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The AOC Generation: How Millennials Are Seizing Power and Rewriting the Rules of American Politics
A grassroots look at the future of US politics as the next generation of progressive organizers--sparked by the unstoppable rise of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez--leads us toward a new direction.
The AOC Generation examines the resurgent young left--including groups like Justice Democrats, the Democratic Socialists of America and Brand New Congress--and documents how and why they got active and energized in political organizing, the success and limitations of their approaches--and through their stories, it tells the history and the future of a generation.
In 2018, the country watched as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rose from unknown part-time bartender to the halls of Congress at the age of 29 and became a household name for her progressive, passionate politics. With firsthand accounts detailing the final days of her campaign, which he spent beside her as she fought for every last vote, Freedlander connects her ample political talents and ability to command the media and the public's attention to the newfound political awakening of millennial activists. Inspired in part by the Bernie Sanders campaign, and furthered by a series of critical issues including catastrophic climate change, a rigid political system, and widening income inequality, these young people organized into new groups that became a conduit for their energy, ideas, and passions. And all of their activity isn't just political. They've created their own media eco-system, with podcasts, streaming networks, and even dating sites that cater to their interests.
With this new generation gaining traction, with little signs of backing down and securing crucial political seats as Ocasio-Cortez did in 2018, The AOC Generation presents a thoughtful analysis of how they came of age in an America they are determined to reshape.
The AOC Generation examines the resurgent young left--including groups like Justice Democrats, the Democratic Socialists of America and Brand New Congress--and documents how and why they got active and energized in political organizing, the success and limitations of their approaches--and through their stories, it tells the history and the future of a generation.
In 2018, the country watched as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rose from unknown part-time bartender to the halls of Congress at the age of 29 and became a household name for her progressive, passionate politics. With firsthand accounts detailing the final days of her campaign, which he spent beside her as she fought for every last vote, Freedlander connects her ample political talents and ability to command the media and the public's attention to the newfound political awakening of millennial activists. Inspired in part by the Bernie Sanders campaign, and furthered by a series of critical issues including catastrophic climate change, a rigid political system, and widening income inequality, these young people organized into new groups that became a conduit for their energy, ideas, and passions. And all of their activity isn't just political. They've created their own media eco-system, with podcasts, streaming networks, and even dating sites that cater to their interests.
With this new generation gaining traction, with little signs of backing down and securing crucial political seats as Ocasio-Cortez did in 2018, The AOC Generation presents a thoughtful analysis of how they came of age in an America they are determined to reshape.
232 pages, Hardcover
Published March 30, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
January 28, 2021
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is one of the most interesting new faces of American politics, and an inspiration for millenials worldwide. Described in the book, among others, as ´a young Latinx woman running for office with a revolutionary spirit´, she represent a new approach to politcs, supported not by political dynasties or professional politicians, but representing the voice of grass root movements, of citizen journalists and Occupy-like actions.
Besides telling the story of AOC, - as she is simply branded, following the American school of using acronyms as much as possible - this book reveals, at least for an outsider, relevant details about the dramatic challenge underwent by the democratic political and non-political streams in the last decade, slowly developing from the end of the Cold War. If 3 decades ago, being labelled as ´socialist´ was a political curse, a condemnation to political isolation and probably intensified supervision on behalf of the American agencies, nowadays the term is slowly getting its recognition.
The experience of the last four years, during Trump administration, widened the gap between what the people - particularly the young millenials - expect from politics and what the eternal divide Democrats/Republicans can offer.
The new movements with a strong socialist basis are not built on sand. Bernie Sanders is an outstanding example in this respect. However, for decades being a socialist was a stigma and the movements marginalized. Nowadays, the voices of the voiceless are getting stronger and stronger, facilitated by social media and platforms like The Intercept - supported by E. Snowder - or the YouTube video streams of The Young Turks or by the Facebook or Instagram live videos.
There is a new reality and AOC - which besides being one of the Millenials, also seems to have a particular motivation and personal charisma - is the voice of the new expectations from politics.
The book offers an useful guidance into the structure and ideology of the US grassroot movement as well as helps to understand the new political trends and its actors.
Personally, I´ve found the book very useful, especially for someone not necessarily connected permanently to the latest American political trends. It helps not only to understand the present, but also to identify trends and patterns very useful to keep in mind in the next decade.
Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Besides telling the story of AOC, - as she is simply branded, following the American school of using acronyms as much as possible - this book reveals, at least for an outsider, relevant details about the dramatic challenge underwent by the democratic political and non-political streams in the last decade, slowly developing from the end of the Cold War. If 3 decades ago, being labelled as ´socialist´ was a political curse, a condemnation to political isolation and probably intensified supervision on behalf of the American agencies, nowadays the term is slowly getting its recognition.
The experience of the last four years, during Trump administration, widened the gap between what the people - particularly the young millenials - expect from politics and what the eternal divide Democrats/Republicans can offer.
The new movements with a strong socialist basis are not built on sand. Bernie Sanders is an outstanding example in this respect. However, for decades being a socialist was a stigma and the movements marginalized. Nowadays, the voices of the voiceless are getting stronger and stronger, facilitated by social media and platforms like The Intercept - supported by E. Snowder - or the YouTube video streams of The Young Turks or by the Facebook or Instagram live videos.
There is a new reality and AOC - which besides being one of the Millenials, also seems to have a particular motivation and personal charisma - is the voice of the new expectations from politics.
The book offers an useful guidance into the structure and ideology of the US grassroot movement as well as helps to understand the new political trends and its actors.
Personally, I´ve found the book very useful, especially for someone not necessarily connected permanently to the latest American political trends. It helps not only to understand the present, but also to identify trends and patterns very useful to keep in mind in the next decade.
Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
March 1, 2021
I suppose I should preface my review by pointing out that I do not like the politics of "AOC" or the various characters who appear in this book. I was nevertheless eager to read this because, though I suspected the author's political views would be quite different from my own, I was--and remain--genuinely interested in the question of what social, political, economic, or psychological factors have led terrifying numbers of young people (although certainly not, as the title of this book might imply, an entire generation) to embrace socialist philosophies and political candidates. Though I expected to disagree with the author's own political leanings, I was encouraged by a publisher's description that promised a "thoughtful analysis of how [AOC & her supporters] came of age in an America they are determined to reshape." Indeed, I thought, I might disagree with their attempts to reshape my country, but I would at least be interested to read about how they came to view the world as they do.
I was further encouraged upon reading the book's introduction which explicitly states "[This book] is not an endorsement of their tactics or their ideology" but "rather an examination of a new force that looks set to have a large role in our politics for decades to come."
Unfortunately, these claims proved to be false. Though the author carefully avoids explicitly endorsing any particular political view, he takes their philosophy completely for granted without offering even a hypothetical word of critical analysis. Further, when other views become relevant--whether those belonging to Republicans or even those belonging to mainstream (read: non-socialist) Democrats--the author has no problem offering only a token straw-man consideration of those views (whether in his own words or in those he chooses to quote).
Further, there is actually no real substantive analysis of how large numbers of young people have come to embrace socialist ideas in general or Ocasio-Cortez in particular. Throughout the book's pages, you'll be introduced to more minor players in leftist politics than you'll ever be able to keep track of, but the book fails to meaningfully consider what led these people to these thought processes in the first place, or--perhaps more importantly--what led large enough numbers of voters to agree with their pronouncements that someone like AOC was able to win not only a Congressional seat but enduring national press coverage.
Indeed, every chapter of the book follows pretty much the same format. We're introduced to some colorful characters as they meet in hippy coffee shops to argue about Marx and Trotsky or as they attend the kinds of political meetings where people wiggle their fingers lest anyone be offended by applause. But instead of questioning what would lead people to view these activities as normal, the author takes them for granted and simply formulaically describes the small role each character played in the AOC Congressional campaign.
Even as a work of prose, the book struggles to be readable. There is no clearly identifiable structure. The writing is too disjointed to form a coherent narrative, and makes little attempt to organize itself according to the logical presentation of ideas. This may be understandable when one realizes that the book consists of almost as many quoted words (from AOC herself, Bernie Sanders, and any number of leftist "organizers") as words of the author's own creation. Indeed, several times I thought I was reading more of a book of quotations than an actual work of original thought. Unfortunately, few of those quotations are really worth reading. A few of them contain hints of a certain degree of linguistic skill or charisma (including, I freely admit even while disagreeing with their content, a few from AOC herself), but most read like the self-congratulatory ramblings of the disaffected trying to explain why their authors are some kind of "force" in national politics.
Admittedly, there are occasionally interesting paragraphs that describe novel elements of campaign strategy. If the entire book had consisted of those paragraphs, it still wouldn't have been the book I wanted to read, but at least it might have been an interesting manual for grassroots political organizers, regardless of their particular political views. Unfortunately, those paragraphs are relatively few and far between.
The result is that the book doesn't read either (as promised) as a thoughtful analysis of leftist ideology among America's youth nor as a useful history of a political campaign. Instead it reads, depending on how cynical the reader chooses to be, either as a biography of a group of people in whom very few readers will have any interest, or as an attempt by a political author to capitalize on the fame of an avowed anti-capitalist.
If you're interested in reading the story actually promised by this book, you won't find it here. I have not yet found a book that satisfactorily explains the leftward shift in so much of youthful thought, but readers interested in that question would at least be far better served by Lukianoff & Haidt's The Coddling of the American Mind as a sort of introductory starting place than by this book.
(Note: This review is based on an ARC I received free of charge for purposes of review. My opinions are my own.)
I was further encouraged upon reading the book's introduction which explicitly states "[This book] is not an endorsement of their tactics or their ideology" but "rather an examination of a new force that looks set to have a large role in our politics for decades to come."
Unfortunately, these claims proved to be false. Though the author carefully avoids explicitly endorsing any particular political view, he takes their philosophy completely for granted without offering even a hypothetical word of critical analysis. Further, when other views become relevant--whether those belonging to Republicans or even those belonging to mainstream (read: non-socialist) Democrats--the author has no problem offering only a token straw-man consideration of those views (whether in his own words or in those he chooses to quote).
Further, there is actually no real substantive analysis of how large numbers of young people have come to embrace socialist ideas in general or Ocasio-Cortez in particular. Throughout the book's pages, you'll be introduced to more minor players in leftist politics than you'll ever be able to keep track of, but the book fails to meaningfully consider what led these people to these thought processes in the first place, or--perhaps more importantly--what led large enough numbers of voters to agree with their pronouncements that someone like AOC was able to win not only a Congressional seat but enduring national press coverage.
Indeed, every chapter of the book follows pretty much the same format. We're introduced to some colorful characters as they meet in hippy coffee shops to argue about Marx and Trotsky or as they attend the kinds of political meetings where people wiggle their fingers lest anyone be offended by applause. But instead of questioning what would lead people to view these activities as normal, the author takes them for granted and simply formulaically describes the small role each character played in the AOC Congressional campaign.
Even as a work of prose, the book struggles to be readable. There is no clearly identifiable structure. The writing is too disjointed to form a coherent narrative, and makes little attempt to organize itself according to the logical presentation of ideas. This may be understandable when one realizes that the book consists of almost as many quoted words (from AOC herself, Bernie Sanders, and any number of leftist "organizers") as words of the author's own creation. Indeed, several times I thought I was reading more of a book of quotations than an actual work of original thought. Unfortunately, few of those quotations are really worth reading. A few of them contain hints of a certain degree of linguistic skill or charisma (including, I freely admit even while disagreeing with their content, a few from AOC herself), but most read like the self-congratulatory ramblings of the disaffected trying to explain why their authors are some kind of "force" in national politics.
Admittedly, there are occasionally interesting paragraphs that describe novel elements of campaign strategy. If the entire book had consisted of those paragraphs, it still wouldn't have been the book I wanted to read, but at least it might have been an interesting manual for grassroots political organizers, regardless of their particular political views. Unfortunately, those paragraphs are relatively few and far between.
The result is that the book doesn't read either (as promised) as a thoughtful analysis of leftist ideology among America's youth nor as a useful history of a political campaign. Instead it reads, depending on how cynical the reader chooses to be, either as a biography of a group of people in whom very few readers will have any interest, or as an attempt by a political author to capitalize on the fame of an avowed anti-capitalist.
If you're interested in reading the story actually promised by this book, you won't find it here. I have not yet found a book that satisfactorily explains the leftward shift in so much of youthful thought, but readers interested in that question would at least be far better served by Lukianoff & Haidt's The Coddling of the American Mind as a sort of introductory starting place than by this book.
(Note: This review is based on an ARC I received free of charge for purposes of review. My opinions are my own.)
June 24, 2021
Honestly pretty disappointing. Not really about the generation, mostly about aoc herself.
November 17, 2020
I'm always fascinated with AOC and how the grass roots movement work. Very inspiring.
June 9, 2021
Unlike some of the other reviewers I saw on here, I didn't know as much about AOC - hence choosing to read this - and knew less about the decisions leading to endorse her by groups like the DSA. The book clarifies for me a shift in strategies employed by such groups (e.g., go beyond marches and rallies and attempt to influence conservative democrats through their endorsed candidates vs. Creating a whole new political party.) I see the nascent "movement" forming through actions/ideas/opinions of mostly younger populations who came of age in a time of unprecedented globalization through lifelong access to various technological platforms. And also see this through empowered communities of various backgrounds understanding they have choices to make. Regardless of one's political views, minus the above average rate of typos in the text, I recommend the book for someone who wants to consider how a person's developmental life course perspective impacts his or her values, norms, and outlook on just about anything - i.e., the time period someone grew up in, greatly affects what they value in life and how they choose to express it.
February 1, 2022
This is a pretty solid piece of political journalism, a look at the left-most faction of national politics with an appraisal that feels mostly fair, even if we know deep down that the writer (and the readers) are biased in its favor. Perhaps such readings can be practical correctives to our by now ingrown cynicism.
Freedlander begins at the Thursday evening happy hours organized by Sean McElwee, where millennials pushing for social movements interacted uneasily with political candidates. All remember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a rare match for their agendas, a person running for office, yet genuinely interested in making changes. This is our first portrait of what Freedlander calls "a new force that looks set to have a large role in our politics for decades to come." The main demographic skews young -- very young, but the central candidate paving the way for their political organization was Bernie Sanders. The millennial generation, coming of age around the time of 9/11, witnessed the 2008 economic crisis and recession, steadily rising inequality, and an increase in climate-related disasters.
The Republican party changed drastically in these years, too, verging to the right on social issues, embracing evangelical Christianity, but then suddenly dropping most evangelical talking points in favor of anti-immigrant populism in the lead up to the 2016 election. Democrats, on the defensive against the party that with more buy-in from business, mostly failed to respond to the growing demands of the younger voters, resulting in a sharp break of younger voters to the far left.
What about these demands? Social scientists describe a "revolution of rising expectations," but advocates like McElwee say rather that the American economy is very obviously not working well for the incoming generations. McElwee is a very interesting figure that Freedlander quite rightly dwells on in his introduction, because McElwee makes the case for the "Overton Window Mover" strategy, which says that voicing ideas that seem fringe or unacceptable loudly can recenter debate and open up new ranges of policy to consider. The calls to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement are the paradigmatic example. (One thinks, also, of the slightly later call to defund the police. One wonders if right-wing examples are also on the table -- the ban against Muslim entry into the United States, or the border wall idea, might qualify.)
It's the binding of these political ideas that makes Freedlander's work here worthwhile; that it also functions as a biography of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could almost be an afterthought, if her story were not in fact such a compelling example of the millennial lives she represents. She is well-educated, and began doing social justice work at the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground. She studied abroad in Nigeria, where she got a deeper sense of global inequality. Her working-class parents taught her basic integrity and respect, and to value hard work -- the American immigrant dream embodied. The genuineness she projected helped her harvest a fertile district in Queens from a congressman who hardly knew or connected with the place. Her base was built in social justice events like the Women's March after Trump's election, the protests at the Dakota Access Pipeline on the Standing Rock reservation, and through left-wing media outlets like The Young Turks. (I actually had no idea about these guys, in late 2021. I can only chalk it up to being out of the US since 2012. As I contemplate going back in 2022, I know I have a lot to catch up on!)
She played a major role in the 2016 Sanders campaign, placing herself into a political relay-race that Freedlander outlines as going from the immediate aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, to the Occupy Wall Street movement, to the and through the Sanders campaign, gradually coalescing from mere expression of anger to a more focussed political agenda. The meeting of Ocasio-Cortez and the Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA, is a whole saga that takes up the book's fourth chapter. The DSA is a fascinating organization, well worth follow-up reading. Here's a taste of Freedlander's look:
Other new statesmen coined with DSA support include Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, both of whom sound like they deserve further study.
The DSA stands outside the mainstream Democratic Party, but another group, called Brand New Congress, set out to revolutionize the mother ship. That's the subject of chapter 5, and it's fascinating to see how the goals have shifted and the organization seems more pulled by events than vision, yet has managed to get a few candidates in place and stay relevant for the future. Yet another concept for follow-up reading.
We also get the story of Bhaskar Sunkara, who started Jacobin magazine in 2015 -- I had no idea the publication was so young! Reading groups from this and other leftie magazines actually boosted other DSA candidates into office, like Julia Salazar, who won a state senate seat in New York. There's also more on The Young Turks, which, now that I turn to that Youtube channel, is actually pretty interesting.
A final chapter considers the reasoning behind the Green New Deal, making the case for it as a wise political strategy to focus and energize this young and left political base. Basically, tying environmental reforms to job growth is the best bet for the political future. At the book's publication, the fate of the Deal was too early to tell, and the best one could say was that AOC was persisting in her positions against tepid support from the new President and other mainstream democrats. Which is fair enough. In a world where the New York Times has begun to report regularly on the decline of democracy within the United States, it is necessary to read and learn about movements to reverse the trend. Surely, there's room for hope, and not just hope, but a to-do list.
Addendum:
A January 2022 essay in Jacobin argues that Biden's 2021 climate legislation, although only a much watered-down package more akin to Obama's 2009 plan than to a Green New Deal, failed, and primarily because team Biden put too little energy into organizing popular support. Organizing, especially through labor unions, is the favored solution. The author, Keith Brower Brown is a member of the UAW and the DSA.
Freedlander begins at the Thursday evening happy hours organized by Sean McElwee, where millennials pushing for social movements interacted uneasily with political candidates. All remember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a rare match for their agendas, a person running for office, yet genuinely interested in making changes. This is our first portrait of what Freedlander calls "a new force that looks set to have a large role in our politics for decades to come." The main demographic skews young -- very young, but the central candidate paving the way for their political organization was Bernie Sanders. The millennial generation, coming of age around the time of 9/11, witnessed the 2008 economic crisis and recession, steadily rising inequality, and an increase in climate-related disasters.
The Republican party changed drastically in these years, too, verging to the right on social issues, embracing evangelical Christianity, but then suddenly dropping most evangelical talking points in favor of anti-immigrant populism in the lead up to the 2016 election. Democrats, on the defensive against the party that with more buy-in from business, mostly failed to respond to the growing demands of the younger voters, resulting in a sharp break of younger voters to the far left.
What about these demands? Social scientists describe a "revolution of rising expectations," but advocates like McElwee say rather that the American economy is very obviously not working well for the incoming generations. McElwee is a very interesting figure that Freedlander quite rightly dwells on in his introduction, because McElwee makes the case for the "Overton Window Mover" strategy, which says that voicing ideas that seem fringe or unacceptable loudly can recenter debate and open up new ranges of policy to consider. The calls to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement are the paradigmatic example. (One thinks, also, of the slightly later call to defund the police. One wonders if right-wing examples are also on the table -- the ban against Muslim entry into the United States, or the border wall idea, might qualify.)
It's the binding of these political ideas that makes Freedlander's work here worthwhile; that it also functions as a biography of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could almost be an afterthought, if her story were not in fact such a compelling example of the millennial lives she represents. She is well-educated, and began doing social justice work at the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground. She studied abroad in Nigeria, where she got a deeper sense of global inequality. Her working-class parents taught her basic integrity and respect, and to value hard work -- the American immigrant dream embodied. The genuineness she projected helped her harvest a fertile district in Queens from a congressman who hardly knew or connected with the place. Her base was built in social justice events like the Women's March after Trump's election, the protests at the Dakota Access Pipeline on the Standing Rock reservation, and through left-wing media outlets like The Young Turks. (I actually had no idea about these guys, in late 2021. I can only chalk it up to being out of the US since 2012. As I contemplate going back in 2022, I know I have a lot to catch up on!)
She played a major role in the 2016 Sanders campaign, placing herself into a political relay-race that Freedlander outlines as going from the immediate aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, to the Occupy Wall Street movement, to the and through the Sanders campaign, gradually coalescing from mere expression of anger to a more focussed political agenda. The meeting of Ocasio-Cortez and the Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA, is a whole saga that takes up the book's fourth chapter. The DSA is a fascinating organization, well worth follow-up reading. Here's a taste of Freedlander's look:
“A society in which you have healthcare for everybody, housing for everybody, enough food for everybody, anybody can have as much education as they want,” said Frank Llewellyn, a founding member of DSA, a former national DSA president, and the treasurer of AOC’s campaign.
In Llewellyn’s formulation, there is no mention of destroying private property, liberating the proletariat, or nationalizing industries. There isn’t even any talk of the plutocrats, or the millionaires and billionaires who have a stranglehold on our democracy, or the corporations looting the nation’s wealth. It is a message more focused on lifting the bottom of the ladder upward than shrinking the top.
“Our goal is not to fix capitalism,” he added. “It is to change capitalism into something else.”
Other new statesmen coined with DSA support include Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, both of whom sound like they deserve further study.
The DSA stands outside the mainstream Democratic Party, but another group, called Brand New Congress, set out to revolutionize the mother ship. That's the subject of chapter 5, and it's fascinating to see how the goals have shifted and the organization seems more pulled by events than vision, yet has managed to get a few candidates in place and stay relevant for the future. Yet another concept for follow-up reading.
We also get the story of Bhaskar Sunkara, who started Jacobin magazine in 2015 -- I had no idea the publication was so young! Reading groups from this and other leftie magazines actually boosted other DSA candidates into office, like Julia Salazar, who won a state senate seat in New York. There's also more on The Young Turks, which, now that I turn to that Youtube channel, is actually pretty interesting.
A final chapter considers the reasoning behind the Green New Deal, making the case for it as a wise political strategy to focus and energize this young and left political base. Basically, tying environmental reforms to job growth is the best bet for the political future. At the book's publication, the fate of the Deal was too early to tell, and the best one could say was that AOC was persisting in her positions against tepid support from the new President and other mainstream democrats. Which is fair enough. In a world where the New York Times has begun to report regularly on the decline of democracy within the United States, it is necessary to read and learn about movements to reverse the trend. Surely, there's room for hope, and not just hope, but a to-do list.
Addendum:
A January 2022 essay in Jacobin argues that Biden's 2021 climate legislation, although only a much watered-down package more akin to Obama's 2009 plan than to a Green New Deal, failed, and primarily because team Biden put too little energy into organizing popular support. Organizing, especially through labor unions, is the favored solution. The author, Keith Brower Brown is a member of the UAW and the DSA.
April 14, 2021
David Freedlander has written a thought provoking book regarding the rise of AOC from bartender to social activist to congresswoman, the dysfunction of our political system on both sides of the fence and why some, especially the millennials are turning more to the left.
Everyone should read a book like this one. You do not have to agree or disagree with what the New Democrats, Socialists or whatever they choose to refer to themselves as but it is long overdue that everyone sit down and have a deep conversation as to where we are headed in the United States.
Thank you Goodreads for posting this Giveaway.
Everyone should read a book like this one. You do not have to agree or disagree with what the New Democrats, Socialists or whatever they choose to refer to themselves as but it is long overdue that everyone sit down and have a deep conversation as to where we are headed in the United States.
Thank you Goodreads for posting this Giveaway.
April 25, 2021
There were a lot of great insights here, mostly when the writing wasn't focused on AOC, especially into how Left organizations form and cannibalize themselves. Freedlander had a hard time finding a structure, so this often seemed like a theory of vignettes strung together around AOC.
November 16, 2021
The AOC Generation focuses on how Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rose form obscure millennial to bogeywoman of the right. It looks at how groups like the Democratic Socialist of America and the Brand New Congress are reshaping the politics of left with programs like the Young Turks and Jacobins fueling partisan information to a new generation of young activists. If you have never heard of any of the groups I just mentioned then this book will server as a fascinating catalyst for the groups that are steering the democratic party to the left much in the way things like OAN and Breitbart are doing the same to the right. This book focuses on how AOC became the darling of these groups by ingraining herself with them on the campaign trail. It looks at her background and time as an active student leader at BU and her time at Standing Rock. It explores the rise of the far left as a backlash to Donald Trump and the ways in which AOC speaks to those groups. Overall it is a quick read that focuses on her rise to office and the efforts of groups like Brand New Congress to replace democrats (in spaces where Republicans are unlikely to win) with those that will follow a more left agenda than their predecessors. The book focuses on what is known of her viewpoints and the ways in which millennials will consume political information and engage in new ways that challenge the established political norms for reaching these groups.
July 7, 2021
This is an interesting book but not one I found to be entirely satisfying. The title almost tells the story in that the subject is intended to be the current democratic socialist push from the younger demographic. There are a couple of problems most notably the focus upon Alexandria O C which seems to overshadow the intended theme. The second problem is the vast assortment of characters and organisations, incohesive it would seem, that the author details. There are the briefest biographies of a plethora of players included throughout the book. This becomes a distraction. Still in all informative and a challenging book to compile, I am sure. It does leave me wondering if this discordant group of activists will ever have any genuine political impact.
October 23, 2024
There IS a lot of good information in here about the underground and behind-the-scenes of the progressive movements in New York, but it's horribly disorganized in its writing style, chronological order, theme development, etc. It was kind of like reading a fangirl account of the if-you-know-you-know types of famous people in politics and journalism. Lots of chapters aren't about AOC at all, and I couldn't tell if an argument was really being made, and I didn't feel that much was actually said about AOC's journey other than a few chapters here and there.
Basically, neither a cohesive story nor a cohesive argument was told, but it did have a lot of fun reading the stream-of-consciousness info!
Basically, neither a cohesive story nor a cohesive argument was told, but it did have a lot of fun reading the stream-of-consciousness info!
March 22, 2021
As other reviews have stated, this felt more like a biography of AOC rather than the generation of young people that she's inspired. I was more interested in hearing about that movement, so the marketing of the book feels very confused about what they're trying to sell.
I received an ARC for the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
I received an ARC for the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
April 3, 2025
A democratic socialist and woman of color, AOC is the youngest woman elected to Congress. This book documents her early life and her subsequent rise as a hope for the future for young progressives. I like her politics and enjoyed being privy to “behind the scenes” activities of her campaign. She is a rising star so keep an eye on her!
April 26, 2021
It’s not a bad book, it’s just boring.
April 29, 2021
this was supposed to be about the people aoc has inspired but is more like a bio on aoc. I live learning about her but I knew most of this stuff already and wasn’t looking for this from this book.
June 30, 2021
You need information on a politician to make a reasoned assessment of them. This book helped with some background on AOC which I appreciated.
July 25, 2021
2.5 not so much about the generation as much as her story and how she ended up running and her support for the movement.
February 1, 2022
some parts are a bit redundant but overall a good read.
March 23, 2025
This was a pretty decent book. It was sitting on the "nonfiction" shelf and has been for the past few years at my local library, and I finally thought I would give it a read.
I personally have struggled with being "progressive" and if goals can actually be attained by being so versus being "centrist." I do like our legislators getting things done of course at the end of the day.
This was a quick history of the Occupy Dems / Occupy Wall Street movement which I was not super familiar with. It was good to learn about some of that history.
This book is relatively new and it was cool to hear about people who knew AOC from a long time ago being interviewed.
Progressive or not, if you are looking for an easy and accessible read about the the recent history of progressivism and it's roots in corporate power and even the center-right, super pro-corporation, not really do much for the people-roots of corporate friendly New York Democratic politics and are open minded and want to give AOC, or "Sandy" a chance, then this book is if for you.
Also, it's just 201 pages. How many politics books do you know that are this short? :)
I personally have struggled with being "progressive" and if goals can actually be attained by being so versus being "centrist." I do like our legislators getting things done of course at the end of the day.
This was a quick history of the Occupy Dems / Occupy Wall Street movement which I was not super familiar with. It was good to learn about some of that history.
This book is relatively new and it was cool to hear about people who knew AOC from a long time ago being interviewed.
Progressive or not, if you are looking for an easy and accessible read about the the recent history of progressivism and it's roots in corporate power and even the center-right, super pro-corporation, not really do much for the people-roots of corporate friendly New York Democratic politics and are open minded and want to give AOC, or "Sandy" a chance, then this book is if for you.
Also, it's just 201 pages. How many politics books do you know that are this short? :)
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