M. Graff, Kiese Laymon, Carmen Maria Machado

It’s been a long, long couple of years. A global pandemic, an economic crisis, racial and political strife brought to the boiling point, the climate not far behind. As we nervously embark on yet another uncertain trip around the sun, we wonder: How’s everyone doing?

Ten of America’s finest writers tell us in This Is Life. Drawing on their wisdom and lived experience, they share bold, occasionally comic, occasionally biting insights on the past two years and offer possible ways forward, both for the country and for us as individuals. They articulate the anxiety of these inarguably lousy times yet also remind us that there remain plenty of reasons to be hopeful despite it all.

In this collection:

NPR’s Weekend Edition host Scott Simon on the hard-won lessons that will inform our lives going forward

National Book Award winner and MacArthur Fellow Jacqueline Woodson on savoring today to better cope with tomorrow’s perils

Climate activist Bill McKibben on a reimagined infrastructure that could finally save the planet

New York Times bestselling author and national security expert Garrett M. Graff on the precarious fate of American democracy

National Book Award finalist Carmen Maria Machado on the impulse to love harder in the face of calamity

Bethany McLean, bestselling author of The Smartest Guys in the Room, on where to go now that the free-market economy has failed us

Kiese Laymon, author of the bestselling memoir Heavy, on the poisonous influence of nonstop news

Former Republican strategist Stuart Stevens on the bridge-building power of sports

R. Eric Thomas, playwright and bestselling author of Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America, on the thrill and anxiety of reconnecting with people in person

Bonnie Tsui, author of the 2020 bestseller Why We Swim, on how to find joy in the smallest of life’s moments

Candid and empathetic, timely and timeless, This Is Life is a much-needed literary compass for navigating 2022 and beyond.

Genres: Nonfiction

84 pages, ebook

First published January 19, 2022

About the author

Garrett M. Graff, a distinguished magazine journalist and historian, has spent more than a dozen years covering politics, technology, and national security. He’s written for publications from WIRED to Bloomberg BusinessWeek to the New York Times, and served as the editor of two of Washington’s most prestigious magazines, Washingtonian and POLITICO Magazine, which he helped lead to its first National Magazine Award, the industry’s highest honor.

Graff is the author of multiple books, including "The First Campaign: Globalization, the Web, and the Race for the White House," which examined the role of technology in the 2008 presidential race, and "The Threat Matrix: The FBI At War," which traces the history of the FBI’s counterterrorism efforts. His next book, "Raven Rock," about the government’s Cold War Doomsday plans, will be published in May 2017, and he's currently on an oral history of September 11th, based on his POLITICO Magazine article, "We're The Only Plane in the Sky."

His online career began with his time as Governor Howard Dean’s first webmaster, and in 2005, he was the first blogger accredited to cover a White House press briefing. Today, he serves as the executive director of the Aspen Institute’s cybersecurity and technology program.

Reviews

[Conor Sweetman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of the essays were boilerplate pandemic / political commiserating, but Kiese Laymon's stood out dramatically—he is a truly incredible writer.

[Alli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoughtful, imploring collection I came across on Scribd. I resonated especially with the essays by Jacqueline Woodson, Carmen Maria Machado, and Bonnie Tsui.

[ieva · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this as a suggestion on Scribd (they do “Scribd specials” apprently now?), and was pleasantly surprised. Diverse authors, different voices, all using the medium of an essay to describe the various experiences of the pandemic, the climate crisis and other realities of living in the States (something I have never done). I loved how differently they read. It wasn’t necessarily something new, but it was a soothing read. Perhaps because I could find my own thoughts in many of them?

I would love to see a similar but a truly international edition.

[Gracedoh55 · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be fair, this is the first time I'm reading this genre in basically my entire life (excluding school). I found myself fascinated by the different perspectives that this book brought to mind surrounding the past few years of all of our lives. As an emerging adult myself, I believe this was an insightful approach to how these changes have affected us, both negatively and positively, and what we can take away from it. Overall, a very well-written book, though very short so I feel as if more could have been added to help get the point across.

[Erin Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will read literally anything by Kiese Laymon and Carmen Maria Machado and those, as well as all the others did not disappoint here. If you’re looking for a balm or reassurance after feeling drained and hopeless by the chaos and apathy of our political and social landscape, this book is a balm. As Bonnie Tsui says, “I won’t pretend the darkness isn’t there, but I’m choosing to tend joy.”

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

"We watch the wealthy accrue assets that could be stacked to reach Mars."

I can't say I gained new knowledge from any of the essays, but I can say that they each presented points that are thought provoking.

[Nikos Koukis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5. Pleasant and must of the time hopeful for what's next but other than that not much else there.

[Miri Niedrauer · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you enjoy listening to privileged, 21st century, first whole middle class people invent things to complain about, then I highly recommend this book.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw this Scribd original and I was immediately intrigued because of some familiar names (Garrett Graff, Jaqueline Woodson, Bill McKibben, Carmen Maria Machado.) Overall, I really enjoyed this short collection (only two hours on audio.) I saw another review that said they'd like to see an international edition - I would too.

(If you're not sure what Scribd is, it's a $10/month subscription that features a gigantic collection of audio/ebooks/magazines, etc. I subscribed during the first months of the pandemic and it has saved me a ton of money on audiobooks. This is in no way sponsored, just a subscription I like.)