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An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington
Crown
June 2008
On Sale: May 27, 2008
400 pages ISBN: 0307395634 EAN: 9780307395634 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
An All-Access Pass to the Populist Insurrection Brewing Across the Country Job outsourcing. Perpetual busy signals at government agencies. Slashed paychecks. Stolen elections. A war without end, fatally mismanaged. Ordinary Americans on both the Right and Left are tired of being disenfranchised by corrupt politicians of both parties and are organizing to change the status quo. In his invigorating new book, David Sirota investigates whether this uprising can be transformed into a unified, lasting political movement. Throughout the course of American history, uprisings like the one we are seeing now have given birth to powerful movements to end wars, protect workers, and expand civil rights, so the prospect of todayβs uprising turning into a full-fledged populist movement terrifies Wall Street and Washington. In The Uprising, Sirota takes us far from the national media spotlight into the trenches where real change is happeningβfrom the headquarters of the most powerful third party in America to the bowels of the U.S. Senate; from the auditorium of an ExxonMobil shareholder meeting to the quasi-military staging area of a vigilante force on the Mexican border. This is vital, on-the-ground reporting that immerses us in the tumultuous give-and-take of politics at its most personal. Sirota also offers a biting critique of our politics. He shows how the uprising is, at its core, a reaction to faux βbipartisanshipβ in the nationβs capitalβthe βbipartisanshipβ whereby Republican and Democratic lawmakers join together in putting the agenda of corporate interests above all those of ordinary citizens. Ultimately, Sirota reminds us that the Declaration of Independence, βAmericaβs original uprising manifesto,β says that governments βderive their powers from the consent of the governed.β Irreverent and insightful, The Uprising shows how the governed have stopped consenting and have started taking action.
 Media BuzzTell Me More - September 16, 2008 Diane Rehm Show - NPR - July 9, 2008 Lou Dobbs Tonight - July 9, 2008 Colbert Report - May 29, 2008
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