Steal This Country: A Handbook for Resistance, Persistence, and Fixing Almost Everything

by Alexandra Styron Narrated by Amy McFadden

Overview

Inspired by Abbie Hoffman's radical classic, Steal This Book, author Alexandra Styron's stirring call for resistance and citizen activism will be clearly heard by young people who don't accept "it is what it is," who want to make sure everybody gets an equal piece of the American pie, and who know that the future of the planet is now.



Styron's irreverent and informative primer on how to make a difference is organized into three sections: The Why, The What, and The How. The book opens with a personal essay and a historic look at civil disobedience and teenage activism in America. That's followed by a deep dive into several key issues: climate change, racial justice, women's rights, LGBTQIA rights, immigration, religious understanding, and intersectionality. Each chapter includes a summary of key questions, interviews with movers and shakers-from celebrities to youth activists-and spotlights on progressive organizations. The book's final section is packed with how-to advice on ways to engage, from group activities such as organizing, marching, rallying, and petitioning to individual actions like voting with your wallet, volunteering, talking with relatives with different viewpoints, and using social activism to get out a progressive message.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

08/06/2018
In this rousing call for activism in the Abbie Hoffman tradition, Styron provides a stimulating and comprehensive guide to advocating for progressive change. Tapping into the post-2016 election dismay and energy prevalent among “woke” teens, the chapters highlight issues of climate change, immigration, LGBTQ rights, racial justice, religious understanding, and women’s rights. Styron suggests ways that kids can become involved both at and outside school, while experts and trailblazers speak to their own experiences taking stands (or a knee) and facing injustice. Particularly valuable is Styron’s discussion of practical techniques for conducting walkouts and sit-ins, talking to elected representatives, protecting privacy when blogging, and boycotting. This highly topical, inspiring volume informs readers how to be creative and persistent. Fourteen-year-old Tokata Iron Eyes reinforces the message: “By incorporating... values into our lives, we will empower others to do the same. Together we will heal, and together we will make change.” Ages 12–up. (Sept.)

From the Publisher

I've been waiting for this book since I was a socially active and angry teen as I looked upon a world I wanted to change but didn't know how to do it. I wanted resources that explain the movements of this country and I wanted to know how I could be an active and meaningful part of them. Thank you thank you, Alexandra Styron, for the book I plan to give to all of the young people I know starting with my sons. Steal This Country will inspire you to invoke in yourself the passion of youth and ultimately, it can restore all of our faith in the possibility for change.”

—MAYIM BIALIK, PhD,  is the author of Girling Up: How to Be Strong, Smart and Spectacular, and Boying Up: How to Be Brave, Bold and Brilliant, and the award-winning star of
The Big Bang Theory.
 
“Precisely what we need most right now, Steal This Country equips concerned, questioning readers with a tangible sense of continuity and tools to better understand intersecting movements—past and present—as interrelated components of a larger, ongoing struggle.”

—Nate Powell, illustrator of  March, winner of the National Book Award and the Coretta Scott King and Michael L. Printz Awards and of the New York Times bestseller, The Silence of Our Friends.
 
“Steal This Country is a real-world action plan for young citizens with a conscience—and a much-needed reminder to the rest of us what well-aimed protest and resistance can accomplish. Democracy suffocates without it.”

—Carl Hiaasen, nationally bestselling adult author whose popular middle-grade novels include the Newbery Honor book Hoot, as well as Chomp, Flush, Scat, and Skink.
 
“Steal This Country turns America’s best moments—the Boston Tea Party, Seneca Falls, the Birmingham Childrens’ Crusade—into living history. Alexandra Styron has written a stunning call to action for every young American to read—and to rally behind.”

—Linda Fairstein, New York Times bestselling crime novelist and the author of The Devlin Quick Mysteries for children.

"Particularly valuable is Styron’s discussion of practical techniques for conducting walkouts and sit-ins, talking to elected representatives, protecting privacy when blogging, and boycotting. This highly topical, inspiring volume informs readers how to be creative and persistent." 


—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher - AUDIO COMMENTARY

"McFadden's narration is will matched to the content . . . her cadence stays appropriately quick and engaging." -Booklist

School Library Journal

09/01/2018
Gr 7 Up—This beginner's guide to activism for progressive causes begins with a brief history of protest in U.S. history, before frankly laying out key problem areas for the United States in the Trump era: climate change, racism, Islamophobia, and attacks on the rights of women, immigrants, people with disabilities, and members of LGBTAI communities. Although the first two-thirds of the book may leave readers feeling impatient for more varied examples of ways to take action beyond starting clubs at school and contacting elected officials, the final section details various forms of protest, fundraising, and organizing, with useful tips capitalizing on individual interests and strengths and maximizing the impact of one's chosen actions. The intended audience can feel limited at times to students with disposable income, supportive parents, and responsive schools; the degree to which class, race, and gender affect how student protest is received (and often punished) is not fully accounted for. However, each chapter includes numerous interviews with a truly varied group of (mostly youngish) social justice leaders, such as Gavin Grimm, activist for transgender student rights, and Tokata Iron Eyes, anti-Dakota Access Pipeline organizer, pointing to ways visionaries have effected change. Sections on environmental racism and allyship are especially clear, with relevant and timely examples. Occasional comics by talented cartoonists like GB Tran, Nicole Georges, and Richie Pope offer more personal reflections on the issues. VERDICT A solid nonfiction purchase that's browseable and has potential for classroom use.—Miriam DesHarnais, Towson University, MD

Kirkus Reviews

2018-06-18
Styron (Reading My Father, 2011, etc.) encourages teens to take change-making into their own hands in this engaging, approachable, and informative handbook.The book is broken down into four sections: The Why, The Who, The What, and The How. The second section highlights "a few great moments in US protest history" and "teenage rebels with a cause!" The book goes on to cover climate change, immigration, LGBTQIA rights, race, religion, women's rights, intersectionality, and (briefly) disabilities. Most of these topics in turn feature a short comic, an introduction to the subject matter (including brief background history and contemporary issues and actions), interviews with contemporary figures from the various movements, and a few spotlights on contemporary activists and organizations. The final section includes everything from how to be an ally and using social media for activism to how to stage a walkout or sit-in. Overall, the content is impressively intersectional, but the uncritical highlighting of some creators (e.g. an interview with Lena Dunham) and protests (e.g. the Boston Tea Party, which utilized cultural appropriation on occupied land) and scant attention paid to the history of disability rights and current concerns in an age of threatened health care as well as other content-related choices make it impossible to recommend this volume wholeheartedly. The best social justice guidebook we've seen in some time—but still disappointingly imperfect. (table of contents, glossary, resources) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170985173
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	09/04/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

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