Sanders aims to inspire a literary revolution
A generation of young readers raised on the struggle for justice imagined in The Hunger Games and Divergent can welcome a new superstar young adult author aiming to inspire a revolution in America’s contemporary dystopia: Senator Bernie Sanders.
The Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution will be released on August 29. According to publisher Henry Holt, the former Democratic candidate for the US presidency calls for young people ‘‘to fight for a progressive economic, environmental, racial and social justice agenda that creates jobs, raises wages, protects the environment and provides healthcare for all’’.
In a foreword, Sanders points out that during his campaign for president, he received more votes from young people than Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton combined, and that ‘‘in virtually every state primary and caucus, we won the overwhelming majority of young people – black, white, Latino, Asian American, and Native American’’.
‘‘It is my observation that the current generation of young people is the smartest, most idealistic, and least prejudiced generation in the modern history of the United States,’’ writes Sanders in the guide, an adaptation of his best-selling adult book Our Revolution.
‘‘This is a generation that is prepared to think big and move this country in a very different direction than we have been travelling for years,’’ he writes.
‘‘It is especially prepared to reject the value system espoused by Donald Trump and the rightwing reactionaries in Congress who support his ideas.’’
Sanders told Teen Vogue that his book would expose young people to ‘‘an unusual political campaign, the excitement of politics and what being a progressive is all about’’.
‘‘They have a responsibility to participate in our democracy and to help create a government that works for all, rather than just the few’’.
He is not the first US political leader to attempt to reach younger readers. In 2010, then-President Barack Obama published Of Thee I Sing: A Letter To My Daughters ,a illustrated guide to ‘‘groundbreaking Americans’’ and ideals that had inspired the nation.