Sorry Not Sorry

Actor Milano (Safe at Home) puts her political activism center stage in these resonant and hopeful essays that grapple with systemic racism, abortion rights, #MeToo, and living through the pandemic. Milano wryly notes that readers expecting backstage gossip won’t find it. Instead, the 32 essays, she writes, offer a “snapshot of a year in the life of an activist as everything we knew about the political world and the physical world seemed to devolve around us.” In “Progressive or Performer” she decries “performative activism” that opts for being “right” rather than being “effective,” and “The Imperfect Ally” sees her reflecting on accepting mistakes: “You have to be okay with getting it wrong, hearing that you got it wrong, and committing to do it better.” “Defund the Police” dispels beliefs that the concept means “eliminate law enforcement” (she also explains to “trolls” why she herself called 911), while in “A Conversation” she imagines listening sympathetically to a woman protesting against abortion rights outside a Planned Parenthood location. Milano’s writing is compassionate, direct, and sincere. Her fans are in for a treat. Agent: Mollie Glick, Creative Artists Agency. (Oct.)