Dictionary of the Undoing

Starred review from October 14, 2019
Freeman (Maps), a critic, poet, and editor, offers an alphabet of hope and action in this spare, eloquent meditation on injustice. Only a reclaimed language, Freeman argues, offers the tools to fight global economic inequality, the crippling of democracies, looming environmental disaster, and pervasive apathy. The representative words, including resonant headings such as citizen, justice, and rage, introduce extended definitions that are sobering, probing, and precise. Some are warnings; a vote, for instance, “is the difference between a citizen and a subject.” And some are calls to action: the entry for teachers begins, “If our society is ever going to approach justice, we need revolutionary change.” Freeman provides an incisive narrative of how the world is “edging toward tyranny” and lays a blueprint for rebuilding a decent society, urging readers to “back away from flickering screens,” repopulate public spaces, retain “vigilance about how language is used,” and participate in small, rebellious acts of kindness, generosity, and optimism. A protest, a poem, and a plea, Freeman’s utterly original manifesto is a pocket manual for informed political dissent and a must-read for all thinking citizens, a “lexicon of engagement and meaning.” Agent: Sarah Burnes, Gernert Company.