It has taken me forever to write a review of this book because even though I raced through it long before its release date, I’m still mulling it over – there is so much to take in here.
In Any Human Power, pioneering thrutopian writer Manda Scott, shines light on a possible pathway through late stage capitalism, a global crisis in which all our other crises are rooted. It is a frenetic whirlwind of a read, compelling but also well-founded on a deep understanding of our present-day political and social constructs. Scott’s inexhaustible knowledge garnered from her Accidental Gods podcast, speaking to guests such as Rupert Read of the Climate Majority Project, Baroness Natalie Bennett of the Green Party, Jojo Mehta of Stop Ecocide International, among many many others, makes her the perfect thrutopian guide. And speaking through fiction gives space and form to her bold ambitious visions, uncowed by the monumental scale of the task.
It is this visioning in particular, that is worth paying attention to – a way of navigating the complexities of multiple crises towards a more worthwhile future and the art of looking for clues to the pathways that might lead us there. It is not the answer – but it is an answer. And believing that there is an answer is enough.
In the story, radical change begins – credibly – with a single tweet, but first, Scott anchors us: in family, community, ancestry, mythology and land. And from that single point of stability, the rest of the story birls round like a Saturday night Ceilidh. Gaming features heavily – as do Shaolin Monks, spirits, politics, influencers, cryptocurrency and kittens. It does at times feel like some kind of a quest-based adventure – one foot wrong and it’s game over, and there will be casualties – but there are some crucial ingredients here too: the essential anchor of course, the coming together of generations, the cleaning up and reform of our politics, the overhaul of our financial systems. But above all of this, is the sacrifice, commitment and graft that is the essential factor for radical change. Another world is still possible, is Scott’s podcast mantra.
This is thrutopian fiction at its best: inspiring us to move forward despite not knowing how the story ends.
Sandy Winterbottom
Sandy Winterbottom spent most of her career as an academic, teaching and researching in the Environmental Sciences and working in the renewables industry. She completed the Creative Writing Masters Programme at Stirling University. Her first book, The Two-Headed Whale is published by Birlinn and Greystone.
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