Occupy Nation: The Roots, the Spirit, and the Promise of Occupy Wall Street

“[A] much needed book…a compelling portrait of the Occupy movement…that capture[s] the spirit of the people involved, the crisis that gave Occupy birth, and the possibility of genuine change it represents.”
—Eric Foner, author of The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery

The Occupy Wall Street movement arose out of a widespread desire of ordinary Americans to change a political system in which the moneyed “1%” of the nation controls the workings of the government. In Occupy Nation, social historian Todd Gitlin—a former leader of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) who stood at the forefront of the birth of the New Left and the student protests of the 1960s and ’70s—offers a unique overview of one of the most rapidly growing yet misunderstood social revolutions in modern history. Occupy Nation is a concise and incisive look at the Occupy movement at its pivotal moment, as it weighs its unexpected power and grapples with its future mission.

Todd Gitlin is professor of journalism and sociology and chair of the PhD program in communications at Columbia University. He lectures widely on matters relating to OWS and is the author of fourteen previous books about politics, culture, movements, and media, including the bestselling The Sixties. He was a founding member of Students for a Democratic Society and its third president