The Revolution Where You Live: Stories from a 12,000-Mile Journey Through a New America

By Sarah van Gelder. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2017. 208 pages. $18.95/paperback or eBook.

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In this exciting book, the word “revolution” doesn’t mean an armed coup. It means “turnaround,” as in turn your focus away from federal- or national-scope change, and put it on the local. As in the Transition movement (transition from a high-carbon to a low-carbon lifestyle), this book focuses on what we can do face-to-face, including both resistance to outside interests that seek to exploit (think fracking) and collaboration with the people we actually live with (think restoring the racial breach; think locally generated power; think urban gardens). Stories inspire, and this collection with its many photos is intended to offer visions of what life in the United States can be based on things that are already happening. These are stories we might not otherwise ever know about, since the whole point is that they are local and represent an opportunity all communities have to create the future we want to live in, starting right where we are.