Surmountable: How Citizens from Selma to Seoul Changed the World

by Brian Gruber, Adam Monier Edwards

Surmountable is the first book explicitly written for the millions of people who have taken part in protests or demonstrations but were left wondering what they achieved, and the millions more who sat out events because they questioned the potential for results. The book addresses these lingering doubts and offers a powerful response in the voices of front line social activists, political thought leaders, and every day citizens.

Surmountable chronicles the victories and setbacks of ten American and three international civic movements from the past century. Authors Brian Gruber and Adam Monier Edwards uncover the details behind some of history's most iconic events such as the Selma to Montgomery marches for civil rights, lesser known successes including one man's mission to resurrect an unratified Constitutional amendment, and insights from how citizens overcame seemingly insurmountable odds to achieve their goals.

We visited 15 cities across four continents near where history was made to seek answers to burning questions such
Is there an effective playbook for the modern activist?
How are successes and failures measured?
How universal are the value in the U.S. Constitution?
What can we learn from activists from outside the U.S.?

Selected interviewees
Lucy Beard, Alice Paul Institute executive director
Sam Walker, National Voting Rights Museum and Institute historian
Colleen Sheehan, Villanova University professor, Heritage Foundation scholar, and 5-time author
Dr. Todd Gitlin, Columbia University professor, sociologist, and 16-time author
Gregory Watson, legislative analyst and driving force behind the 27th Amendment
Brewster Kahle, Internet Archive founder and Alexa Internet co-founder
Lamine Alibi, Tunisia Patriotic Democratic Unity Party central committee member
Kalle Lasn, Adbusters co-founder and Occupy Wall Street co-creator
Sergii Kharchuk, Euromaidan activist and Kyiv city councilman
Dr. Hong-koo Han, Sungkonghoe University professor of Korean history and author
Jay O'Neal, West Virginia teacher strike leader
LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, Lakota historian, Standing Rock activist, and NoDAPL movement co-founder

340 pages, Paperback

Published February 9, 2021

Reviews

[Tom Vater · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Americans hold a conflicted attitude toward overseas military adventures. Three decades after the end of the Cold War, used as the justification for massive military spending, the United States has approximately 800 military bases in 80 countries and spends, fully loaded, a trillion dollars on defense-related matters, very little of it to defend our shores."

Thus begins the chapter about a Vietnam draft dodger and the war that polarized the US in the 60s, in Surmountable, a book about resistance to the political and social realities of the 20th century. Written before Covid 19 hit us, the text is all the more prescient after two years of global shutdown and continuous erosion of democracy everywhere, and while Brian Gruber traveled from Tunis to Seoul to collect incisive, fascinating interviews from front-line activists, Surmountable is often a book about the frailty of American democracy, dissected and challenged through such seemingly unconnected social issues as the civil rights struggle and Occupy Wall Street.

With a possible return of the Trumpian right to power in the US, Surmountable tells timely stories of the struggle for justice fought by the kind of people who may well be called upon again to save American democracy.
There's no shortage of lucid voices and while the Vietnam War Resister paints a dire reality, he is a living example of an undying American courage and optimism which can be cloying to non-Americans, but may just be inspiring enough to his fellow women and men to save their country.

“My view,” concludes war resister Ed Hedemann, “is to contribute something to society to make it a better world and to oppose the evil things that go on in the world to the extent that I can do that. I think that’s being successful, whether or not I actually achieve ending war. I have this vision of
a world in the future, maybe 100 years from now, and it’s probably optimistic, that people or young people will look back and say, ‘What is war? Why did people go to war?’ and it will be a mystery, like people looking back to the 1800s saying, ‘Why did people have slaves?’”

[Karen Mellott-Foshier · Rating 3 out of 5]

One-word book review and rating for Surmountable: How citizens from Selma to Seoul changed the world - Inspiring: 3* (but 4* for content).

I wanted to rate this book by Bryan Gruber and Adam Monier Edwards higher as I did learn a lot about the activists, history and evolution behind some of the most powerful movements for social change - globally and locally. Some events I was aware of, but knew only the headlines version of the protests and demonstrations. While others, I had never heard about.

And am I the only one who didn’t realize the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) never passed? For nearly 100 years, this proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution still remains unratified - to grant legal equal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex.

I like to believe I’m pretty knowledgeable about social injustices, so am almost embarrassed that I didn’t know this. But now I do. And maybe a few of you are enlightened now as well.

While the content of this book was very educational, I found the Q&A format jarring, limiting and inconsistent. It read as if it were interview notes or a draft of a college term paper. While I did receive a complimentary ARC of this book, my reviews and opinions are always my own. And perhaps the published version flows more naturally.

More of my one-word book reviews: https://www.kmfiswriting.com/what-to-...

[Season Nagine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought provoking and motivating. Conversation, perspectives and insights from leaders and participants in many action-focused change-driven campaigns.