December 9, 2016
Sanders, Warren, Steinem, and Other Leading Progressives Respond to Trump in New Melville House Book Pubbing for Inauguration Day
by Melville House
Melville House has announced it will publish a collection of passionate manifestos by leading progressives—including Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Gloria Steinem, Paul Krugman, Robert B. Reich, and others—and that it will have the book in bookstores before Inauguration Day.
The book will be called What We Do Now: Standing Up For Your Values In Trump’s America, and will also feature contributions from the heads of the ACLU, the NAACP, the Sierra Club, NARAL, the Arab American Association, the National LGBTQ Task Force, Campaign Zero, United We Dream, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, the National Center for Transgender Equality, and other prominent activists. Also featured are prominent journalists such as Nation publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel and John R. MacArthur, publisher of Harper’s magazine, as well as literary superstars Dave Eggers and George Saunders.
The election of Donald Trump to be the forty-fifth President of the United States of America shocked and dismayed progressives across the country. What We Do Now, on sale January 17, 2017, will provide a blueprint for moving forward, with powerful contributions from economists, environmentalists, activists, artists, politicians, journalists, and novelists. What We Do Now will offer encouragement and guidance to practicing constitutionally-protected acts of resistance throughout the unprecedented upcoming administration.
“Donald Trump ran a campaign based on hate,” says Melville House co-publisher Valerie Merians. “We know that his vision of the country is not shared by a majority of Americans. Our hope is that this book will galvanize, and provide a roadmap to, the millions of Americans who want to fight back by standing up for their values.”
Adds co-publisher Dennis Johnson, “We are a company that was founded in opposition to the appointment of George W. Bush, so activist publishing is part of who we are. We believe that in this time of crisis, we should all do what we can with what we have. What Valerie and I have is a publishing company, and what we’ve decided to do most immediately is to make a book.”
In addition to a long history of activist publishing against the Bush administration, Melville House has continued to publish important works of fiction and non-fiction, and has been lauded by the New York Times and others for making available to the public what the Times called “pivotal public documents,” including 2014’s Senate Intelligence Committee Report on Torture and The U.S. Supreme Court Decision on Marriage Equality in 2015.
The full list of contributors to What We Do Now is below:
Cornell William Brooks, president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club
Rea Carey, executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force
David Cole, national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Dave Eggers, author and publisher, McSweeney’s
Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America
Cristina Jimenez, co-founder and managing director of United We Dream
M. Dove Kent, executive director of Jews For Racial & Economic Justice
Mara Keisling, founder and executive director of National Center for Transgender Equality
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, spiritual leader of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah
Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize-winning economist and columnist for The New York Times
George Lakoff, cognitive linguist
Allan Lichtman, American political historian, American University
John R. MacArthur, publisher of Harper’s Magazine
Bill McKibben, environmentalist, co-founder and senior advisor of 350.org
Ilhan Omar, Member of the Minnesota House of Representatives and the first Somali-American legislator
Brittany Packnett, co-founder of Campaign Zero and vice president of national community alliances for Teach for America
Robert B. Reich, served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and was Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton
Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Bernie Sanders, United States Senator from Vermont
George Saunders, author
Linda Sarsour, executive director of the Arab American Association of New York
Gloria Steinem, feminist
Trevor Timm, co-founder and executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation
Nato Thompson, art activist and artistic director of Creative Time
Katrina vanden Heuvel, publisher of The Nation
Elizabeth Warren, United States Senator from Massachusetts
What We Do Now: Progressives on Standing Up for Your Values in Trump’s America will be published as a $15.99 paperback on January 17, 2017.