Standing Up to the Madness
not only is a timely, inspiring, and even revolutionary look at who wields the
greatest power in America—everyday people who take a chance and stand up for
what they believe in—but also offers advice on what you can do to help.
Where are the millions marching in the streets
to defend human rights, civil liberties, and racial justice? Where is the mass
revulsion against the killing and torture being carried out in our name? Where
are the environmentalists? Where is the peace movement?
The answer: They are
everywhere.
The award-winning sister-brother team of Amy
Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, and investigative journalist David
Goodman traveled the country to detail the ways in which grassroots activists
have taken politics out of the hands of politicians. Standing Up to the
Madness tells the stories of everyday citizens who have challenged the
government and prevailed.
As the Bush administration has waged war abroad
and at home, it has catalyzed a vast groundswell of political action. From
African-American residents of deluged New Orleans who are fighting racism and
City Hall to regain their homes; to four Connecticut librarians who refused to
spy on their patrons, challenged the USA PATRIOT Act, and won; to a group of
high school students who were barred from performing a play they wrote on the
Iraq War based on letters from soldiers; to the first U.S. Army officer to
publicly refuse orders to deploy to Iraq, charging that his duty as an officer
is to refuse to fight in an illegal and immoral war, Standing Up to the
Madness profiles citizens rising to extraordinary challenges. And, in the
process, they are changing the way that politics is done, both now and in the
future.
In communities around the United States,
courageous individuals have taken leaps of faith to stop the madness. They could
only hope that if they led, others would follow. That is how movements are born.
What begins as one, eventually becomes many. In that tradition, the authors have
included the ways in which any individual can take action and effect change.
For more information please visit www.democracynow.org
