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Democracy Now!: Twenty Years Covering the Movements Changing America
A celebration of the revolutionary change Amy and David Goodman have witnessed during the two decades of their acclaimed television and radio news program Democracy Now! —and how small individual acts from progressive heroes have produced lasting results.
In 1996 Amy Goodman began hosting a show called Democracy Now! to focus on the issues and movements that are too often ignored by the corporate media. Today it is the largest public media collaboration in the US. This important book looks back over the past twenty years of Democracy Now! and the powerful movements and charismatic leaders who are re-shaping our world. Goodman takes us along as she goes to where the silence is, bringing out voices from the streets of Ferguson to Staten Island, Wall Street, and South Carolina to East Timor—and other places where people are rising up to demand justice.
Giving voice to those who have been forgotten, forsaken, and beaten down by the powerful, Democracy Now! pays tribute to those progressive heroes—the whistleblowers, the organizers, the protestors—who have brought about remarkable, often invisible change over the last couple of decades in seismic ways. This is “an impassioned book aiming to fuel informed participation, outrage, and dissent” ( Kirkus Reviews ).
In 1996 Amy Goodman began hosting a show called Democracy Now! to focus on the issues and movements that are too often ignored by the corporate media. Today it is the largest public media collaboration in the US. This important book looks back over the past twenty years of Democracy Now! and the powerful movements and charismatic leaders who are re-shaping our world. Goodman takes us along as she goes to where the silence is, bringing out voices from the streets of Ferguson to Staten Island, Wall Street, and South Carolina to East Timor—and other places where people are rising up to demand justice.
Giving voice to those who have been forgotten, forsaken, and beaten down by the powerful, Democracy Now! pays tribute to those progressive heroes—the whistleblowers, the organizers, the protestors—who have brought about remarkable, often invisible change over the last couple of decades in seismic ways. This is “an impassioned book aiming to fuel informed participation, outrage, and dissent” ( Kirkus Reviews ).
384 pages, Paperback
First published April 12, 2016
34 people are currently reading
945 people want to read
About the author
Amy Goodman
45 books269 followersAmy Goodman is an American broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist and author.
A 1984 graduate of Harvard University, Goodman is best known as the principal host of Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now! program, where she has been described by the Los Angeles Times as "radio's voice of the disenfranchised left". Coverage of the peace and human rights movements — and support of the independent media — are the hallmarks of her work.
As an investigative journalist, she has received acclaim for exposés of human rights violations in East Timor and Nigeria. Goodman is the first journalist to receive the Right Livelihood Award. Her brother is investigative journalist David Goodman.
A 1984 graduate of Harvard University, Goodman is best known as the principal host of Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now! program, where she has been described by the Los Angeles Times as "radio's voice of the disenfranchised left". Coverage of the peace and human rights movements — and support of the independent media — are the hallmarks of her work.
As an investigative journalist, she has received acclaim for exposés of human rights violations in East Timor and Nigeria. Goodman is the first journalist to receive the Right Livelihood Award. Her brother is investigative journalist David Goodman.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
June 16, 2016
There's a reason I stopped reading books like this. They're depressing and infuriating and they remind you of all of the many things wrong with the world. It's good to stay informed but books like this are the reason SJWs value self care so much.
June 3, 2016
Amy Goodman takes us on a twenty year journey through the perils and progress of activism for peace and justice throughout the world. Some of the stories were quite familiar- Chelsey (then Bradley) Manning's release of the Collateral Murder video to Wiki-leaks via Julian Assange, Assange's exile, the Arab Spring inspired Occupy movement, Bree Newsome's lowering of the Confederate flag after the AME massacre in South Carolina. Others I missed while I was working through my lower middle-class American life, such as the Stonewall riots of 1969 that gave rise to the gay pride movement or the complicity of the American Pyschological Association in the design of torture methods at Abu Ghraib and Guantnamo. In the last chapter of the book Goodman describes her own survival of the massacre by US-backed Indonesian troops in East Timor in 1991, thus adding an extra punch to her passion for the truth. Democracy Now has always been about peace and justice, but they are also about accuracy of information. I found this book harrowing and enlightening. Thank you Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales for working hard bringing us the news we need to hear.
July 30, 2016
First, my credentials: I am a somewhat lapsed activist who started listening to Democracy Now as a college student in 1998. I was present at the WTO demonstrations of 99 and the World Bank/IMF protests a year later. I was once an avid reader of Z Magazine and all things Noam Chomsky.
Therefore, I was a little disappointed that this book was no more than a "best hits" of Democracy Now, something that Goodman insisted that it was not. I was hoping for a bit more insight into the work of journalists, especially the muckraking journalists who dare go where others do not. There was a good bit of discussion about this at the beginning, but the book trailed off and morphed into recaps of historical events and social issues with which Democracy Now listeners are already familiar: Mumia Abu-Jamal, the Black Lives Matter movement, the Occupy Wall Street movement, etc.
I don't mean at all to disparage Goodman or D.N., I am still an avid listener, I was just hoping for something new here and that is not what I got.
Therefore, I was a little disappointed that this book was no more than a "best hits" of Democracy Now, something that Goodman insisted that it was not. I was hoping for a bit more insight into the work of journalists, especially the muckraking journalists who dare go where others do not. There was a good bit of discussion about this at the beginning, but the book trailed off and morphed into recaps of historical events and social issues with which Democracy Now listeners are already familiar: Mumia Abu-Jamal, the Black Lives Matter movement, the Occupy Wall Street movement, etc.
I don't mean at all to disparage Goodman or D.N., I am still an avid listener, I was just hoping for something new here and that is not what I got.
May 16, 2017
I'm never quite sure whether to be heartened or discouraged by books like this. On the one hand, the legendary journalist Amy Goodman provides countless examples of individuals who have stood up for democracy, freedom, and social justice and rebelled against both public and private institutions. On the other hand, the broad range of issues she covers makes it clear that the fight against injustice is a never ending battle and that even after all the work that has been done by courageous journalists like herself and other dedicated activists, only a tiny dent has been made in the problems that face the country and the world. Moreover, all the progress that has been made so far could easily be undone.
If you watch Democracy Now! regularly, you've likely already heard the stories Goodman recounts in this book. However, if you're like me, you've probably forgotten certain stories and details. I was most grateful to remember the words of Tomas Young, an veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq who was paralyzed by a sniper's bullet. In his open letter to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, he writes with a poignancy that is both eloquent and chilling: "Your positions of authority, your millions of dollars of personal wealth, your public relations consultants, your privilege and your power cannot mask the hollowness of your character." And as sad as the story ultimately is, I was also glad to be reminded of the Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa who was executed after he tried to stop petroleum flares that were polluting his country.
If nothing else, reading Goodman's reporting over the last twenty years reminds me that there are still noble people working continually to inform the public and provide them with the knowledge they need to understand the world better. It also reminds me that to do any good in the world is a never ending task. As Noam Chomsky says, "If you go to one demonstration and then go home, that's something, but the people in power can live with that. What they can't live with is sustained pressure that keeps building, organizations that keep doing things, people who keep learning lessons from the last time and doing it better the next time."
If you watch Democracy Now! regularly, you've likely already heard the stories Goodman recounts in this book. However, if you're like me, you've probably forgotten certain stories and details. I was most grateful to remember the words of Tomas Young, an veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq who was paralyzed by a sniper's bullet. In his open letter to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, he writes with a poignancy that is both eloquent and chilling: "Your positions of authority, your millions of dollars of personal wealth, your public relations consultants, your privilege and your power cannot mask the hollowness of your character." And as sad as the story ultimately is, I was also glad to be reminded of the Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa who was executed after he tried to stop petroleum flares that were polluting his country.
If nothing else, reading Goodman's reporting over the last twenty years reminds me that there are still noble people working continually to inform the public and provide them with the knowledge they need to understand the world better. It also reminds me that to do any good in the world is a never ending task. As Noam Chomsky says, "If you go to one demonstration and then go home, that's something, but the people in power can live with that. What they can't live with is sustained pressure that keeps building, organizations that keep doing things, people who keep learning lessons from the last time and doing it better the next time."
October 30, 2020
ARC for review - TBP: April 12, 2016
I started listening to Democracy Now as my morning news program just a few months ago when I made WTSQ my go-to radio station and I thoroughly enjoy its gritty, fly-by-the-seat-of-your pants style of journalism (although I have to admit that I'm an idiot....I thought they were referencing an underwriter and saying "The Warren Peace Report" when they are actually saying "The War and Peace Report"). When I came to this book I expected it to be a story about the genesis and building of the program, and while there's a bit of that, it's really more of a snapshot of national and world events as of this moment (it includes the Sanders run and Trump's attacks on minorities). I would have enjoyed hearing a bit more about the history of the program and a bit less about current events.
What we do learn - in 1996 Amy Goodman started "Democracy Now!" to offer public broadcasting's only daily election new hours and it continues all these years later to provide a progressive focus "on the issues that are underreported or ignored by mainstream news coverage" (specifically it continued to focus on the WTO protests in Seattle and found its mission there) and I can attest that this is true - I've learned a lot about activists from all over the world from listening to Goodman's broadcast.
While chapter 1 deals with the shows origins the remaining chapters focus on the issues of the day (which, I'll warn readers, can be incredibly discouraging at times) such as whistleblowers, the Occupy movement, immigration, the fight for a higher minimum wage, the biases of corporate media and other scourges of our modern age.
As Goodman says, "we need to hear these silenced voices. That is the power of independent media: to give voice to the voiceless; to those who have been shut out of the debate." This is the mission of "Democracy Now!" and Goodman does this each week day, and writes about it here, admirably.
I started listening to Democracy Now as my morning news program just a few months ago when I made WTSQ my go-to radio station and I thoroughly enjoy its gritty, fly-by-the-seat-of-your pants style of journalism (although I have to admit that I'm an idiot....I thought they were referencing an underwriter and saying "The Warren Peace Report" when they are actually saying "The War and Peace Report"). When I came to this book I expected it to be a story about the genesis and building of the program, and while there's a bit of that, it's really more of a snapshot of national and world events as of this moment (it includes the Sanders run and Trump's attacks on minorities). I would have enjoyed hearing a bit more about the history of the program and a bit less about current events.
What we do learn - in 1996 Amy Goodman started "Democracy Now!" to offer public broadcasting's only daily election new hours and it continues all these years later to provide a progressive focus "on the issues that are underreported or ignored by mainstream news coverage" (specifically it continued to focus on the WTO protests in Seattle and found its mission there) and I can attest that this is true - I've learned a lot about activists from all over the world from listening to Goodman's broadcast.
While chapter 1 deals with the shows origins the remaining chapters focus on the issues of the day (which, I'll warn readers, can be incredibly discouraging at times) such as whistleblowers, the Occupy movement, immigration, the fight for a higher minimum wage, the biases of corporate media and other scourges of our modern age.
As Goodman says, "we need to hear these silenced voices. That is the power of independent media: to give voice to the voiceless; to those who have been shut out of the debate." This is the mission of "Democracy Now!" and Goodman does this each week day, and writes about it here, admirably.
May 10, 2016
Excellent book! If you like the show you'll love reading about the "behind-the-scenes" stories.
December 21, 2016
Democracy Now! is taking you through the years of covering American political news by Amy and David Goodman. Each chapter focuses on a specific corner of the political playground. By quite a few examples, Democracy Now! has clearly struggled and fought for the right of freedom of press pretty consistently. After finishing it, I’m honestly surprised that the ugly politics of Washington hasn’t taken away the spirit of these people to keep reporting from corners of the US which mainstream media doesn’t want to touch.
The only frustrating thing about it is that it really is just an overview of everything over 20+ years, which often left me unsatisfied with each of the chapters and subsections. Because they barely grazed the surface of a topic before the book moved on from the topic, I was a bit put out even though I understand this is just the nature of the book. Frankly, I would’ve loved to go on reading about immigration, foreign policy, global warming politics, etc. for the rest of my reading month.
The only frustrating thing about it is that it really is just an overview of everything over 20+ years, which often left me unsatisfied with each of the chapters and subsections. Because they barely grazed the surface of a topic before the book moved on from the topic, I was a bit put out even though I understand this is just the nature of the book. Frankly, I would’ve loved to go on reading about immigration, foreign policy, global warming politics, etc. for the rest of my reading month.
April 20, 2016
It's good. But the introduction was too long. She could have taken some of the points she made there and added them to some of the chapters, that way it wouldn't have felt too repetitive. The case for an alternative media or a reform within the traditional media is well established and one I whole heartily agree on. The media as it is today is broken. It bend the knee to fear and corporate interests, it is afraid to lay out facts or call things by their name because they don't want to lose their sponsors, or anger a certain political faction. Her work commenting on the news is also documented and laid out. Amy Goodman is one of the leading figures in alternative figure, a remarkable woman in her own right, very talented and smart. I hope she continues to do what she loves.
August 24, 2017
Amy Goodman is such a great person, journalist, writer, speaker & reporter. The things she has been able to do for news reporting despite all the barriers that have gone up in front of her is incredible. Listening to her speak in person about the different things she has experienced throughout her life as a journalist is amazing. She was on the front lines for hundreds of events around the world & being able to speak to them in a truthful manner is such an accomplishment. She represents the most progressive way to report the actual things happening in the world without worrying about people coming up against her or not. She takes the risks even when it has to do with very difficult situations around the world. She will not be bullied or influenced by anyone & that is what she is about.
August 3, 2016
Fantastic.
Moves quickly, but is very moving.
As depressing as some of the reporting can be, the rest is equally inspiring.
Democracy Now! and Amy Goodman are National Treasures.
Like she says, independent media is the oxygen of democracy.
Moves quickly, but is very moving.
As depressing as some of the reporting can be, the rest is equally inspiring.
Democracy Now! and Amy Goodman are National Treasures.
Like she says, independent media is the oxygen of democracy.
July 23, 2017
Amy Goodman is the news anchor for my favorite independent news media, Democracy Now! The organization hosts an hour daily program concerning world events and social justice with a diverse array of progressive guests from around the world who share their opinions, collaborate and debate together. Goodman recently released a book, Democracy Now! Twenty Years Covering the Movements Changing America, and I bought it right away.
Through the book, Amy chronicles the past twenty years of hosting the progressive news program. Her mission as a journalist is the cover the people being affected by the politics, not just the politicians themselves. And she also always gives a microphone to the protesters in the street who have something to share.
“Independent media is the oxygen of a democracy. It is not brought to you by the oil or gas or coal companies when we talk about climate change. It’s not brought to you by the weapons manufacturers when we talk about war and peace. It’s not brought to you by the insurance industry or big pharma when we talk about health care,” Goodman writes about 20 years of Democracy Now!
Though this independent media collaboration is not paid for by corporate sponsors, their ability to air their content on radio and public television can still be censored. Goodman recounts Democracy Now!’s beginning as a show, when the show was taken off the air by many supporters because it aired a commentary by Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther on death row.
“There’s a reason why our profession is the only one explicitly protected by the US Constitution: journalists are supposed to be the check and balance on power, not win popularity contests. The United States has 5 percent of the world’s population but 25 percent of its prisoners. It’s the job of journalists to put our microphones between the bars and broadcast the voices of those inside,” Amy Goodman write in Twenty Years Covering the Movements Changing America.
The book goes on to cover the anti-war movement, whistleblowers, immigrant rights groups, the movement to abolish the death penalty, Occupy Wallstreet, climate justice, LGBTQA rights, the Black Lives Matter movement in a response to police brutality and white supremacist attacks and journalism’s effort to curb the America’s use of torture. Goodman has written a progressive’s manifesta for 2017. It’s a culmination of all movements that that have succeeded in the past 20 years and are still developing as well as the movements that need more attention.
Read more at everydayembellishments.wordpress.com
Through the book, Amy chronicles the past twenty years of hosting the progressive news program. Her mission as a journalist is the cover the people being affected by the politics, not just the politicians themselves. And she also always gives a microphone to the protesters in the street who have something to share.
“Independent media is the oxygen of a democracy. It is not brought to you by the oil or gas or coal companies when we talk about climate change. It’s not brought to you by the weapons manufacturers when we talk about war and peace. It’s not brought to you by the insurance industry or big pharma when we talk about health care,” Goodman writes about 20 years of Democracy Now!
Though this independent media collaboration is not paid for by corporate sponsors, their ability to air their content on radio and public television can still be censored. Goodman recounts Democracy Now!’s beginning as a show, when the show was taken off the air by many supporters because it aired a commentary by Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther on death row.
“There’s a reason why our profession is the only one explicitly protected by the US Constitution: journalists are supposed to be the check and balance on power, not win popularity contests. The United States has 5 percent of the world’s population but 25 percent of its prisoners. It’s the job of journalists to put our microphones between the bars and broadcast the voices of those inside,” Amy Goodman write in Twenty Years Covering the Movements Changing America.
The book goes on to cover the anti-war movement, whistleblowers, immigrant rights groups, the movement to abolish the death penalty, Occupy Wallstreet, climate justice, LGBTQA rights, the Black Lives Matter movement in a response to police brutality and white supremacist attacks and journalism’s effort to curb the America’s use of torture. Goodman has written a progressive’s manifesta for 2017. It’s a culmination of all movements that that have succeeded in the past 20 years and are still developing as well as the movements that need more attention.
Read more at everydayembellishments.wordpress.com
August 24, 2020
Very relevant to current events. Amy's experiences are incredible, and her story-telling abilities made the issues clear. This novel made me look up and start listening to her podcast.
June 11, 2020
I picked this up hoping for some inspiration on reporting on social justice movements during tumultuous, terrible and often-tragic times (such as the first half of 2020). But that's not what this book sets out to do.
This isn't The View from Somewhere: Undoing the Myth of Journalistic Objectivity.
Goodman doesn't provide a personal narrative of *how* she felt while covering the many movements that she and the Democracy Now! team have reported on over the years. There aren't even the "this is how we did it" stories that I've heard during her in-person talks. The only personal story is in her epilogue when she describes being in East Timor in 1991 and trying to document a massacre by Indonesian forces. (She and her colleague, an American writing for The New Yorker, succeeded in getting their documentation of the massacre out to the wider world. They did not succeed in stopping the military from massacring hundreds, many in front of them, nor brutalizing them.)
The book summarizes various movements--against police brutality, for climate justice, LGBTQ rights, racial justice--that Goodman and her team have reported on over the years. She connects news stories, sometimes with history (the history of South Carolina's AME church, which was founded by Denmark Vesey and later the focus of Dylan Roof's anti-Black massacre) and sometimes with each other (police killings of Amadou Diallo, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown). It's a good primer on the various subjects for those who are not familiar with them--I learned a lot from the chapter on climate justice, a topic which I don't follow very closely, and the role of the Obama administration in hindering international efforts to slow climate change.
This isn't The View from Somewhere: Undoing the Myth of Journalistic Objectivity.
Goodman doesn't provide a personal narrative of *how* she felt while covering the many movements that she and the Democracy Now! team have reported on over the years. There aren't even the "this is how we did it" stories that I've heard during her in-person talks. The only personal story is in her epilogue when she describes being in East Timor in 1991 and trying to document a massacre by Indonesian forces. (She and her colleague, an American writing for The New Yorker, succeeded in getting their documentation of the massacre out to the wider world. They did not succeed in stopping the military from massacring hundreds, many in front of them, nor brutalizing them.)
The book summarizes various movements--against police brutality, for climate justice, LGBTQ rights, racial justice--that Goodman and her team have reported on over the years. She connects news stories, sometimes with history (the history of South Carolina's AME church, which was founded by Denmark Vesey and later the focus of Dylan Roof's anti-Black massacre) and sometimes with each other (police killings of Amadou Diallo, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown). It's a good primer on the various subjects for those who are not familiar with them--I learned a lot from the chapter on climate justice, a topic which I don't follow very closely, and the role of the Obama administration in hindering international efforts to slow climate change.
August 20, 2023
Amy Goodman has always been one of the journalists I view as a role model. She always goes to the voices of those who are oppressed and she doesn’t flinch when threatened with intimidation by oppressors. Oh, and I have a signed copy I found at a used book store!
The book in and of itself is a powerful argument for why independent media that seeks to stand with those being oppressed is a key force in challenging oppressive forces. Two sections stood out: the very beginning and very end.
At the beginning, Goodman talked about how her original radio station she worked at was blown up by the KKK. It may sound silly, but ask- when operating as a news station, isn’t it inherently a good thing to be viewed as such a challenge to the KKK that they try to or do blow up your station (more than once)? And because it is, what does it mean if your news operation isn’t just not targeted by oppressive people, but also supported?
I guess in a more general sense, what I’m trying to say is that Goodman’s book showed exactly why objectivity in media is such a problem. To be neutral/objective means to lean toward those in power and/or to give credence to those who are oppressive, and in the U.S. that obviously has massive implications.
The second part that stood out was the end of the book, where she described being in East Timor at the site of a massacre done by the Indonesian Army (with U.S. military weapons). The other journalist she was with was almost killed, as was she. She talked about how being from the U.S. was what ultimately spared their lives. Their footage and images captured of the massacre was some of the first news of what the Indonesia military was doing to be put on U.S. media in over 15 years of oppression by Indonesia. How could that be, when Goodman and her colleague had such little resources, compared to news giants like CBS, ABC and NBC?
Anyway- highly recommend this book. It gives great insight on reporting with integrity, decency and meaning.
The book in and of itself is a powerful argument for why independent media that seeks to stand with those being oppressed is a key force in challenging oppressive forces. Two sections stood out: the very beginning and very end.
At the beginning, Goodman talked about how her original radio station she worked at was blown up by the KKK. It may sound silly, but ask- when operating as a news station, isn’t it inherently a good thing to be viewed as such a challenge to the KKK that they try to or do blow up your station (more than once)? And because it is, what does it mean if your news operation isn’t just not targeted by oppressive people, but also supported?
I guess in a more general sense, what I’m trying to say is that Goodman’s book showed exactly why objectivity in media is such a problem. To be neutral/objective means to lean toward those in power and/or to give credence to those who are oppressive, and in the U.S. that obviously has massive implications.
The second part that stood out was the end of the book, where she described being in East Timor at the site of a massacre done by the Indonesian Army (with U.S. military weapons). The other journalist she was with was almost killed, as was she. She talked about how being from the U.S. was what ultimately spared their lives. Their footage and images captured of the massacre was some of the first news of what the Indonesia military was doing to be put on U.S. media in over 15 years of oppression by Indonesia. How could that be, when Goodman and her colleague had such little resources, compared to news giants like CBS, ABC and NBC?
Anyway- highly recommend this book. It gives great insight on reporting with integrity, decency and meaning.
November 25, 2023
Wow!! As a daily listener of democracy now and also someone who is the exact age of the program this book was deeply insightful. It covers so many huge issues that I had heard of as a kid and had a skewed opinion of or lacked the context for understanding because of mainstream media spin and public discourse.
It does seem like a bit of a “greatest hits” but I have no issue with that, the work and events chronicled in this book should not be forgotten.
I have such deep admiration for Amy Goodman and the Democracy Now! team.
In the last chapter called the sword and the shield (the sword representing militarism & the shield representing speaking out against militarism basically) she reflects on the privilege and political power of many people in western countries (as in the US our main export is militarism) — this feels especially poignant as Palestinians are asking those of us in the US to use our political power right now to amplify their cause.
“Whether we are doctors, nurses, professors, lawyers, farmers, or businesspeople; whether we're librarians, journalists, or students; whether we're artists, employed, or unemployed—we have a decision to make every hour of every day: whether we want to represent the sword or the shield.”
It does seem like a bit of a “greatest hits” but I have no issue with that, the work and events chronicled in this book should not be forgotten.
I have such deep admiration for Amy Goodman and the Democracy Now! team.
In the last chapter called the sword and the shield (the sword representing militarism & the shield representing speaking out against militarism basically) she reflects on the privilege and political power of many people in western countries (as in the US our main export is militarism) — this feels especially poignant as Palestinians are asking those of us in the US to use our political power right now to amplify their cause.
“Whether we are doctors, nurses, professors, lawyers, farmers, or businesspeople; whether we're librarians, journalists, or students; whether we're artists, employed, or unemployed—we have a decision to make every hour of every day: whether we want to represent the sword or the shield.”
January 26, 2021
I love Amy Goodman
June 3, 2019
Amy Goodman's remarkable career as an independent journalist is on display here. She discusses the origins of Democracy Now!, its evolution, values, and formidable track record. I was embarrassed to learn how little I knew about numerous international events that Goodman and her team have reported on. In order to better remember them, I want to list a few here:
Historical atrocities that occurred on September 11: US-backed Pinochet forces overtook Allende's Chilean government in 1973; former Haitian secret police murdered 13 churchgoers while Father Aristide (soon to become president and later victim of US-backed coup) preached in 1988; anthropologist Myrna Mack died at the hands of US-backed Guatemalan security forces in 1990; among others not listed here.
US drone attack victims whom activist Medea Benjamin asks about: Tariq Aziz, a 16 year old Pakistani boy photographing drone strike, who participated in a 2012 news conference and was killed 72 hours later; Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, a US citizen and 16 year old son of radicalized cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was searching for his father in Yemen in 2011 when a drone strike killed him and his cousin along with at least five other civilians.
Whistleblowers charged under the Espionage Act: Thomas Drake (NSA) charged in 2010 for revealing domestic surveillance programs; Jeffrey Sterling (CIA) sentenced to prison in 2015 for leaking info to journalist James Risen about a botched CIA operation to deliver faulty nuclear bomb blueprints to Iran; Stephen Kim (State Dept.) sentenced to prison in 2014 for leaking info to Fox News about North Korea's nuclear bomb tests; John Kiriakou (CIA) sentenced to prison in 2013 for leaking info about enhance interrogation techniques.
Death row prisoners: Troy Anthony Davis executed in 2011 for a 1989 murder he probably didn't commit; Anthony Ray Hinton became the 152nd exonerated death row inmate in 2015; Glenn Ford was also exonerated in 2014 after evidence cleared him of the 1983 fatal shooting he was accused of.
Actors in the Arab Spring: Tunisian fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi self-immolated in 2010 sparking the mass protests in the region that led in part to the overthrow of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali; Asmaa Mahfouz posted a video in 2011 calling for the occupation of Tahrir Square that helped lead to the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.
Actors in the LGBTQ movement: Silvia Riviera LGBTQ activist and central player in the Young Lords, a radical Puerto Rican activist group cofounded by Juan Gonzalez; ACT UP protested FDA for holding up access to AIDs drugs, the manufacturer of AZT for charging exorbitant prices, and the Catholic Church for interfering with AIDs education in public schools; Edie Windsor helped strike down DOMA in 2013 with her Supreme Court case win; CeCe McDonald, the victim of a hate crime in 2011, and jailed until 2014.
African Americans killed by police between mid-2014 and mid-2015: Eric Garner in New York; John Crawford III in Ohio; Michael Brown in Missouri; Laquan McDonald in Illinois; Akai Gurley in New York; Tamir Rice in Ohio; Tony Robinson in Wisconsin; Eric Harris in Oklahoma; Walter Scott in South Carolina; Freddie Gray in Maryland; Sandra Bland in Texas; Samuel Dubose in Ohio.
Other courageous people or documentaries: Collateral Murder video showing US war crimes in Iraq, released by Wikileaks in 2010; Ogoni activist Ken Saro-Wiwa executed by Nigerian government in 1995 for protesting Chevron oil fields; Bree Newsome who climbed a 30 foot high flagpole to take down the confederate flag outside the SC state house.
Goodman's firsthand experience covering anti-war protests and numerous social justice movements shed light on some of the murky depths that mainstream media outlets rarely spend any time on. Especially inspiring are her harrowing 1991 experience in East Timor, where she and her camera man witnessed and documented a massacre which eventually forced the major nightly newscasts to report on the genocide for the first time since Indonesia invaded in 1975, and her role in exposing how the APA colluded with the CIA to countenance torture methods until at least 2015. I would recommend this book to everyone interested in knowing more about what's really going on in the world.
Historical atrocities that occurred on September 11: US-backed Pinochet forces overtook Allende's Chilean government in 1973; former Haitian secret police murdered 13 churchgoers while Father Aristide (soon to become president and later victim of US-backed coup) preached in 1988; anthropologist Myrna Mack died at the hands of US-backed Guatemalan security forces in 1990; among others not listed here.
US drone attack victims whom activist Medea Benjamin asks about: Tariq Aziz, a 16 year old Pakistani boy photographing drone strike, who participated in a 2012 news conference and was killed 72 hours later; Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, a US citizen and 16 year old son of radicalized cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was searching for his father in Yemen in 2011 when a drone strike killed him and his cousin along with at least five other civilians.
Whistleblowers charged under the Espionage Act: Thomas Drake (NSA) charged in 2010 for revealing domestic surveillance programs; Jeffrey Sterling (CIA) sentenced to prison in 2015 for leaking info to journalist James Risen about a botched CIA operation to deliver faulty nuclear bomb blueprints to Iran; Stephen Kim (State Dept.) sentenced to prison in 2014 for leaking info to Fox News about North Korea's nuclear bomb tests; John Kiriakou (CIA) sentenced to prison in 2013 for leaking info about enhance interrogation techniques.
Death row prisoners: Troy Anthony Davis executed in 2011 for a 1989 murder he probably didn't commit; Anthony Ray Hinton became the 152nd exonerated death row inmate in 2015; Glenn Ford was also exonerated in 2014 after evidence cleared him of the 1983 fatal shooting he was accused of.
Actors in the Arab Spring: Tunisian fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi self-immolated in 2010 sparking the mass protests in the region that led in part to the overthrow of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali; Asmaa Mahfouz posted a video in 2011 calling for the occupation of Tahrir Square that helped lead to the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.
Actors in the LGBTQ movement: Silvia Riviera LGBTQ activist and central player in the Young Lords, a radical Puerto Rican activist group cofounded by Juan Gonzalez; ACT UP protested FDA for holding up access to AIDs drugs, the manufacturer of AZT for charging exorbitant prices, and the Catholic Church for interfering with AIDs education in public schools; Edie Windsor helped strike down DOMA in 2013 with her Supreme Court case win; CeCe McDonald, the victim of a hate crime in 2011, and jailed until 2014.
African Americans killed by police between mid-2014 and mid-2015: Eric Garner in New York; John Crawford III in Ohio; Michael Brown in Missouri; Laquan McDonald in Illinois; Akai Gurley in New York; Tamir Rice in Ohio; Tony Robinson in Wisconsin; Eric Harris in Oklahoma; Walter Scott in South Carolina; Freddie Gray in Maryland; Sandra Bland in Texas; Samuel Dubose in Ohio.
Other courageous people or documentaries: Collateral Murder video showing US war crimes in Iraq, released by Wikileaks in 2010; Ogoni activist Ken Saro-Wiwa executed by Nigerian government in 1995 for protesting Chevron oil fields; Bree Newsome who climbed a 30 foot high flagpole to take down the confederate flag outside the SC state house.
Goodman's firsthand experience covering anti-war protests and numerous social justice movements shed light on some of the murky depths that mainstream media outlets rarely spend any time on. Especially inspiring are her harrowing 1991 experience in East Timor, where she and her camera man witnessed and documented a massacre which eventually forced the major nightly newscasts to report on the genocide for the first time since Indonesia invaded in 1975, and her role in exposing how the APA colluded with the CIA to countenance torture methods until at least 2015. I would recommend this book to everyone interested in knowing more about what's really going on in the world.
September 17, 2017
A terrific book on twenty years of Democracy Now! One of my favorite books I've read this year, full of issues I'll be thinking about for many years to come.
March 14, 2017
The last twenty years has seen massive change in our nation. And Amy Goodman has covered it all on the one-hour news program, Democracy Now! Aired on 9 community radio stations in 1996, twenty years later, Democracy Now! reaches millions through its broadcast on over 1,400 public television and radio stations around the world and on the internet, five days a week.
Goodman has seen a lot, hosting the show in its infancy, with its purpose of daily coverage of the 1996 Presidential Election. But there was a hunger for authentic voices instead of pundits, so the show continued to air.
In this book, Goodman hits the grassroots movements and leaders that have been heroes - the whistle blowers, protestors, and movement organizers - that the show has covered. Each chapter focuses on a political issue - war & peace, immigration, climate justice, the 99%, criminal justice, LGBTQ - and revives the stories covered by Goodman and staff within these issues.
This is journalism as it should be. As stated in the book, and in the lectures where I have heard Goodman speak, the media is to cover power, not cover for power; it should be the fourth estate, not for the state; it should be the exception to the rulers.
I was inspired by the many stories - many of which I was aware of from watching Democracy Now! on Free Speech TV - and by the ones that were new to me.
Democracy Now!
Goodman has seen a lot, hosting the show in its infancy, with its purpose of daily coverage of the 1996 Presidential Election. But there was a hunger for authentic voices instead of pundits, so the show continued to air.
In this book, Goodman hits the grassroots movements and leaders that have been heroes - the whistle blowers, protestors, and movement organizers - that the show has covered. Each chapter focuses on a political issue - war & peace, immigration, climate justice, the 99%, criminal justice, LGBTQ - and revives the stories covered by Goodman and staff within these issues.
This is journalism as it should be. As stated in the book, and in the lectures where I have heard Goodman speak, the media is to cover power, not cover for power; it should be the fourth estate, not for the state; it should be the exception to the rulers.
I was inspired by the many stories - many of which I was aware of from watching Democracy Now! on Free Speech TV - and by the ones that were new to me.
Democracy Now!
July 7, 2016
Like A People's History of the United States, the book is full of heroes. It's inspiring to see how brave these people are, standing up for what is right no matter the cost. Everybody should read this book.
January 2, 2019
I only heard of Democracy Now! and Amy Goodman when she was arrested for covering the NoDAPL protests, and only very recently made listening to her show part of my daily routine. The show is so important to me now because 1) it covers important events and movements that I need to know about and 2) it's still uplifting because it reminds me that we, the people, have the power to change things through protest/boycott/community (since the people interviewed on the show are already doing this and have been making progress for us).
Reading this book, I learned about the movements I wasn't paying attention to for the past 20 years since I didn't know about Democracy Now!. For example, Occupy Wall Street happened when I was in college (in Michigan), and I was drawn to it, because I already knew that the 1% do bad stuff and income inequality is ridiculous, but I remember from that time, so many people were saying that the protestors were naive, disorganized, and didn't have clear demands. Today I know that's because mainstream news coverage told us that since the people who own the media didn't want to be occupied (they were lying: a living wage, social programs, and less war are very clear demands). I also learned from this book about the recent histories of climate/environmental justice activism, anti-war activism, anti-death penalty activism, the fight for a reasonable minimum wage, the fight against genocide in East Timor by US-backed Indonesian military (and the movements for black lives, prison abolition, and LGBTQ rights, which I'd read more about previously). Thank goodness for Democracy Now! for amplifying the voices of people fighting for justice. If they/these movements are new to you, you really should read this book and tune into the show!
Reading this book, I learned about the movements I wasn't paying attention to for the past 20 years since I didn't know about Democracy Now!. For example, Occupy Wall Street happened when I was in college (in Michigan), and I was drawn to it, because I already knew that the 1% do bad stuff and income inequality is ridiculous, but I remember from that time, so many people were saying that the protestors were naive, disorganized, and didn't have clear demands. Today I know that's because mainstream news coverage told us that since the people who own the media didn't want to be occupied (they were lying: a living wage, social programs, and less war are very clear demands). I also learned from this book about the recent histories of climate/environmental justice activism, anti-war activism, anti-death penalty activism, the fight for a reasonable minimum wage, the fight against genocide in East Timor by US-backed Indonesian military (and the movements for black lives, prison abolition, and LGBTQ rights, which I'd read more about previously). Thank goodness for Democracy Now! for amplifying the voices of people fighting for justice. If they/these movements are new to you, you really should read this book and tune into the show!
June 1, 2025
The epilogue on this concreted this as a 5 star read. Actual gasps and tears while I was reading about the author’s near-death experience while just doing her job, trying to move past just a “stenographer to those in power” and becoming a journalist.
This was a super interesting read as someone who is familiar with all these movements but now wants to know how to cover them as I move into my actual career. I’ve been interested in counterculture and protests my entire life, and this book only made me more confident I want to focus on counterculture in my journalism career. Also, this book filled my gaps on some late 2000’s and early 2010’s movements and Obama administration opposition, which was also nice. One that stood out to me was the chapter about how the APA was involved in US gov torture, something I was not familiar with at all. The chapter about police brutality and the suits coming out of that was interesting too.
The one problem with this book is that at times the author makes the assumption that media that is conglomerated does not care about collective power and grassroots movements and i think that’s not true and also not a helpful way to look at it. reporters on every level care, that’s why we get into this work. it’s about workload at these big media conglomerates, all the news falling on like 8 people in a newsroom. i think it’s not super helpful to point fingers at other people in the media space as to what’s wrong with media and instead work toward holding power accountable on all fronts.
One standout quote for me: “I see the media as a huge kitchen table that stretches across the globe that we all sit around and debate and discuss the most important issues of the day: war and peace, life and death.”
This was a super interesting read as someone who is familiar with all these movements but now wants to know how to cover them as I move into my actual career. I’ve been interested in counterculture and protests my entire life, and this book only made me more confident I want to focus on counterculture in my journalism career. Also, this book filled my gaps on some late 2000’s and early 2010’s movements and Obama administration opposition, which was also nice. One that stood out to me was the chapter about how the APA was involved in US gov torture, something I was not familiar with at all. The chapter about police brutality and the suits coming out of that was interesting too.
The one problem with this book is that at times the author makes the assumption that media that is conglomerated does not care about collective power and grassroots movements and i think that’s not true and also not a helpful way to look at it. reporters on every level care, that’s why we get into this work. it’s about workload at these big media conglomerates, all the news falling on like 8 people in a newsroom. i think it’s not super helpful to point fingers at other people in the media space as to what’s wrong with media and instead work toward holding power accountable on all fronts.
One standout quote for me: “I see the media as a huge kitchen table that stretches across the globe that we all sit around and debate and discuss the most important issues of the day: war and peace, life and death.”
September 1, 2022
I was very moved by Democracy Now! I read it on the beach on Lake Michigan. It is pocked with sand marks. I read it in a camp chair, a hammock, in a hotel bed in Grand Rapids, in my bed in Ann Arbor. My water bottle opened in my backpack and drenched the thing. I was determined still to read it.
To say nothing else, Amy Goodman's journalistic fervor kept me on the edge of my seat. (Nothing says it better than this, a cliche.) There is "constant forward momentum" as Ira Glass would say.
She gets the data, the evidence, but most of all she gets the story. So many stories. What was playing on the radio when a white supremacist group blew up the building with the transmission? What is violence, what's poverty got to do with it, and what do activists today, and yesterday, and yester-yesterday say about it? From MLK to Gandhi, and so on and so on, there have been calls to defend us against ourselves, to protect our humanity, to "shield," as Goodman says, our dignity and experience.
These are issues of power and privilege, and Goodman sheds hard light on them. Military states and greedy barons. However, she's sure to balance it out with the very true and enlivening stories of people who have fought hard to create change.
In her introduction she talks about what keeps her going. "The movements," she says. This is a book about that. If you need to be moved--from despondency, the too much, and the weight of the world or, on the other end of things from innocence, ignorance, naivety--read this book. Much as it is a clarion call to join in the movements, and have a hope or two, it is a call to consume independent media. Let this be our start.
To say nothing else, Amy Goodman's journalistic fervor kept me on the edge of my seat. (Nothing says it better than this, a cliche.) There is "constant forward momentum" as Ira Glass would say.
She gets the data, the evidence, but most of all she gets the story. So many stories. What was playing on the radio when a white supremacist group blew up the building with the transmission? What is violence, what's poverty got to do with it, and what do activists today, and yesterday, and yester-yesterday say about it? From MLK to Gandhi, and so on and so on, there have been calls to defend us against ourselves, to protect our humanity, to "shield," as Goodman says, our dignity and experience.
These are issues of power and privilege, and Goodman sheds hard light on them. Military states and greedy barons. However, she's sure to balance it out with the very true and enlivening stories of people who have fought hard to create change.
In her introduction she talks about what keeps her going. "The movements," she says. This is a book about that. If you need to be moved--from despondency, the too much, and the weight of the world or, on the other end of things from innocence, ignorance, naivety--read this book. Much as it is a clarion call to join in the movements, and have a hope or two, it is a call to consume independent media. Let this be our start.
April 21, 2021
For years I have listened to Democracy Now! a radio program that delivers global news and pays special attention to the stories and reports from activists and grassroots organizations. I ordered this book for a few dollars from thriftbooks and was pleasantly surprised it is autographed (thank you "Susan-" for surrendering this copy). This collection of essays covers some of the larger U.S. political and social movements of the past 20 years, including the wars in the Middle East, Black Lives Matter movement, immigration reform, and LGBTQ fights for equality and recognition. Each essay touches on things I already knew about, but expanded on them to include the voices of those directly effected and how the work of grassroots movements are working tirelessly to steer us in the direction of true democracy, not for power or prestige, but so we all can be part of a system where we all benefit. The chapter on Whistle-blowers was especially alarming. As individuals we may feel helpless at times, but together we can do so much for our communities. Goodman is a fantastic writer and orator. She casts a wide net over each issue and proceeds to narrow it down to one basic principle, we are all humans with rights, and no power great or small should be allowed to silence the voices of those crying out for justice, for equity, for peace. I recommend this book to all Americans. In the age of mass media where we are constantly overloaded with information (by design), it is important to look back on the past 20 years and where we have succeeded and failed ourselves and each other.
July 16, 2018
Amy Goodman and her coauthors are some of the best storytellers I’ve experienced. Will definitely be checking out more of their works.
This book is not only urgent and critical but timeless and comprehensive. It does a great job of looking at the long arc of justice that MLK is famous for describing, but also trying to imagine and push beyond what, in many cases, are little justices; Amy’s my daily hero on Democracy Now!, already, but this book cements her as one of very few leaders looking at the grassroots, and elevating those at the grassroots, to provide real context and nuance to what pithy and uncritical headlines and sound bites that the mainstream media continues to force-feed a public that too often doesn’t know any better.
Hopefully, that will be another sea change that’s gaining ground.
This book is not only urgent and critical but timeless and comprehensive. It does a great job of looking at the long arc of justice that MLK is famous for describing, but also trying to imagine and push beyond what, in many cases, are little justices; Amy’s my daily hero on Democracy Now!, already, but this book cements her as one of very few leaders looking at the grassroots, and elevating those at the grassroots, to provide real context and nuance to what pithy and uncritical headlines and sound bites that the mainstream media continues to force-feed a public that too often doesn’t know any better.
Hopefully, that will be another sea change that’s gaining ground.
August 30, 2019
Wow. What a powerful book. Amy Goodman (whom I have heard on our local NPR affiliate radio station) has succinctly chronicled a number of the contemporary social issues of the past few decades wherein the government has striven to suppress complete reporting of the issues to the public (and there are quite a lot of them). Very disconcerting. Perhaps a more disconcerting notion is that we (the United States) are arguably one of the best countries for a free press [i.e., nearly everywhere else in the world is worse] and we aren't doing a great job. The politics of power and money greatly impair the functioning of free and objective journalism and this book does a lot to highlight that. Everyone who is concerned with fair and objective civil discourse should read this book.
September 7, 2020
More like 3.5. I really appreciated Goodman's chronicling of the movements themselves - I liked reading about them and would have read many books about them. And at times, they were incredibly inspirational. But often they were not. I felt like many of the chapters ended on quite pessimistic notes, which may be rooted in journalistic reality but just may not be the way I want to read about movements. I'd prefer to focus on what they've won, and where the path goes from there on what they're still working on. So maybe this book just wasn't what I was looking for on that front. The other issue I had is that I thought it was a book about reporting on those movements, but often it seemed to be more a book about those movements themselves. From Goodman, I wanted to read about reporting. And while she does talk about reporting, at least as much of the book seems to forget about the reporting part and just talks about the movements themselves, which I would have preferred to read from the perspectives of people involved in those movements as activists, from the inside. The best parts of the book are when Goodman talks about her experiences reporting, such as when she has to abruptly leave a country she's reporting from because it gets too dangerous to stay (no spoilers).
January 31, 2025
"Independent media is the oxygen of a democracy. It is not brought to you by the oil or gas or coal companies when we talk about climate change. It's not brought to you by the weapons manufacturers when we talk about war and peace. It's not brought to you by the insurance industry or big pharma when we talk about health care.″
This book covers war and peace, the black lives matter movement, LGBTQ rights, capital punishment, and so many other important topics from the perspective of those impacted the most.
I love Democracy Now! It's a great source for daily news because of the journalists who produce it.
This book covers war and peace, the black lives matter movement, LGBTQ rights, capital punishment, and so many other important topics from the perspective of those impacted the most.
I love Democracy Now! It's a great source for daily news because of the journalists who produce it.
March 28, 2018
This book is dense and heavy with a lot of information that will give those who read it a lot of factual, unbiased insight into the world of contemporary politics. I've learned that everyone who has ever been in office or has a household name has wronged the American people while striving for the good. I believe it is important for anyone who wants to know more about our democracy to read this book to gain a better understanding of what really is happening around the world beyond the confines of the media.
March 28, 2023
“Independent media is the oxygen of democracy. It is not brought to you by the oil or gas or companies when we talk about climate change. It’s not brought to you by the weapons manufacturers when we talk about war and peace. It’s not brought to you by the insurance industry or big pharma when we talk about health care.
I see the media as a huge kitchen table that stretches across the globe that we all sit around and debate and discuss the most important issues of the day: war and leave, life and death.”
Amy Goodman is incredible. Democracy Now!
I see the media as a huge kitchen table that stretches across the globe that we all sit around and debate and discuss the most important issues of the day: war and leave, life and death.”
Amy Goodman is incredible. Democracy Now!
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