Bigger Than Bernie: How We Go from the Sanders Campaign to Democratic Socialism

by Meagan Day, Micah Uetricht

Bernie Sanders's 2016 candidacy expanded the scope of political possibility in the United States, putting socialism and class politics back on the map. His radical campaign--not just for the Democratic presidential candidacy but against the billionaire class--helped catalyze other transformative left-wing politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to seek and win office, just as he inspired teachers from West Virginia to Los Angeles to win hard-fought, historic strike campaigns. Sanders has, in short, helped cohere a new movement in American politics. But even when coverage of Sanders takes stock of the sea change he has affected in American politics, it all too often fails to grasp what's unique about his approach. The senior senator from Vermont has demanded new policies and political approaches in this country--though he has also hinted at more, calling repeatedly for a political revolution, something that he says would involve millions of Americans getting involved in politics not just at the ballot box, but in their workplaces and neighborhoods, too. In this book, Micah Uetricht and Meagan Day go beyond a simple balance sheet of Democratic Party politics. In a clear and effective style, they detail what we need to do to get beyond the Sanders campaign or presidency to transform the US from top to bottom.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Political Science, Social Justice, Philosophy, Economics

256 pages, Hardcover

Published April 28, 2020

Reviews

[The Conspiracy is Capitalism · Rating 4 out of 5]

Class Struggle in the 21st Century…

Preamble:
--For the Democratic Party and their capitalist lobbyists, Bernie was a greater threat than Trump. Now with Trump 2.0, let’s review what alternatives exist.
--Bernie ran 2 campaigns for US presidency:
i) 2016: Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In
ii) 2020: It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism
--This book by Day/Uetricht (editors of Jacobin magazine) was written during Bernie’s 2nd campaign (before COVID-19) and published in April 2020 (a year after founding editor of Jacobin Sunkara published The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality). I find Day/Uetricht’s book much more appropriate for the US public than Sunkara’s.

--(Given all the mentions of Bernie): in analyzing history, we should look beyond how mainstream liberalism teaches history:
i) names: “Great Man Theory”
ii) dates: singular events (elections, wars, revolutions, etc.)
…instead, we should carefully unearth underlying processes/structures:
i) Geopolitical economy: The Global Minotaur: America, the True Origins of the Financial Crisis and the Future of the World Economy
ii) Historical materialism: A People's History of the World: From the Stone Age to the New Millennium
iii) Systems thinking: Thinking In Systems: A Primer
…Thus, the rise of Bernie’s Left populism in the heart of empire should be less of a shock. Flooding the world with weapons/sanctions to terrorize foreign struggles for autonomy is mirrored at home with plutocracy (money buying “democracy”)/ minimal social services/private debts/military as a jobs program/gun violence/addiction, etc. (the costs of empire). Accelerating global capitalism’s profit-seeking means increasing sections of the domestic public (even in the imperial core) become expendable (esp. during downturns).
…So, we have the 2008 Financial Crisis pushing such contradictions to the surface with Occupy Wall Street (“We are the 99%” vs. “the 1%”). For better or for worse, the US public can sway between Bush Jr. vs. Obama/Occupy vs. Tea Party/Bernie vs. Trump due to their entertainment-brained illiteracy and contradictions (Neither Liberal nor Conservative: Ideological Innocence in the American Public ).

Highlights:

1) Bernie’s Strategy:
i) Caucus with the Democrats as an alternative to:
a) Joining the Democrats: losing independence
b) Third Party: US has unique anti-democratic barriers (ex. restricting ballot access)
ii) Consistency over opportunism:
--Compromises for short-term electoral victories have costs.
iii) Shift political framing:
--Outsiders who do not secure technical victories can still win by shifting the overall framing of topics and end up getting their policies adopted by their opponents. The book mentions Canada’s third party, the NDP (note: NDP’s first leader, Tommy Douglas, was previously the socialist provincial premier who introduced universal healthcare in his province).
--We can see this happening on the other end of the political spectrum as well. Conservative Margaret Thatcher infamously replied when asked about her greatest achievement:

Tony Blair and New Labour [Labour Party’s “Blairism”]. We forced our opponents to change their minds.

…another example: Varoufakis warns how Greece’s neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party has shifted the framing on immigration, a trend spreading in Europe.

2) Beyond Bernie:
--The authors, as democratic socialists, applaud Bernie’s efforts but recognize the many gaps that need to be filled in their proposed “dirty break” strategy of insurgency within the Democratic Party until an eventual break to form a workers’ party:

We can use the Democratic Party ballot line strategically, for our own purposes: to wage campaigns that heighten the level of class consciousness in society, encourage people to take militant action in the form of strikes and other kinds of protest activity, and even raise awareness of and interest in socialism.

--They propose this over a “clean break” (ex. Green Party) as part of a “democratic road to socialism” (democratically winning ballot box and civil society) as opposed to an immediate revolution (which occurred in countries with much less developed capitalist state/political democracy legitimacy, ex. Russian Revolution).
…I won’t linger on the debates specifically around when to start a workers’ party (as that deserves a separate, up-to-date book) other than to mention that after Bernie’s 2020 loss, author Day called the Democrat’s sabotage method “an astonishing sight”. Well, our assumptions of Democrat incompetence are based on actions for the working class; I’m less surprised by what Democrats can get accomplished for the capitalist class.
--Let’s focus on the other gaps identified:
i) Raising expectations vs. illusion of power (social consent):
--Bernie/AOC etc. did provide examples of this given their successes vs. political theatre expectations, as did Occupy Wall Street in the cultural sphere.
ii) Unite around class struggle:
--Bernie etc. also had success with this (Left economic populism).
iii) Promote mass working-class movements outside the government:
--This book promotes dedicated socialist cadres (in this case from the DSA (Democratic Socialists of America, a big-tent organization) combining both organizing and political education.
--This is compared with the communist/socialist/militant labour organizing that pushed Democrat FDR’s New Deal reforms which built much of the US “middle class”. These “structural reforms”, while not immediately abolishing capitalism, raise public expectations and are difficult to take away (i.e. Social Security/Medicare/Medicaid still exist and have wide popularity).
--Specifically, the book promotes rank-and-file union militancy/strikes combined with socialist organizing, as well as bargaining not just for narrow worker pay but broader community needs to build alliances. References include Kim Moody and Jane F. McAlevey.
--Crucially, the book mentions targeting strategic sectors: given the decline of US industrial capitalism (famous historical strikes in automobile/steel), new strategic sectors include:
i) Logistics: Choke Points: Logistics Workers Disrupting the Global Supply Chain
ii) Education: Red State Revolt: The Teachers' Strike Wave and Working-Class Politics
iii) Healthcare: Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell); My Decade Fighting for the Labor Movement.
--A dire coalition that needs to be mended is between labour and environmentalism. Taking inspiration from the rank-and-file coal “Miners for Democracy” (Energy Citizenship: Coal and Democracy in the American Century) and of course Tony Mazzocchi’s “Just Transition”, we have today’s Green New Deal. An obvious omission from the book that we should center here is the how much of this has been led by indigenous direct action:
-The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth
-This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate
-Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance
--Even had Bernie won, this third step of working-class movements outside government remains a key gap. History proves capitalism will respond with (at the very least) a capital strike, where the working-class must be organized enough to withstand and counter.
…Examples of defeats include France’s socialist Francois Mitterrand’s 1981-95 left-populist program, which predictably encountered capital flight. Mitterrand’s administration responded with technocratic compromise to avoid the inevitable class struggle rather than building an organized base to fight back, sabotaging their efforts.
…Of course, in the Global South, imperialism means more-violent capitalist reactions, ex. coup against Allende’s Chile, replacing with dictator Pinochet:
-The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
-The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World

…see comments below for rest of the review…

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

wow! this book really grew on me. learned a lot about:
- DSA
- why it's so hard to change US two-party system
- social democracies vs. democratic socialism
- a brief history of unions + the US labor movement
- green new deal!
- case studies of progressive campaigns
- strategies for socialism in the context of the Democratic Party

inspired me to learn even more (esp. about GND) and join DSA!!!

[Wick Welker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A love letter to Bernie and AOC.

This book is largely concerned with the socialist movement that gained momentum during the 2016 presidential campaign and continues into 2020. The bulk of the book is about how the DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) are gaining strength in numbers and how for the first time in a century, the socialist movement has a small political window in which to take advantage of to advance socialism. You will also hear gushing accounts of Bernie and AOC and the significant traction they have gained.

I'm no expert on socialism, but as defined by the authors here, not only is it tighter regulation of business but a wholesale replacement of capitalism with socialism in the form of collective ownership and broad nationalization. The intent of this book is less about educating and more about recruiting the reader into the DSA.

There are many stand points I agree on with the authors the chief of which that our bloated capitalistic system has gotten way out of hand and we are now living in a plutocratic state. The commodification of healthcare and the assault on worker's rights and wages has been devastating during the last 40 years of neoliberal legislation. We need to dismantle monopolies, raise taxes on the wealthy and nationalize several industries like the internet and healthcare.

I remain unconvinced that entirely supplanting capitalism with socialism is 1) the right thing to do and 2) the correct strategy during this political moment. I reject entrenched ideology whether it is a purist endorsing capitalism or socialism. I believe successful modern day societies are a combination of free market competition with appropriate regulations as well as robust socialization of human rights needs and worker rights.

If you're considering joining the DSA, read this book. Otherwise, you can probably skip this.

[Jon Hoffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book came at the right time for me, as it got here about a week after Bernie suspended his campaign and I started to wonder about the viability of democratic socialism in our current age/electorate. Add in some pandemic for additional discouragement. The book does a good job answering what the path forward looks like (spoiler: long and hard and possible never ending).

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bigger Than Bernie was written before the pandemic and before Biden ultimately won the 2020 election in the US, so it’s a bit weird reading it in 2022 and knowing everything that would come to pass. With that said, even though this book is definitely situated in a specific moment in time, it still has enough good thoughts and forward-looking aspirations to be worth reading after Bernie’s likely last presidential bid.

The thing I especially liked about this book is that it makes a compelling case for socialists to care about electoral politics, and for how they can work within the Democratic Party in the short term while seeking to ultimately break away from it and form a true workers’ party in the long term.

The relationship between socialism and electoralism has always been an uneasy one. As a budding socialist, I saw voting as a way to channel legitimate grievances that should be solved through strikes and other direct actions into the safe, sterile, ineffective apparatus of the electoral system. Voting gives people the feeling of power and choice, but in reality, electoral politics will always yank the teeth out of genuine socioeconomic change, rendering it a meek shadow of its formerly radical self.

The authors are very pragmatic about this. We all know the Democratic Party is under corporate control as much as the Republican Party, only with a semi-progressive veneer. I’m thinking of REI’s infamous podcast that opens with a sharing of pronouns and an indigenous land acknowledgment but then goes on to discuss why union busting is great. Progressive Democrats are just as resistant to economic empowerment of working people as their conservative brethren, and that sucks. But for better or worse, the Democratic Party is currently the best vehicle we have to make the incremental changes necessary to improve workers’ lives. Even though it’s not perfect, the authors say, we must use this vehicle. Bernie ran as a Democrat for a reason.

Too many Extremely Online leftists are “all or nothing” about this. The Democrats are corporate and corrupt, so we need our own party. UBI just props up capitalism and papers over its problems, so we shouldn’t support basic income. Conservative working people are too stupid and bigoted, so they are the enemy, rather than potential allies who we must work to persuade. This book does none of that. I appreciated that Bigger Than Bernie takes a practical, measured look at how we can realistically achieve socialism one day in the far future, and that it isn’t afraid of compromise, of incrementalism, and of doing the long, slow work of organizing and educating real, working class people.

The only thing I didn’t like about Bigger Than Bernie was its insistence that DSA is the way forward. At times, this book feels like a marketing tool for DSA, containing many long passages about DSA’s important work and how it can be an even more powerful vehicle for socialists in the future. I’m skeptical of this; I found my time in DSA to be extremely mixed. It felt very cliquish. Its meetings are bogged down by endless bureaucratic hoops and procedures. DSA is full of white, highly educated people and doesn’t represent most of the working class in its current form. The authors acknowledge this whiteness and elitism is an issue, but they breeze past it. Can DSA grow into something that actually looks and acts like America’s working class majority? I’m not so sure.

Overall, I like this book as a clear, accessible, inspiring picture of where we go after Bernie passes the torch. For a more rigorous exploration of how we get from here to socialism, I recommend Erik Olin Wright’s clunkily-titled How to Be an Anticapitalist in the 21st Century. That book treads a lot of the same ground but in more detail and without feeling like DSA propaganda. But for a quick sketch about what life after Senator Sanders could look like, Bigger Than Bernie is a good little read.

[Nathan Fisher]

Not going to rate this, as that seems uncharitable to its project — which, like Jacobin's turn, was pretty much openly just abject DSA propaganda for the socialist-curious — and, hey, there's a time and a place for everything. As a book for neophytes and outsiders, I can only shrug — as a book for those actually embedded, has the blasé attitude of halftime interviews with professional athletes. 'What's your strategy for winning?' 'Well, we need to play offense. But also defense. Execute the game plan.' Alrighty then.

Can't totally blame them. Other books of this genre, like Moody's follow-up 'Breaking the Impasse' equally seemed like exercises in going through the motions. Of course, all the (very rare) caveats here — introduced with euphemisms like, 'Of course, it's not that simple,' 'the tricky part,' 'more of an art than a science' — are actually the strategic fulcrums upon which DSA's viability rests. From its structural relationship to its parliamentary arm, to its ability to sift through paper members, the creation of its programmatic expression and its relative bindingness, to the precise contours of its amorphous relationship to the Democratic Party, etc. None are given the serious treatment they would require here, only acknowledged in their omission. Nothing transcends the anodyne.

Dated by the time it hit the shelves, now it reads like a transmission from another planet. Last one clinging to this "strategy," don't forget to turn out the lights.

[Soph Nova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although this book was drawing from conversations that I and many of my comrades and co-strugglers in and around DSA have had with the authors, and pulls from the same general well of ideas creating the foundation for my politics, never once was it boring or felt like a simple summary; the blend of interviews, stories from the ground, strategic reflection and recommendations makes this a true gem - a book clearly written by partisan authors in the heat of building political power, while still being relevant no matter the circumstances.

“If we see the working class as the agent of social change on the environment and every other burning political issue, we can’t accuse working class people of being greedy piggies gobbling up the planet’s resources - especially since average US workers don’t live opulently, unlike US ultra-wealthy elites, whose consumption habits are not only garish but many orders of magnitude more environmentally destructive than the average American’s.”

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bigger Than Bernie: How We Go From the Sanders Campaign to Democratic Socialism is, as the title suggests, less about Bernie Sanders than it is about the future of democratic socialism in the United States. The book is a great overview of the history of democratic socialism in the US, from Eugene Debs and the wildcat strikes just after the Great Depression and the social uprisings of the 1960s and 1970s. In rapid decline since the Reagan years, Bernie Sanders's campaign led to a renewed interest in democratic socialism across the country, though the battle remains a steeply uphill one.

The book explores the power structure of the two-party system in the US and the lack of a viable workers' party, which is something uniquely American when compared with other developed nations. The authors, Meagan Day and Micah Uetricht, explore how to move beyond the two-party capitalist class stranglehold, suggesting an eventual dirty break with the Democratic Party, using the party for election purposes (while maintaining a critical distance), but eventually (when the time is right at some time in the future), breaking away from the Dems and creating a viable third party.

The authors really underscore the importance of politicians like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in mobilizing workers to fight for a better future. This has created a window of opportunity, perhaps only for a brief moment, for democratic socialists to build a sustainable movement. But there are considerable obstacles set up by guardians of the status quo and the two-party system, with rules and goalposts that change as opposition grows.

For those familiar with the leftist movements in the US, perhaps through the works of Noam Chomsky or Howard Zinn, this book may not be as useful for its historical contents, but still has merit as a blueprint for a path forward, for a growing democratic socialist movement in the US in the still very young 21st century.

[Louise Desmarchelier · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a book called Bigger than Bernie, it certainly talks a lot about Bernie lol. I actually enjoyed the whole first chapter about Bernie’s history as a politician, which I was unfamiliar with.

Unfortunately, some parts of this book have not aged well… Especially the whole section about AOC being rad… Her takes (or rather absence of) on Israel’s genocide certainly proved the authors wrong, and 2025 AOC seems closer an example of a DSA politician who sold out to corporate dems, rather than a strong-willed socialist.

The authors’ intentions are very clear: to convince the reader to join DSA. Their arguments and plead are almost caricatural at times, which might be a disservice to their cause.

HAVING SAID ALL OF THAT: I give this book 5 stars because I want to believe in what they’re saying. The DSA does give me hope, and many of the book’s sections convincingly outlined why it should. We don’t have much to hope for on this country’s political scene, so 5 stars for writing a relatively motivating political manifesto!!

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book! As somebody who follows socialist progress and politics so closely that it's probably caused lasting psychological damage, a lot of the first half detailing the recent progress is stuff I already knew, but the broader philosophical and direct action stuff in the 2nd half was excellent. I highly recommend this.

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely essential reading for anyone who feels gut-punched after Bernie Sanders' two runs for president. This is a roadmap of what we do next.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for those wanting an introduction of what must happen next.

[Vance Miguel Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book felt close to successful, pretty much the whole read. I can’t help but leave with a tone of disappointment in the actual reasoning within each chapter. I did not find disagreement with the big picture conclusions that either author brought forward regarding socialism. I deeply appreciated their segments on the vitality of the Democratic Socialists of America party, and the beginning of their modern movement within the last 10 years. Of course, reading about Dean Preston’s win in San Francisco after he’s already been unseated today in 2025; AOC’s early House heroics in New York after she’s coward in the face of the Palestinian liberation movement; and the Trump administration rise again——this book was a bitter pill to swallow. I think what was missing for this book to turn into an all-time political theory great, is more thorough reasoning on every claim. I don’t mean that intellectual claims the book made were false, but rather laying out the reasoning for these details were skipped over with language that was inaccessible or without any apparent justification for excluding that information. The style and authorial voices in the book struck me as attempting to write their curated thoughts into being digestible and concise. I don’t think they succeeded, unfortunately. Prioritizing speed within each segment‘a readability made it come off to me as half-baked. I find it very interesting that the parts of the ‘idea cake’ which seem to be missing are not the intersectional, inclusive solutions——like seizing the means of labor, and focusing on education as a mode to push the revolution——But rather explanations for how anecdotes like that about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez going to speak with DSA members after an appearance on a late night comedy talk show really demonstrate any true positive characteristics, other than ambition to maintain a popular platform. Ambition like that is common place amongst fledgling federal government office holders, it didn’t make any unique point that made my understand or belief in socialism stronger. In fact, those little throw always made me question the ability of the two authors to filter key information in and distracting soap boxing out. These stories like the AOC-bit were frustrating to read because it made the chapters’ claims and overall conclusions feel muddled within digressions. I wish this book had followed a more direct point A to point B mode of carrying. Maybe then, it wouldn’t feel like a collection of related articles? It seems like it could have been (and could be) an important literary text to spread the cause of socialism and its benefits for all.

[Alex Gruenenfelder · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the majority of this book before I decided that finishing it wouldn't greatly improve my understanding. This is a solidly socialist tome for fans of Bernie Sanders and his presidential campaigns of 2016 and 2020. The authors come to the book with a recognition of Senator Sanders as profoundly unique, but does not seem to reflect on the fact that he might be so unique that his socialist principles are less popular than him as an anti-establishment figure. Although it has compelling points, I found its writing style to range from rambling to whiny, making it hard to read in its holier-than-thou use of buzzwords.

I am not a socialist, so I am likely not the target audience for this book. As a result, I found myself rolling my eyes at some of its quasi-radical politics and its glorification of the Democratic Socialists of America, an organization that I left in 2022. The chaotic reality of organizing on the ground is lost in this solidarity-based inspirational story. It's also hard to tell what the central ideology of this book is within socialism, as it critiques "capitalism" and the "capitalist class" incessantly, yet describes policies that fit broadly within a capitalist system. This is likely to appeal to many hardcore Sanders fans, however, and I recommend reading the book in its entirety to them.

[Colin Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Socialism, specifically Democratic Socialism, is in vogue, or so argues Meagan Day and Micah Uetricht in Bigger Than Bernie: How We Go from the Sanders Campaign to Democratic Socialism. While Bigger Than Bernie treads old, well-established ground, there is something to be said about Day and Uetricht's efforts to repackage those established ideas.

Day and Uetricht are committed to the potential of electoral politics, but they warn against the seductiveness of not only capital but the Democratic party. Day and Uetricht might argue this is two ways of saying the same thing, but the authors seem to think far too many readers might miss the subtleties of this distinction. As they see it, too many on the Left understand the Democratic Party as a genuine left alternative to the Republican Party. However, these sorts of moments reveal the conceptual limitations of Bigger Than Bernie. This is not a book for seasoned leftists; Bigger Than Bernie is a book for those flirting with Socialism.

Bigger Than Bernie clearly wants to seize the moment. It wants to galvanize readers to form a legitimate, sustainable leftist alternative. As Day and Uetricht see it: "One distinct feature of our political system that makes things a lot harder for socialists is our lack of a genuine, mass left-wing party of any kind. Instead of a workers’ or socialist party, we’re stuck with the Democrats." For these reasons, Bigger Than Bernie is perfect for readers unfamiliar with leftist political expressions beyond the narrow confines of the Democratic Party, but for those readers familiar with a word like "socialism," go ahead and skip Bigger Than Bernie.

[Cleo Bess · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ A digestible intro to socialism focusing on Bernie’s 2016 run to present. While I’m a Bernie supporter I’d say come at this book with an open mind. I enjoyed this book and the mix of historical events and ideas for the future. While some may not agree with everything you can appreciate the argument the authors made. I found the closing powerful.

“We have one life to live. We should spend it free and happy. To maintain a system that renders people, miserable and unfree, for no other reason than the accrual of huge amounts of profit to a small number of people, is a crime. We deserve education, for the knowledge produce cumulatively over centuries of human civilization belongs to all of humanity. We deserve healthcare, for social innovations in the treatment of ailments should not be withheld from the ailing in their time of need. We deserve high-quality, comfortable housing to live in, designed not to profit the few but to shelter the many. We deserve an end to racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, and all other forms of oppression. We deserve pure air to breathe, clean water to drink, and the earths miraculous bounty to appreciate and enjoy. We deserve bread, and roses too. We deserve art and beauty. We deserve free time. We deserve peace. We deserve to feel connected and valued. We deserve democracy, and a true say in our own destiny.”

[Yitian Zou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative and accessible introduction to democratic socialism in the US.

[Evan Reyes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good DSA primer

[Chris Boutté · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five years ago (2015), my best friend was super into politics and always talked about this guy Bernie Sanders. Four years ago, I didn't care about politics until Donald Trump was elected, and I wanted to figure out what the hell happened. It was then that I started caring more about politics, but I still didn't really look into specific people like Bernie Sanders. I've always felt like health insurance is way too expensive, and the whole system is flawed, and I've also felt like the college system is really messed up. So, when I found out these are some of Bernie's primary talking points, I was like "this just seems like common sense."

When Bernie lost the Democratic Primary for his 2020 run, I saw a lot of people give up, and I thought that was ridiculous. So, when I came across this book from Meagan Day and Micah Uetricht, it sounded like something I could get behind. The book taught me a lot about Bernie that I didn't know, and it also inspired me with various stories from around the country. Best of all, it taught me more about what I can personally do in the uphill battle of trying to sell people on democratic socialism.

I've wanted to learn more about socialism because it's a "bad word", and people immediately point to Venezuela even though the real examples are Scandanavian nations that rank highest on the World Happiness Index. I think the best part of this book was that it had practical solutions that weren't divisive in nature. It takes a big-picture look at the situation and is realistic about how we can move towards the society that the overwhelming majority of people want and need. It definitely gave me some new ways to present the ideas of democratic socialism to people who don't fully understand what it's about.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A frank and practical book; Bigger than Bernie acknowledges limitations of electoral campaigns including Sanders’, is honest about shortcomings of socialist organizing, and avoids wishful thinking. Nonetheless, it offers hopeful pleas for a studied approach to democratic socialist organizing. The book provides only a limited overview of what Bernie Sanders stands for, what the DSA stands for, and how the latter must use momentum of the former. It serves best as an introduction to those newly sympathetic to democratic socialism. Perhaps recognizing this, Day and Uetricht provide a bibliographic essay at the end of the book to guide new democratic socialists to further reading. The authors start to hit their stride in Chapter 4, “The Dirty Break,” in which they discuss the big picture relationship between DSA and the Democratic Party. Another strength is the discussion of the role of policy reforms, especially the possibilities of universal social programs to beat back neoliberalism. Ultimately optimistic, it is a helpful review of the current ideas and strategies of the DSA just as it has established its dominance on the American Left.

[Greg Weaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

The funny thing about this book is that it’s just as much for Berners as it is for those who are skeptics (if not more so!). One of the most common critiques of Bernie from those that I know is born from the question of “how will he get things done?” This book answers that, but on much broader terms, speaking to what class struggle politics looks like during the largest socialist movement of our time. I’m fired up and will likely revisit this book again as I continue my work for a better future with the DSA. Hope you’ll check it out!

[Devin Stevenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Meagan Day and Jacobin a lot. That said this felt like entry level propaganda into Democratic socialism. Perhaps a better book for others. Optimistic overview of the state of progress. Feels rather sanguine in our pandemic and depression but the broad brush prescription for mass rank-and-file strike action still stands. Authors cite Jane Mcalevey a lot and I think she is a better source for details of these strategies.
I recommend this book for liberals dipping their toe into socialist thought in an accessible way.

[Jake Colosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book (like many) has been sitting on my shelf for a while and I am glad that I finally picked it up. While much has happened since the Bernie 2020 campaign, the analysis of our political conditions and the path forward from here rings true today. Bigger Than Bernie is an excellent primer on the contemporary American socialist movement and a wake-up call to progressives and activists everywhere that we cannot afford to waste the opportunity that Bernie’s campaigns have given us.

[Ryan Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clear, helpful, and hopeful explication of what it will take to harness the enthusiasm of and for the working class generated by Sanders' movement to transform the political and economic landscape in the US and take power back from the capitalist elites and put it, and keep it, in the hands of the working class.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

if you're bored by the beginning skip to the middle because overall it's actually very interesting and inspiring. i would recommend this book to all my friends but i think some of them aren't ready to read things that say "as a socialist" so much but i will probably recommend it anyway

[celestine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A “next steps” collection of ideas for the Bernie-led socialist movement in America. Stings a little reading a book that was written in the sweep of Bernie’s 2020 campaign in the aftermath of his defeat, but it’s still good and relevant stuff.

[Thomas]

I largely agree with the main thrust here, but we also need to dismantle consumerism and its associated mindset. The book was frustratingly general, even when covering local campaigns, and would've benefited from some of the chapters being book length. Basically a book DSA recruitment tool

[Brenden Gallagher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great primer on the horizon of the American left post Bernie that has been proven right a few years on. I really enjoyed it and devoured the book in just a few days.

Disclosure: I have written for Meagan at Jacobin

[Dawson Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend for all folks that want to know what to do now that Bernie's campaign is over!

[Steve Nolan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I may find the works cited at the end of the book more useful than the book itself. (It was...fine? Idk I'm still not over it.)