Mark Hertsgaard is one of America’s veteran environmental journalists, a forceful voice for two decades. His important book, Earth Odyssey, was an early attempt to help Americans understand the underlying dynamics that would give rise to, say, the Chinese economic explosion, with its attendant environmental implications. His work in the Nation and elsewhere has been an essential part of the dialogue about climate change, the most pressing of our environmental issues.

I’m suffering from a dashing of hope these days, and Paul Roget Loeb’s book Soul of a Citizen just might help me recover.

President Obama and Democrats in Congress have accomplished some truly amazing things. The economic recovery package, health reform, Wall Street reform – all of these things are big f*cking deals. And yet, I and many others are still feeling betrayed – the economic recovery wasn’t big enough, health care reform by all rights should have been much more progressive, and Wall Street reform doesn’t nearly go far enough. Why the feeling of betrayal? Because we were promised so much more than just “reform.” President Obama promised this country transformational change. And we have not been given transformational change.