Undoing the Imperial Presidency:
An Interview with David Swanson

By John W. Whitehead
June 24, 2010

Available here.

From Sullivan Street Press

We received lots of responses to our Jobs for Book Lovers

But we are not finished yet. We want to encourage as many as possible to see the value in becoming a Bookie. Selling books in your community is not just a job but a way to keep this very fragile democracy alive. While the right wing tries to dumb everything down, we need to make sure the independent presses and the voices they support are able to survive.

After a couple of weeks of blogging here about our Jobs for Book Lovers, it has come to pass that people are taking us seriously. I am so glad to report that is happening because sometimes when a jobs program is announced that seems so far ahead of the curve, people are either dismissive or suspicious.

But now that some of our favorite authors we carry on the tour, such as Robert Jensen, are lending their voices to help us and with the new addition of David Swanson’s new book “Daybreak” being added to our list, we are just realizing how wonderful it would be to see as many people signing on to become a Bookie as possible.

We offer a fun job talking about books and selling books with each Bookie earning a portion of the sales. We train, we support and we encourage anyone who loves to stand in front of roomful of people to talk about the books that they have discovered and that they feel their communities not only would like but should get to read now. Most of the books we carry do not show up in bookstore chains. Most of the authors we carry are not the top earners for the mass media run empires. Rather they are the true American voices whose ideas, stories and in some cases provocative messages are not the ones that the media want you to hear or to place on your bookshelf.

This is an odd time in all our lives. We are or know so many people who are unemployed or underemployed. We see so much despair around this wonderful time of year because there has been job loss, home loss, morale loss, insurance loss, life loss, and yet, inside a book and inside the rooms where people can gather to discuss books another kind of life can begin to emerge.

This is a part of the new publishing paradigm we want to help foster. Sullivan Street Press may be a new company going out on its own to do these things and discover how to get them done and make a difference. But we are not alone in this venture. All the people whose books we carry are thrilled to be a part of this effort–No this movement. They speak well of us and congratulate us as we report back to them of the comments we receive about their books.

When we meet new friends on the road and give a performance where we talk about how publishing is not just going to change but has already changed and for the better, our new friends are also eager to talk about it, argue with us about it and then come back to do it again when we make a return visit.

So, if this type of experience is of interest to you. If you like to read, to talk about what you read, to meet new people, give readings from the books you carry, and sell them so that we all can help each other then write to us from our contact information on the website.

Keeping small, indie presses alive and well is so important as the Sarah Palins of the world try to feed off the hopes and fears of people who are not able yet to hear what we have to say about the value of books, all books, in a democracy. The obscene amounts of money people like her receive for books that add nothing to the real formation of our democratic structures can only be countered by talking to people about how it is on the other side of the money divide.

If you feel as passionately as we do about this, send us a note with a short resume so we can see what you are going to bring to our wonderful new program and tell us where you live. This is a nationwide effort so we need to make sure we can reach out to all 50 states.

All are welcome so long as they love books, can talk about them and have a car. That is the one requirement we wish we did not have but it is difficult to cart all the books around without one. We await your reply.

By David Swanson

Let's face it, if James Cameron had made a movie with the Iraqi resistance as the heroes and the U.S. military as the enemies, and had set it in Iraq or anywhere else on planet earth, the packed theaters viewing "Avatar" would have been replaced by a screening in a living room for eight people and a dog.

Nineteen years ago, Americans packed theaters for "Dances with Wolves" in which Native Americans became the heroes, but the story was set in a previous century and the message understated.

What a concept! But you really can. Specifically, you can make money selling progressive books: here's how.

Seven Stories Press gives 25% off the titles on its website, and if you enter this code: SSPHOLIDAY09 you can take off a total of 35%.

New this year is fiction from Seba al-Herz, Hwang Sok-yong, Douglas A. Martin, Barry Gifford, Beverly Gologorsky, Nelson Algren, Ralph Nader, and others, as well as updated editions of three Howard Zinn books, the Amazon best-seller Daybreak from David Swanson, What We Leave Behind from Derrick Jensen and Aric McBay, Paranoia & Heartbreak from Jerome Gold, The Black Body from Meri Nana-Ama Danquah, Wojciech Jagielski’s Towers of Stone, John Talbott’s The 86 Biggest Lies on Wall Street, a new edition of Barbara Seaman’s The Greatest Experiment Ever Performed On Women, the new annual collection from Project Censored, and several titles available for the first time in paperback.

Why not use this discount to buy your friends copies of Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union

Offer only good until December 31st.  Go here: http://tr.im/IlGe

C-Span's Book TV, which can be watched on cable television on C-Span 2 or online at http://www.booktv.org plans to air a book event they recorded when I was in Miami, Florida.

Here's more info.

They'd told me they would run about 90 minutes, and so that was -- I think -- about what I did, including opening remarks and questions and answers. But their website says they're showing 1 hr and 7 min, which makes me suspect that they cut something out, most likely some of the Q&A. That's unfortunate.

I expect it to be a good show, in any case, and remember it as a good event. Please tell everyone to watch, record it, spread the word. Thanks!

Here's more about the book: "Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union."

A New Day Rising:
An Interview with David Swanson

This event was pre-recorded in Miami, Fla.
Check schedule at http://www.booktv.org

This review captures what I have tried to do with this book.

Here's a report on my book event in Cleveland and the lively discussion that followed, from Eric McKee.

By William Hughes | LA Indymedia

“We have in our power to begin the world over again.” - Tom Paine, author of “Common Sense.”

For me, the essence of author/activist David Swanson’s insightful tome: “Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union,” is this: On June 16, 2005, I was at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., to cover a hearing on the infamous “Downing Street Memos.” This document, crafted by the Brits, revealed that the Bush-Cheney Gang, colluded with Dubya’s poodle, Tony Blair, the then British P.M. It showed that they were predisposed to go to war with Iraq--no matter what. To that immoral end, the scoundrels schemed to fix the “intelligence and facts...around the policy.” In other words, the b......s lied and thousands of innocents died, U.S. troops and Iraq civilians alike; and the U.S. taxpayers are now out $3.5 trillion and counting. (1)

That hearing, initiated by Swanson, along with a coalition of activists, was held in a basement room of the Capitol--more like a large closet. (2) The Bush-Cheney Gang wouldn’t allow the use a regular meeting room on the Hill. The House of Representatives’ “Out of Iraq Caucus,” led by Representatives John Conyers, Maxine Waters, Barbara Lee, Bob Filner, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Dennis Kucinich, James McGovern, Jim Moran and Lynn Woolsey, sponsored the “unofficial” event. The phonies in the Establishment media either totally ignored, marginalized or mocked it. This, sadly, was their M.O. during most of the reign of the Bush-Cheney Gang.

By Linda Milazzo, OpEdNews

It's a GREAT DAY in America when heralds of hate, specifically Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin, are booted from their Amazon best seller slots on DAY ONE of the publication of progressive leader David Swanson's breakthrough tome, DAYBREAK - now at Number One on Amazon's non-fiction best seller list. From this terrific response to Swanson's new book arises my sincere desire that DAYBREAK attracts a good many of Beck and Malkin's readers, so they, too, will have the opportunity to absorb the depth of information and dedication to solutions that David Swanson offers.

By Brian Franklin

In the fight for accountability, there are many whose actions have failed to live up to their rhetoric. It is one thing to believe this country is worth fighting for, and yet another to actually spend time fighting.

As someone who worked for Congressman Wexler's campaign and his push for impeachment hearings, I can attest to David's fighting spirit and breadth of knowledge. His comprehensive understanding of the supporting evidence - coupled with a singular clarity of the legislative process and players - made him an vital resource.

Review of 'Daybreak - Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union' by David Swanson, BRAD BLOG

Guest Blogged by Peter Weiss, Vice President, Center for Constitutional Rights

By BuzzFlash
original here, and signed copies of the book available

David Swanson is the most prolific, indefatigable advocate and activist that BuzzFlash knows of. He is equally at home writing countless persuasive commentaries on the Internet about the urgency of upholding the Constitution and making those in power accountable under the law on his main site AfterDowningStreet.org. and with being a ubiquitous grassroots activist.

Book Can Now Be Ordered, Book Tour Being Planned

You can now pre-order my book at Amazon.com at http://tinyurl.com/daybreakbook

It's a thick book containing everything I know - and then some - for $10 (pre-order discount price).  And you can support a good cause by pre-ordering it now.

You can also call or visit your local bookstore right now and ask them to be sure to stock the book.

If you're in California, Pennsylvania, Florida, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, or Ohio please see below.  I'm only coming once to any given state, so please schedule more events for the times I will be in yours! Please don't ask me later why I didn't come to your town!

If you're in another state, please contact me re dates in 2010. -- David Swanson

By David Swanson

"The American Dream: Walking in the Shoes of Carnies, Arms Dealers, Immigrant Dreamers, Pot Farmers, and Christian Believers," looks on the cover like a collection of serious social commentary from liberal publisher Nation Books. Unless the author's name Harmon Leon is familiar to you.

By David Swanson

Kurt Vonnegut, at age 82, has published over two dozen books. His latest is called "A Man Without a Country." It's a book that is brutally honest in its hopelessness, in fact – I think – overly hopeless, and yet humorous. It may even be hopeless in order to better be humorous. Vonnegut discusses in the book the use of tragedy to heighten laughter. But certainly the humor works to lighten the load of dismay and despair that this book ever-so-lightly dumps on us.