FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Susan Gleason, 206-931-2613, sgleason@yesmagazine.org or Sarah van Gelder
Publication Date: January 2017, Berrett Koehler
The Revolution Where You Live:
Stories from a 12,000-Mile Journey through a New America
by Sarah van Gelder, Cofounder of YES! Magazine
Foreword by Danny Glover
The Revolution Where You Live couldn’t have come at a better time. If Woody Guthrie had penned a book to go along with ‘This Land Is Your Land,’ it might have read like this.
—David Bornstein, New York Times columnist and cofounder of Solutions Journalism Network
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
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Seattle, WA—
The election of Donald Trump is taking us into uncharted territory. Local action is where we can resist the dangers, reconnect to each other and to the earth, and re-conceive the world we want.
YES! Magazine co-founder and editor at large Sarah van Gelder drove 12,000 miles, living in her tiny truck camper, interviewing people on Native reservations, in rust belt cities, Appalachian hamlets, and southern cities. Her book, The Revolution Where You Live: Stories from a 12,000 Mile Journey Through a New America, tells the stories of broken economies, devastated ecosystems, and communities divided by racism and conflicting worldviews. But the focus of her sharing is on the extraordinary work of ordinary people who are transforming their communities, even in the places that seemed to have run out of hope. Find details here: https://revolutionwhereyoulive.org/the-book-the-revolution-where-you-live
In her talk, van Gelder will tell stories and show photographs from her road trip and from her reporting trips to Standing Rock, the unprecedented gathering of Native peoples fighting to prevent the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
In Sarah’s own words:
The local level, in our communities, is where we have the best shot at reaching across the divides that are shattering our society, and the best shot at creating solutions that can bring us forward together. The stories I found as I drove around the country, especially to “red states,” offer insight into the hardships faced by so many in our country today. And they feature solutions that, although they are small scale, are powerful enough to address some of today’s biggest challenges.
A common thread running through the communities Sarah spent time with was 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, Sarah suggests, is where we find our power and our best hopes for a new America.
About Sarah van Gelder
Sarah van Gelder is cofounder and editor at large of award-winning YES! Magazine, where she writes a bi-weekly column, also called, “The Revolution Where You Live.” She explores the leading edge of change, writing and speaking internationally on topics ranging from cooperative economics to mass incarceration, from health to sustainable lifestyles, and on the role of solutions-oriented journalism in building a better society. Sarah is a regular guest on public radio and has also appeared on the PBS NewsHour program, Thom Hartmann’s Big Picture, Democracy Now!, The Laura Flanders Show, and Free Speech TV. She is the editor of the books This Changes Everything: Occupy Wall Street and the 99 Percent Movement and Sustainable Happiness: Live Simply, Live Well, Make a Difference.
Publication date: January 2017, $18.95, paperback, 240 pages, 5.5″ x 8.5″, ISBN 978-1-62656-765-8
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MORE PRAISE FOR THE BOOK:
“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
“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 and cofounder of Small Planet Institute
“What the world needs today is a modern Odysseus—one who speaks with the power and love of the feminine, listens from the heart, and acts from compassion. Sarah van Gelder is that hero, a woman who understands that the monsters blocking our paths are our own creations, that the way out of chaos is through soul-felt, community-centered involvement. The Revolution Where You Live is a song of modern redemption.”—John Perkins, New York Times bestselling author of New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
“What a journey! Sarah van Gelder uncovers the real revolution unfolding across America: leaderless and leader-full, up against it and angry, but still willing to hope. A passionate, powerful account!”—Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy and The End of Nature and cofounder of 350.org
“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 National Vice President, AFL-CIO
The Revolution Where You Live 