The title of Doctorow’s “The Lost Cause” is not immediately understandable outside the USA. It refers to a revisionist historical narrative of the US Civil War, according to which the Southern states had honest motives for seceding from the Union beyond maintaining an economic system based on slavery and racial segregation. While the Lost Cause narrative initially served primarily to paint a heroic picture of secession, it experienced a renewed upswing in the second half of the 20th century in reaction to the US civil rights movement. 

Doctorow takes all of this for granted when he describes the near future in a global warming USA in the year 2050. The book is set in Burbank, California, where Doctorow himself lives, and is classified as ‘solarpunk’ or ‘hopepunk’. An entirely appropriate categorization: for as ruthlessly realistic as the description of a world that has clearly missed the 2-degree target in terms of global warming is, the book nevertheless manages to portray life in this world as hopeful and meaningful.

Throughout the USA in 2050, there are large-scale internal displacements, with people leaving coastal towns and fleeing inland from rising sea levels. Extreme weather events are the order of the day and most of the time in the novel, Burbank is shrouded in thick clouds of smoke from huge wildfires. Dealing with and fighting the consequences of global warming characterize people’s everyday lives. 

And yet the protagonists, who tend to be younger, are more optimistic about the future than most young people today: “The first generation in a century that doesn’t fear the future!” is how they describe themselves. The Green New Deal passed under progressive President Uwayni is a key factor in this. Since then, there has been an appropriate response to the challenge of global warming for the first time, such as a job guarantee program with a focus on mitigation and adaptation measures.

At the same time, passing the Green New Deal has not been the end of the story; it is no automatic success. And this is exactly what the title of the book refers to: even though the reality of climate change can no longer be denied, there are still people all over the country who are fighting against the programs with red “Make America Great Again” caps and now banned assault rifles.

This is one of the first, central messages of the story: even if we succeed in elections and legislation, the fight is not over. Progress is only possible with continuous commitment at all levels. This is illustrated right at the beginning with a dispute over the allocation of job guarantee funds in the local parliament of Burbank.

After all, which jobs are funded by the Job Guarantee Program must ultimately always be decided locally. And so local initiatives and associations are trying to get jobs funded from this program. Opponents of the Green New Deal then set up associations that ostensibly engage in community organizing, but actually want to use Green New Deal money to finance their resistance to this very Green New Deal. 

But what makes the book stand out above all is less the story – essentially about a guerrilla housing project in which an old detached house is replaced by a multi-storey apartment building – than the vibe that runs through it:

  • The refugee movements are seen as an opportunity to renew and revitalize cities, in particular to overcome outdated suburbia concepts.
  • Doctorow repeatedly describes how the protagonists eat in a way that makes your mouth water; that they do so exclusively vegan is completely self-evident and needs not be mentioned explicitly.
  • Even though the first-person narrator Brooks is male, virtually all the other central characters are women. And Doctorow leaves no doubt that the narrator is no more a hero than the others, but rather a naive learner.
  • Of course, it’s also about love in times of climate change. Brooks falls in love with a slightly older, experienced climate activist. And you can tell that Doctorow enjoys proving that consent and passionate romance are not contradictory. 

Overall, however, it is the activist community, the lived solidarity in the fight against the consequences of global warming and against the supporters of the “Lost Cause” of “Make America Great Again” that Doctorow portrays as meaningful. Is it kitsch if this activism is successful in the end? Perhaps. But would it still be ‘hopepunk’ if it wasn’t?

(leonhard)