Bernie for Burlington: The Rise of the People's Politician

ISBN: 0593317491

Author: Chiasson, Dan

Condition: New

The early days and inexorable rise of the young Bernie Sanders, the one-of-a-kind visionary who changed American politics forever, told by a son of the Peoples Republic of Burlington, VermontThe more I read of Dan Chiassons book, the more moved I was by how absolutely unwavering Bernies message has been across the many decades of his career. -Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home, on creating the cover art for Bernie for BurlingtonA fascinating portrait. -Ian Frazier, author of Paradise BronxIn this symphonic origin story of an era-defining politician, Dan Chiasson, a Burlington native who had a ringside seat to Bernie Sanderss development, reconstructs the rise of an American icon. With in-depth reporting and remarkable remembered scenes, Chiasson tracks a faint political signal that traveled from the Vermont communes, hardluck neighborhoods, traditional businesses, and county fairs to the town meetings and ballot boxes of his home state, and finally to Washington, D.C., to transform our national political landscape.Sanders, insisting on a socialist platform that hasnt changed to this day, defied a corrupt Democratic machine to find his coalition among Burlingtons often feuding communities: the conservative French-Canadian Catholics whose grandparents and great-grandparents-including Chiassons own-had worked in the mills; the puppeteers, hippies, and NYC transplants whod moved to Vermont to find land and authenticity; the anti-nukers, activist nuns, baseball fans, developers, cops, and small businessmen like Ben and Jerry, who became Ben & Jerrys right there in town. Bernie captivated them all, running on the slogan Burlington Is Not for Sale to become the modern eras first socialist mayor, one who got the streets plowed but also boasted a foreign policy and a bullhorn to speak directly to Ronald Reagan.In the tradition of J. Anthony Lukass Common Ground, this peoples epic shows us an American city transformed one diner coffee and one neighborhood door-knock at a time, even as the analog era wanes and a new digital politics appears on the horizon. Full of Sanders himself, reflecting and raging, hitting his themes, Bernie for Burlington is a mesmerizing portrait of a politician, a place, and a movement that would change America.