The Revolution Where You Live: Stories from a 12,000-Mile Journey Through a New America by Sarah van Gelder, YES! Magazine co-founder and editor.
By Sarah van Gelder
Foreword by Danny Glover
Published by Berrett Koehler, January 2017
The Revolution Where You Live
Discover the Real Revolution Unfolding across America
America faces huge challenges—climate change, social injustice, racist violence, economic insecurity. Journalist Sarah van Gelder suspected that there were solutions, and she went looking for them, not in the centers of power, where people are richly rewarded for their allegiance to the status quo, but off the beaten track, in rural communities, small towns, and neglected urban neighborhoods.
She bought a used pickup truck and camper and set off on a 12,000-mile journey through eighteen states, dozens of cities and towns, and five Indian reservations.
From the ranches of Montana to the coalfields of Kentucky to the urban cores of Chicago and Detroit, van Gelder discovered people and communities who are remaking America from the ground up.
Join her as she meets the quirky and the committed, the local heroes and the healers who, under the mass media’s radar, are getting stuff done.
The common thread running through their work was best summed up by a phrase she saw on a mural in Newark: “We the People LOVE This Place.”
That connection we each have to our physical and ecological place, and to our human community, is where we find our power and our best hopes for a new America.
Advance praise …
“Like the inspiring efforts that she chronicles, Sarah van Gelder’s writing is ‘ordinary and extraordinary.’ In sharp contrast to mass media blather and clichés of condescension, this book offers hope grounded in real human experience.”
Norman Solomon, Executive Director, Institute for Public Accuracy, and author of War Made Easy
“Jump into Sarah van Gelder’s camper, and you’ll see our country anew . . . just the book Americans need right now.”
Frances Moore Lappé, author of Diet for a Small Planet
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“Looking for hope? Here’s where to find it. An inspiring account of the grassroots leaders throughout the United States who are confronting racism, the climate crisis, and poverty.”
Van Jones, CNN cohost, author, and activist
“Journalist Sarah van Gelder says we can build the political revolution Bernie Sanders talks about from the bottom up, away from the iron grip of Wall Street and wealthy corporate interests. That’s a future we can all believe in.”
RoseAnn DeMoro, Executive Director, National Nurses United, and Vice President, AFL-CIO
“I love that this book documents the incredibly powerful and dynamic movements that are taking root around the country. Read it!”
Mark Ruffalo, actor, director, and film producer
“Sarah van Gelder’s The Revolution Where You Live is filled with stories of people she interviewed as she traveled the country listening to their cries and dreams. Readers of these engrossing stories can go along for this memorable ride of reflection and empathy!”
Ralph Nader, author and advocate
more …
Table of Contents
Foreword by Danny Glover
Introduction: We the People Love This Place
PART 1 — SETTING OUT: THE NORTH/NORTHEAST
1: Fire, Coal, and Climate in Montana
2: Another Way of Ranching
3: The Ranchers and Native People Resisting the Otter Creek Mine
4: A North Dakota Reservation Where Fracking Rules
5: No Fracking Way Turtle Mountain
PART 2 — THE MIDWEST
6: The Making of the Rust Belt
7: Chicago: Growing Power
8: New Era Windows: “We Work with Passion.”
9: Detroit’s Rebirth: Redefining Prosperity
10: Dr. Garcia, Gunshot Wounds, and a Plea for Jobs in Cincinnati
11: The Union Movement’s Hail Mary Pass
12: La Minga: Community Work for Community Good
PART 3 — THE EAST
13: Appalachia’s Coalfields Extraction
14: Greensboro’s Battle over Story
15: Restorative Justice and the Harrisonburg Police
16: Newark and the People Who Love It
17: Ithaca: One Town’s Stories of Race
PART 4 — HOME, VIA TEXAS AND THE SOUTHWEST
18: Dallas at Christmas and a Syrian family
19: Childbirth and Transcendence
20: Moab—A Bridge
Conclusion: The Power of Connection
101 Ways to Reclaim Local Power
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LEARN MORE …
About the Author: Sarah van Gelder
Contact Sarah van Gelder
About the “Edge of Change” Road Trip
Buy the book Order now for 20% off: $14.95
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BLACK LIVES MATTER
I bought the book. It’s on its way! 🙂
I hope you enjoy it. A truly inspiring book.
Gelder’s “The Revolution Where You Live” has great reviews from people I respect. I’ll try to get a copy, read it, and pass it along. We “regular” people need to know we CAN make a difference. Good stuff!