Standing Up to the Madness not only is a timely, inspiring, and even revolutionary look at who wields the greatest power in America--everyday people who take a chance and stand up for what they believe in--but also offers advice on what you can do to help. Where are the millions marching in the streets to defend human rights, civil liberties, and racial justice? Where is the mass revulsion against the killing and torture being carried out in our name? Where are the environmentalists? Where is the peace movement? The answer: They are everywhere. The award-winning sister-brother team of Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, and investigative journalist David Goodman traveled the country to detail the ways in which grassroots activists have taken politics out of the hands of politicians. Standing Up to the Madness tells the stories of everyday citizens who have challenged the government and prevailed. As the Bush administration has waged war abroad and at home, it has catalyzed a vast groundswell of political action. From African-American residents of deluged New Orleans who are fighting racism and City Hall to regain their homes; to four Connecticut librarians who refused to spy on their patrons, challenged the USA PATRIOT Act, and won; to a group of high school students who were barred from performing a play they wrote on the Iraq War based on letters from soldiers; to the first U.S. Army officer to publicly refuse orders to deploy to Iraq, charging that his duty as an officer is to refuse to fight in an illegal and immoral war, Standing Up to the Madness profiles citizens rising to extraordinary challenges. And, in the process, they are changing the way that politics is done, both now and in the future. In communities around the United States, courageous individuals have taken leaps of faith to stop the madness. They could only hope that if they led, others would follow. That is how movements are born. What begins as one, eventually becomes many. In that tradition, the authors have included the ways in which any individual can take action and effect change.

エイミー・グッドマンの筆致は、単なる記録を超え、抑圧に抗う魂を震わせる「希望の文学」としての風格を湛えています。本作の核心は、巨大な権力に対峙する市民たちの肉声が放つ圧倒的な熱量にあります。狂気に支配された時代において、個の勇気がいかに連帯へと昇華されるかを、彼女は極めて解像度の高い叙事詩として描き出しています。 絶望の中で「NO」を突きつける人々の気高さは、民主主義の真髄を痛烈に問い直させます。これは単なる抗議の記録ではなく、人間の尊厳を守り抜くためのバイブルです。現状に甘んじる魂を激しく揺さぶり、未来を自らの手に取り戻す情熱を再燃させる、至高の人間讃歌といえるでしょう。