New Edition of The Impossible Will Take a Little While

Posted by Paul Loeb on July 14, 2026

Since hope is intimately related to voting, I thought you’d be interested in the new edition of my political hope book, The Impossible Will Take a Little While, the companion to Soul of a Citizen. After 125,000 copies in print, Basic Books will publish the new edition October 13, 2026 (ISBN 9781541608849). It seems perfect for a time when students in particular often feel helpless and overwhelmed by the world, and desperate for hope.

The book’s new version keeps the powerful voices of writers like Nelson Mandela, Vaclav Havel, Desmond Tutu, Maya Angelou, Pablo Neruda, Parker Palmer, Jonathan Kozol, Mary Pipher, and Alice Walker. New essays include how South Koreans stopped a December 2024 coup, Norwegian teachers successfully defied the Nazis, Alexei Navalny resisted from Putin’s prisons, and ordinary Chicago citizens created a model for cities to resist ICE. Plus the real Lord of the Flies story, lessons by Heather Cox Richardson from America’s anti-slavery movement, Bill McKibben on how the global explosion of renewable energy, and National Book Award winning novelist Jesmyn Ward on protest and grief. You can get a sense of the pieces from the attached. I’ve also completely updated my ten section introductions to speak to the current difficult historical moment. Those who’ve read the new edition find it a powerful antidote to despair.

If you are interested:

• Preorder copies and encourage campus libraries and bookstores as well.
• If you have a class where you might teach the book (or can think of faculty who’d be interested), sign up to preorder an academic exam copy. As many of you know, it teaches wonderfully and I’ve just updated the classroom study questions. Faculty who teach a relevant class or supervise a relevant program can preorder a free exam copy of the new one. If they might teach the book in fall, I can get even get you a preview if they fill out the order form and then email me.
• If your school might be interested in bringing me in to speak, please reach out to the relevant people, or email me for information.
• If you think of any other ways to get the book out, please let me know.

Table of Contents and descriptions.

Reviews and Quotes.

PAUL LOEB LECTURES—SELECTED RESPONSES.