Taking on the System: Rules for Radical Change in a Digital Era

The founder of one of America's most influential political blogs gives voice to the new world of digital activism, sharing helpful guidelines on how a grassroots movement can grow and thrive in the age of global information and how to transform the world with political, cultural, social, and environmental change.

Zúniga, popular political blogger (dailykos.com) and reluctant leader of the netroots—those technocratic raiders now seen as a catalyzing political-action force fomenting populist action—gives us a set of tools and strategies for finding and exposing cracks within the social political-media system. With deft narrative ability, he insightfully dissects the hows and whys of many blog-driven political upsets over the past three years, from the unfortunate circuslike atmosphere unfolding around Cindy Sheehan outside of President Bush's ranch in Texas to the senatorial upset of George Allen in Virginia. Zúniga unfolds the nature and extent of netroots persistence, which is indicative of a seemingly new digital citizenship in which those with access to blogs as platforms can potentially expose and open gates to the democratic process. Zúniga's latest is focused more on practical tools and techniques of political action than his earlier Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics (with Jerome Armstrong). This book will be in demand in libraries serving communities with a blogosphere readership.—Jim Hahn, Univ. of Illinois Lib., Urbana
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Starred Review. In this primer for activists in the digital age, Zúniga, founder of the influential lefty blog DailyKos, argues that if activists harness new technology such as blogs, podcasting and YouTube, they can bypass the old-world gatekeepers to communicate to the masses in order to bring about political change. Tidily organized into pithy directives, including mobilizing, reinventing the street protest and feeding the backlash, this informative and entertaining book—inspired by Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals—moves easily among the current campaign cycle, pop culture phenomena such as Stephen Colbert and the successes and failures of the progressive movement in America. Zúniga's pragmatic, inclusive tone takes the edge off his sometimes didactic insistence that there's no reason anyone should whine or complain that they are being shut out of the system. It should be noted, however, that the book is targeted directly to other liberals and wastes no time with conciliatory measures toward the right. Anyone in his camp, however, will be rewarded by the read. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Zuniga, founder of DailyKos.com, the most influential political blog on the Internet, turns his considerable insight and energy to detailing a manifesto for achieving radical social change in the digital age. He begins by defining the new insurgents, able to afflict discomfort on the “gatekeepers” primarily by influencing the mainstream media. Among his strategies: mobilize by raising an army of like-minded people, target the villain and craft the hero, and reinvent street protest. Zuniga cites numerous examples of how the “netroot nation” has influenced politics, including purging the Democrats’ credentialing system for candidates seeking corporate contributions, defeating Senator Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary (though he later went on to win his seat again as an Independent), and pushing a viable Democratic candidate to challenge George Allen, Republican senator from Virginia (who was later brought down because a racial slur he uttered was kept in the news by the netroots). Citing warriors for radical change, from social activist Saul Alinsky to actor Michael J. Fox, Zuniga urges citizens to continue to push against the system to be heard. --Vanessa Bush