Book Review: How I Resist: Activism and Hope for a New Generation edited by Maureen Johnson

How I Resist: Activism and Hope for a New Generation
edited by Maureen Johnson (YA PB (Non-Fiction) Johnson)

Living in an era in which more and more people are becoming activists in one way or another, I’ll admit this book caught my eye on one of the libraries’ “new books” displays, and I enjoyed browsing through it enough to check it out.

How I Resist is a relatively quick, easy read. Editor Maureen Johnson has assembled a collection of 29 essays, interviews, poems and/or cartoon selections, by a wide and diverse group of contributors. All take on the themes of “how to resist the status quo — how to make a difference — how to “matter” in today’s world of news churn, social media obsessions, fractured interpersonal relationships and hostile political separatism. Contributions come from writers, actors, musicians, poets, artists and people from across a wide social spectrum. Many are individuals I was not familiar with, while others are best-selling personalities like authors Rebecca Roanhorse, Libba Bray, Jennifer Weiner and Jacqueline Woodson. Each has a unique perspective, and while many offer variations on the concept of “Don’t give up — keep trying — just by trying you’re making an impact”, several of them have very precise and constructive advice on being a modern day activist.

Definitely worth sampling!

[ publisher’s official How I Resist web site ] | [ official Maureen Johnson web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library – Public Service

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!