The Book Has Arrived

Yesterday my publisher delivered my 10 free copies of my book, Youth to Power. It was about 13 months ago that I started doing preliminary interviews for the book, and it's pretty damn cool to finally see the finished product.

One of the biggest hurdles in youth organizing is the lack of real institutional memory. Everyone is always a novice, so people forget what came before - what strategies failed or worked and why that was so. How organizations came into existence, etc. Ditto for bigger picture things like how do the various arms of progressive youth organizing complement each other? Where are there gaps in the movement, etc.

I think the book will be a great primer to make sure that all of our youth organizers are on the same page, with a good understanding of where the youth participation trends we're seeing today came from, and how the dozens of progressive youth groups that we take for granted today got their starts (or in some cases revitalized themselves). Or, as my jacket blurb says:

Youth to Power: How Today's Young Voters Are Building Tomorrow's Progressive Majority examines how today's young people are combining technology with a vigorous social spirit to revive progressive politics. In addition to recounting the history of youth politics, and showing where the progressive youth movement still lags behind its more organized conservative counterpart, Youth to Power offers an unprecedented insider look at the major figures and organizations of the progressive youth boom, as well as identifying strategies that the Democratic Party can use to capitalize on its potential new advantages with young voters.

If you pre-ordered a copy, it should ship within the next two weeks. Some friends are also working on designing a site dedicated solely to the book. That site will have book tour information, press blurbs, etc. I'll let y'all know when that goes live. For those in NYC, the official launch party will be March 5th at the Tank, hosted by Living Liberally.