The Squad
AOC and the Hope of a Political Revolution
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ISBN10: 1250869072
ISBN13: 9781250869074
Hardcover
336 Pages
$28.99
CA$38.99
The Squad is the definitive, must-read book about the most exciting figures defining our new era. The story is urgent, and the stakes are high—for the country and the world—and Grim, an experienced political reporter who covered the Squad before they were the Squad, is uniquely qualified to tell it.
When Bernie Sanders, an obscure Vermont senator, launched his quixotic 2016 presidential campaign, few could have seen just how radically the Democratic Party would transform in just a few short years—or that such a transformation could be led by a Bronx bartender volunteering for Bernie in her spare time. The world as it was when that campaign began is almost unrecognizable today, and the Squad has both shaped and been shaped by the seismic social, cultural, and political changes underway.
Referred to informally as the Squad, led by the preternaturally politically savvy Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the group laid down a marker for an aggressive left-wing agenda. Grim takes you behind the scenes as that new energy makes impact with Washington, and the Squad spends as much time fending off assaults from Donald Trump—who regularly singled them out and led chants of “send them back” at rallies—as they did battling their own party’s sclerotic leadership. As they’ve grown in office, they’ve had to contend with the eternal question that confronts outsiders who power their way into the inside: Are they still radical organizers willing and able to lead a political revolution?
Reviews
Praise for The Squad
“[Ryan Grim] needs to do his own show. He’s really good . . . objective . . . no bullshit rhetoric.”—Joe Rogan
“If you've been reading Ryan Grim's consistently groundbreaking reporting over the past decade, the recent monumental shift in our politics came as little surprise. For anybody who wants to understand where we've been and where we're going, The Squad is an essential read.”—Naomi Klein, New York Times bestselling author
“[Grim] has become one of the most authoritative voices in Washington on a wide range of topics, but his specialty has always been giving voice to the voiceless and taking on powerful institutions trying to screw over the most vulnerable among us.”—Lydia Polgreen, New York Times columnist
"Political reporter Grim, D.C. bureau chief for the Intercept, examines the rise, challenges, and influence of six aggressive left-wing politicians: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, and Ilhan Omar, branded by the media as The Squad, and the two representatives who joined them in 2021, Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush . . . Drawing on his own on-the-ground reporting, Grim creates a detailed account of seven tumultuous years. An insider’s often dismaying picture of national politics."—Kirkus Reviews
"A richly reported account of how the House’s most outspoken bloc of left-wing lawmakers, and the movement they represent, have fared in the nation’s capital."—HuffPost
"Insightful . . . Grim skillfully elucidates the political substance beneath the bewildering complexity of congressional legislating, election strategizing, and influence peddling, conveying it all in prose that’s perceptive and pithy . . . The result is a fresh and penetrating take on a divided Democratic Party."—Publishers Weekly
Reviews from Goodreads
BOOK EXCERPTS
Read an Excerpt
1 ENDING RACISM
On April 30, 2015, a clear spring day in Washington, DC, Bernie Sanders shuffled out of the Capitol Building to a waiting collection of microphones and a C-SPAN camera. Despite his twenty-five years as the only democratic...