Sirota's latest work: A fascinating, firsthand adventure at the serrated edges of American politics

Early praise for The Uprising:
“The author weaves entertaining case studies, keeping his tone conversational, the narrative fast-paced, and the content accessible…this book presents a rousing account of the local uprisings already in effect.”
—
Publishers Weekly
“David Sirota is honest, uncompromising, passionate, and a brilliant communicator. He is the most important progressive voice we have in this country. THE UPRISING should be read by anyone who wants to understand exactly how the ordinary person has been sold out by the political system.”
—Matt Taibbi, national political correspondent for
Rolling Stone and author of
The Great Derangement
“David Sirota is a clearheaded and principled hell-raiser for economic justice. More like him and we’ll have a real uprising on our hands.”
—Naomi Klein, author of
No Logo and
The Shock Doctrine
“After so many decades of fake populism, could we finally be looking at the real thing? In this compelling book, rooted in history but as contemporary as this morning’s newspaper, David Sirota gives us reason to hope.”
—Thomas Frank, author of
What’s the Matter with Kansas?
When David Sirota published his New York Times bestseller Hostile Takeover in May 2006, Molly Ivins hailed him as “a new-generation populist who instinctively understands that the only real questions are ‘Who’s getting screwed’ and ‘Who’s doing the screwing?’ ” Now, after a year on the road witnessing firsthand the growing public unrest caused by the takeover of our government by Big Money, journalist and nationally syndicated columnist Sirota gives us THE UPRISING: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington (Crown, May 27, 2008). In this essential new book, David Sirota reports on this seething popular discontent on both the Right and Left, which is creating a new political movement and roiling the 2008 presidential race.
From the Montana state senate and an antiwar march on Washington, with appearances by Jane Fonda and Sean Penn to an ExxonMobil stockholder meeting in Dallas and the dusty campsite of the California Minutemen guarding the U.S.–Mexico border, Sirota traveled the United States to report on this anger and the populist uprising it is creating—an uprising that is impacting national politics. While wages stagnate, health-care costs rise, and personal debt skyrockets, we still see corporate profits continue to increase, politicians pass tax breaks for the superwealthy, and CEOs pay themselves tens of millions of dollars a year. It is no wonder that a Scripps Howard news service poll in 2006 found “anger against the federal government is at record levels” and that Gallup's 2008 surveys now show the lowest approval of Congress and the President in its entire seven decades of public polling.
The book traces the historical roots of populism and why it is such a powerful force in national politics today. Sirota also traces the age-old efforts to thwart populism, including a close look at the Democratic Party’s construction of the “superdelegate” system now playing a key role in the presidential campaign.
THE UPRISING features exclusive reporting on icons across the political spectrum, from CNN’s Lou Dobbs, to Montana governor Brian Schweitzer, to ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson. A fascinating, firsthand adventure at the serrated edges of American politics, THE UPRISING asks the vital question—“Will a real movement emerge from all this rage?”
For More Information:
New York, NY, and Washington, D.C.
Kate Pruss Pinnick
Shreve Williams Public Relations
219-841-9314
708-469-7438 (AFTER May 19)
kate@shrevewilliams.com
All Other U.S. Markets
Melanie DeNardo
Crown Publishers
212-940-7866
mdenardo@randomhouse.com