Your cart is empty now.
Fiery. Evocative. Uplifting.
Fiction meets reality in these impassioned and hard-hitting essays on love, courage, politics, and resistance.
Rise and Resist brings to life the essays of the underground resistance writer Charlie Rider from The Dandelion Insurrection. The words are a rallying cry, a balm to the soul, and fuel for the fire of social change. In a printed collection for the first time ever, here are the essays that ignited a mass movement for change in a fictional United States "just around the corner of today".
Written under the nom de plume: the Man From the North, this fictional writer lifts a pen mightier than a sword to offer provocative and relevant essays for his world . . . and ours.
On the Man From the North in The Dandelion Insurrection:
"The Man From the North. Even the mere mention of the writer's name evoked a sweat of admiration, envy and fear. His articles were slipped hand-to-hand, smuggled across the border from Canada, taped in the back of pocket bibles. All through the winter, the man tore apart the corporate-controlled government, decried the rising tide of militarism, and lambasted the grind of economic injustice that held millions in a death grip. The Man From the North also regaled his readers with real life stories of courage in the face of oppression. He touched their hearts with passionate tales of kindness in a time of darkness. People looked out their windows at night and thought: we are not alone in wanting a better world than this." - from The Dandelion Insurrection by Rivera Sun
The essays from the Man From the North are timely and inspiring. They are not found in The Dandelion Insurrection, The Dandelion Insurrection Study Guide - making change through nonviolent action, or in The Roots of Resistance. The essays can be enjoyed separately from the novels. Whether you read all the books together or each separately these books are a powerful experience and one you will never forget!
Written under the nom de plume: the Man From the North, this fictional writer lifts a pen mightier than a sword to offer provocative and relevant essays for his world . . . and ours.
Editorial Reviews
Praise for The Dandelion Insurrection, The Roots of Resistance and The Dandelion Insurrection Study Guide - making change through nonviolent action -
"In a world where despair has deep roots, The Dandelion Insurrection bursts forth with joyful abandon."- Medea Benjamin, Co-founder of CodePink
" . . . a beautifully written book just like the dandelion plant itself, punching holes through the concert of corporate terror, and inviting all to join in the insurrection." - Keith McHenry, Co-founder of Food Not Bombs
"Let's all join and have our own Dandelion Insurrection. I give the book seven gold stars . . . and a huge right on, sister!" - Joe Hock, OWS, March Against Monsanto
"This novel will not only make you want to change the world, it will remind you that you can." - Gayle Brandeis, author of The Book of Dead Birds, winner of the Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction
"THE handbook for the coming revolution!"- Lo Daniels, Editor of Dandelion Salad
"Be kind, be connected, be unafraid. With this slogan of The Dandelion Insurrection, Rivera Sun beckons us to address the crises of our day with kindness, in community and from courage. With these tools, we can change the world one heart, one home, one block at a time. " - Anne Symens-Bucher, Canticle Farm
"The Dandelion Insurrection is an updated, more accurate, less fantastical Brave New World or 1984." - David Swanson, journalist, author, peace activist
"Rivera has crafted a vision of an unstoppable movement for democracy and leaves no corner or controversy of nonviolence unexplored. Find yourself within these pages and learn some new techniques for action while you're here." -Stephanie N. Van Hook, Executive Director, Metta Center for Nonviolence
" In times of despair, we need hope. In times of frustration, we need inspiration. In times of confusion, we need clarity. Rivera brings us all of these and more." - Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and International Studies at University of San Francisco
"A tale of revolution, resistance and the indomitable power of love - skims tantalizingly close to the surface of what could be political reality in these United States in just a few short years. Recommended for wanderers, whistleblowers, and anyone curious about the question of violence vs. nonviolence." - Elizabeth Murray, former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East, National Intelligence Council, and Member in Residence at the Ground Zero Center
"This book is a treasure of a resource; it s a repertoire of nonviolence techniques disguised as a novel."
- Michael Nagler, Author, Founder, Metta Center for Nonviolence
"Billed as 'Book Two of the Dandelion Trilogy,' The Roots of Resistance makes me hope Rivera Sun is punching out Book Three soon and perhaps, like Douglas Adams, will give us, someday, Books Four and Five of the Trilogy." - Tom H. Hastings, Conflict Resolution Assistant Professor, Portland State University
"The Roots of Resistance is a compelling page-turner about the inner workings of a nonviolent movement and how it deals with forces that try to sabotage it. I loved this book!" - Judy Olsen, Backbone Campaign
"A must-read, written by the talented Rivera Sun! Amazingly inspirational! "
- Robin Wildman, Nonviolent Schools
"This novel is a nuanced political, moral, and emotional exploration of risks, sacrifices and rewards that a commitment to social justice can elicit in the hearts of some extraordinary people. I was frequently moved to...linger and relish the rich emotional dynamics within such noble characters. A memorable cognitive and emotional journey." - Nim Batchelor, Professor of Philosophy, Elon University
"Rivera Sun always gifts us with usefully creative fiction. Her Roots of Resistance - the second novel of her Dandelion Trilogy - offers an inspiring story to help guide love-based strategic change efforts . . . . It takes a storyteller like Rivera Sun who inspires us to rise to the challenge as her characters do, because her stories tell us how." - Tom Atlee, Author, Co-Intelligence Institute
"Rivera Sun's The Roots of Resistance tells a story of a creative nonviolent resistance that is transforming the United States. The characters give us hope of what could be, in a way that seems achievable."
- Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Co-founders, Popular Resistance
An Essay of the Man From the North
by Rivera Sun
by Rivera Sun
I Want To Love This Broken-Hearted Country
I want to love this broken-hearted country, this land of shattered dreams and dashed hopes. I want to place my ear to the drumming cadence of our cities and hear the insistent pulse of life. I want to wander the forgotten highways of stories that run like wrinkles through our body politic.
Our nation is more than just our headlines. We are the collective sum of all our people, past and present, and as far into our uncertain future as we dare to imagine. We are our stories, sordid and sublime, humble and extraordinary. We are our conversations as we sit on our porches, or crouch on concrete stoops. We are our tragedies and horrors. We are every newborn hope.
We are 320 million inhalations in every moment and 320 million exhales in the next. For every breath that stops, another newborn gasps their first breath. We are all these moments of all our lives, a country of interwoven destinies, breathing in and out together. We are our cruelties and our violence. We are our kindnesses and healings. We are the joyful hitch in a happy step. We are sorrow weighing down our limbs.
I want to fall in love with my country, to remember our saving graces while decrying our failings and injustices. I have reeled in horror at the face of our ugliness; now I long to remember the beautiful again. We are lost without the depth of our souls, the vision of our dreams, the illumination of our hope. We become hollow shells of armor, brittle and empty, fueled by the fumes of rage. The struggle for justice becomes a long, pointless march in which we trudge in darkness through the mud. This is no way to live, no way to fight, no way to strive for change.
Instead, we must sink the roots of our heart and souls into the deep earth of human existence. We must seek out the nourishing ground of love. For every cruelty tossed in our faces, we must grasp the balm of kindness, connection, courage, and caring. These are the truths we stand up for. These are the “country” that we defend, a nation without borders, a place defined by the human heart. These values are the bedrock of what we call justice: the inalienable rights of all humans to live in peace, in hope, in compassion, in a community that dares to respect and even love itself.
Our country has learned to despise itself. Some clutch their race, class, gender and shove everyone else out of their “halluci-nation” of this country. Some include everyone in the shape of their imagined nation, but sneer and degrade the ones they despise. We are a nation divided by our fears and hatred, a nation that cannot bear its truth: we are broken-hearted, battered, terrified by what we are, unable to face the mirror and look our truth in the eye.
Dare to look. Your human soul is strong enough to hold the sorrow, the pain, the shock, the fear that stark and honest truths evoke. Hold your gaze until the “monster” you first perceive shifts, and a deeper layer is revealed. Like the old folktale of Tamlin shape-shifting through bear and beast, snake and lion, be like brave Janet, holding him in her love. Such love will weather the monstrous rages until the truth of our humanness emerges.
We are a nation that needs to love our true selves – not the hubris of our illusions of imperialistic might. We need to discard our arrogant posturing and bullying, and see the wounds and insecurities underneath. We need to let go of our bloated and false pride. We need to love the humbler truths, the hidden stories, the wounded places needing healing. We need to love our children and our elders, our people in all their colors, our artists and our workers, our frail and strong alike. This is the foundation of meaningful change, the commitment to a love strong enough to heal the brokenness, to address our wounds, to speak to our simple human beauties, to remember our kindness and commonalities, to nurture the basic human values that make us truly great. We need to believe in one another, to have faith that we – all 320 million of us – are worth the effort that healing and transformation require.
I want to love this broken-hearted country, this land of shattered dreams and dashed hopes. I want to help us rise, together, and embody our visions of equality and respect, caring and connection, justice and transformation. I want to fall in love again . . . so that we all might heal and live and change.
Read more from The Man From The North in Rise and Resist!
Translation missing: en.general.search.loading