KK Ottesen

I received a free copy of this beautiful hardbound book through Librarything, in exchange for an honest review.

I was surprised when I received this book- I'd pictured it much smaller in scope and in size! This is like a coffee table book, with 300 pages of shortened biographies and lovely portraits of different people who are or were activists. Many of the names are well known people -like Billie Jean King, Harry Belafonte, Reverend Sharpton. But others are unknowns, people who quietly stepped forward to protest something, to expose injustice, to demand change, sometimes in smaller but effective and powerful ways.
In the intro, Ottesen refers to her extensive interviewing and researching for this book- how she hopes it will "resonate across ideological lines.. regardless of one's specific beliefs or paths."
I appreciate her hope about this, but I think she should have made more of an attempt to include a broader spectrum of people- not just individuals who are liberal in ideology. She included one conservative person from the Tea Party, one activist for March for Life, and one Catholic nun (who might be considered leftist-leaning by most practicing Catholics.) Everyone else was pretty much liberal in their views.... and there were no children included either. ..which made me wonder what the nature of activism is. Is it something just liberal Democrats do? Is activism restricted to those who vote blue? To adults only? I don't think so. I would have liked a more balanced coverage on this topic. Where are the soldiers, the Marines, the women who fight for the rights of the unborn, the men who advocate for freedom of religion? There are many activists who are priests, rabbis, ministers, counselors and nuns. They were largely missing from this book.

Despite this imbalance, I did appreciate learning about the individuals included here. I am thankful and honored that many of the privileges I enjoy today are because of these people's bravery in stepping forward and speaking out, writing to legislators, protesting peacefully, and organizing others and sharing information to help those in need.

One of my favorite portraits was of Bonnie Raines. I had not heard of her before. Together with her late husband John and several others, she broke into an FBI office to steal documents in order to expose their illegal activities and abuses of power. Raines and her crew were never caught! 42 years later their story came out and a book was written detailing their activities.

Another favorite was Edward Snowden. I can't help but be in awe of his bravery in exposing the mass surveillance of the NSA . He could easily have been assassinated for what he did. He could have kept his mouth shut, taken the easy road, but at great risk he decided to speak out. I'm grateful for whistle blowers like him, who risk their lives to do what is right, to expose something corrupt, something hidden and dangerous for the sake of others.

The photography in this book is beautiful. Black and white portraits have a more dramatic effect- every photo is nicely done.

A very informative and lovely book, despite its imbalances.… (altro)