In 2001, over the holidays, I received six copies of Eric Schlosserโs Fast Food Nation. They came mostly from friends of my parentsโpeople I had never received a present from before (and havenโt since). Fast Food Nationโs in-depth exposรฉ of the American meatpacking industry struck a chord with so many people, that even those who knew I was already vegetarian couldnโt wait to get that book off a bookstore shelf and into my student dreamer hands.
Bernie Sandersโ Our Revolution could be 2017โs Fast Food Nation, if we want it to be. We could put this part autobiography/part clean outline of Sandersโ ideology into the hands of baby dreamer students in our social spheres with a short, inspiring note: โThe future is yours, Emily!โ โTaxpayers spend about $7 billion a year subsidizing the wages of fast food workers, Taylor!โ โItโs time to start questioning things, Devin!โ
Make them ask, โAre you my momโs friend?โ
Presumably started in July (at the end of Bernieโs bid for the Democratic nomination for president) and printed in November, Sanders got to spend around three months on Our Revolution. It succeeds because it exists in two parts. The first 185 pages are an easily digested, idyllic Bernie Sanders history. He reminisces about his working poor childhood in 1940s Brooklyn (STICKBALL. I am not joking), and his introduction to the *Bernie Sanders voice* โincredible winter beauty of Vermont.โ The majority of the autobiographical portions focus on Sandersโ decision to run for the Democratic nomination and his campaign.
The second half of Our Revolution is an updated version of Sandersโ famous 2010 eight-and-a-half-hour filibuster speech (also published as a book called simply The Speech). These core ideas made up Sandersโ platform during his nomination bid, and many of them made it into the Democratic platform that Hillary Clinton later ran on against Donald Trump.
Sandersโ voice is very present throughout Our Revolution, and that affords the book a sort of feel-good quality as well. If youโve forgotten how it felt when Bernie Sanders spoke and you wondered โCould we really have such a nice world?โ as your heart fluttered, this book will take you back thereโand rev you up for the journey ahead.
Our Revolution
by Bernie Sanders
(Thomas Dunne Books)
