Necessary Trouble

June 27, 2016
Striking a tone that simultaneously infuriates and inspires, journalist Jaffe gives a macro-level overview of recent protest movements, including Occupy Wall Street, the Wisconsin Capitol protesters, Black Lives Matter, and lesser-known social justice groups. Her book examines these movements with a spare, intelligent style. Jaffe explores how the movements cross-pollinate and evolve, providing insightful analysis of the underlying trends that emerge across different groups. Along with original reporting and research of media coverage, Jaffe includes historical background and testimonies of active participants, creating holistic pictures of these movements. Some mention is made of protest parties of the right (such as the Tea Party), but the majority of the book focuses on movements associated with the left. It provides insight to those confused by the recent uptick in protests and unorthodox political candidates, and a rallying cry to those currently working in these social justice movements—though it’s unlikely the book will convert any partisan readers. “Messages don’t succeed because they say something new,” Jaffe writes, but “because they explain something that people feel but have been at a loss to explain.” For readers feeling frustrated and unrepresented in politics today, this book is just such a message. Agent: Lydia Wills, Lydia Wills LLC.

Starred review from July 15, 2016
Journalist and Nation Institute fellow Jaffe debuts with an in-depth account of the wave of populist anger driving "a new era of protest and activism" in the United States.Since the 2008 financial crisis, many Americans have sought to wrest control of their lives through political movements like the tea party and Occupy. "For the people taking part in them," writes the author, "it is not a question of left or right, but of the powerless against the powerful." United in their anger at wealthy elites and both major political parties, people in economic distress have been protesting and striking over issues from the minimum wage and labor bargaining to home foreclosures and student debt (more than $35,000 for the average student in 2015). Through richly detailed reporting, including more than 100 interviews, Jaffe shows how protest movements over these and other issues (including racism and immigration reform) have grown into a larger fusion movement in which activists have recognized the connections among such disparate arenas as the Fight for $15, Black Lives Matter, and immigration reform. She illustrates the intersections for individuals like Ivanna Gonzalez, a Moral Monday protester in North Carolina, who realizes, "being a woman, a student, an immigrant, and a worker were all parts of her life." Even as students go into debt to earn college degrees, notes Jaffe, many are likely to end up in the service industry, where the median annual income is $20,000. Her insights offer a new context for understanding seemingly random events--such as Wal-Mart strikes, student debt strikes, and the Chicago teachers' strike--and the strong sense of solidarity underlying them. She suggests many participants discovered shared concerns when brought together in occupied spaces of the Occupy movement. Her book even makes sense of protests that have linked the tea party in partnership with the teamsters and the NAACP. An essential guide to forces shaping our nation and the 2016 presidential election.

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Starred review from September 1, 2016

A central premise of journalist Jaffe's (fellow, Nation Inst.) book is that Americans in the last decade have become more radical, on both the right and the left. Rising inequality and the consolidation of economic and political power into the hands of a few have made people contradictorily feel both more hopeless and more willing to challenge powerful institutions. It therefore seems fitting that this book arrives in the midst of continuing Black Lives Matter protests and Donald Trump's nomination for president with one of the most conservative Republican Party platforms in recent history. Jaffe brings together fascinating stories and well-reported recent history to explain how and why ordinary people became involved in Occupy Wall Street, the Tea Party, Black Lives Matter, antiimmigration protests, and labor fights against Walmart and for a $15 per hour minimum wage. She argues that these movements started out in opposition but are now building new coalitions and more horizontal institutions. VERDICT This work feels necessary right now and will appeal to readers looking to make sense of this historic moment.--Jessica Moran, National Lib. New Zealand, Wellington

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