2012 Resolution... To be and stay informed!

If your new year's resolution is to be more informed in 2012 then you are in luck because at the Odyssey we can help you out with that! 

I've become lax in my keeping up with current events since my college extemporaneous speaking days. And while I do read several online newspapers in an attempt to stay abreast of what is going on in the world, books are always better at giving one an in depth understanding of news trends.

Currently we have several books (on display on the first floor counter) covering the Occupy and protest outlash phenomena that dominated news coverage and will, arguably, continue to do so. 

Here are a couple of books on my reading list and some publisher excerpts explaining why you might want to put them on yours too: 

 

From the publisher's descprition: 

In the spring of 2011, Wisconsinites took to the streets in what became the largest and liveliest labor demonstrations in modern American history. Protesters in the Middle East sent greetings and pizzas to the thousands occupying the Capitol building in Madison, and 150,000 demonstrators converged on the city. In a year that has seen a revival of protest in America, here is a riveting account of the first great wave of grassroots resistance to the corporate restructuring of the Great Recession. 

 From the publisher's descprition: 

We Are the 99%. The Occupy Wall Street movement named the core issue of our time: the overwhelming power of Wall Street and large corporations-- something the political establishment and most media have long ignored. But the movement goes far beyond this critique. "This Changes Everything" shows how the movement is shifting the way people view themselves and the world, the kind of society they believe is possible, and their own involvement in creating a society that works for the 99% rather than just the 1%.

From the publisher's descprition: 

The world is facing a wave of uprisings, protests and revolutions: Arab dictators swept away, public spaces occupied, slum-dwellers in revolt, cyberspace buzzing with utopian dreams. Events we were told were consigned to history democratic revolt and social revolution are being lived by millions of people. In this compelling new book, Paul Mason explores the causes and consequences of this great unrest. From Cairo to Athens, Wall Street and Westminster to Manila, Mason goes in search of the changes in society, technology and human behavior that have propelled a generation onto the streets in search of social justice. 

From the publisher's descprition: 

In the fall of 2011, a small protest camp in downtown Manhattan exploded into a global uprising, sparked in part by the violent overreactions of the police. An unofficial record of this movement, Occupy! combines adrenalin-fueled first-hand accounts of the early days and weeks of Occupy Wall Street with contentious debates and thoughtful reflections, featuring the editors and writers of the celebrated n+1, as well as some of the world s leading radical thinkers, such as Slavoj i ek, Angela Davis, and Rebecca Solnit. The book conveys the intense excitement of those present at the birth of a counterculture, while providing the movement with a serious platform for debating goals, demands, and tactics. 

What do you think? 

Paz,

Nieves