Swim Against the Current de Jim Hightower

Swim Against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go with the Flow

Jim Hightower

Susan DeMarco

America’s most irascible and hilarious curmudgeon turns a kind and benevolent eye toward brave, hardy, and hardworking souls around the country who have found ways to break free from corporate tentacles; redefine success in business, politics, and life in general; and blaze new pathways toward a richer and happier way of life, from the farmers’ cooperative that said “NO!” to Wal–Mart and thrived to the economists who got into the coffee business by accident and turned the entire industry on its ear.

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Descriere

Buck the system and win! "We all need some inspiration from time to time to remind us of what we′re fighting for, not just against. Hightower and DeMarco provide it in these pages, thank our lucky stars." — Daily Kos "[An] irreverent and uplifting look at how individuals and companies can be both successful and socially responsible.... [Hightower and DeMarco] provide tangible steps to escape ′corporate tentacles′ and become catalysts for change.... An entertaining and insightful look at making a living while staying true to one′s values, the book will please Hightower′s many fans and will earn him more than a few new ones." — Publishers Weekly While politicians of both parties have discovered "change" as a neat political buzzword, thousands of corporate lobbyists in Washington sit comfortably behind those very politicians, smiling, winking, and doling out campaign cash to maintain business as usual. But don′t despair, for there′s real hope! Instead of looking to Washington, Hightower and DeMarco take us into the heart of America to introduce us to our country′s genuine agents of change—ordinary folks who′ve chosen to buck the system, defy the rigid corporate order, and live their progressive values. Swim against the Current is a rollicking read, telling the uplifting stories of feisty grassroots people and groups who′re not just talking about change but actually producing it—in politics, business, health care, banking, religion, and other aspects of American life. Oscar Wilde said, "Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken." That′s the plucky spirit of this delightful book. You′ll meet cab drivers, organic farmers, the organizers of "Fighting Bob Fest," a maverick pharmacist, evangelical environmentalists, and so many others who are being true to themselves, swimming against the current, and showing the rest of us new ways to make our lives more meaningful, more satisfying. Some say we can′t change the system. But, as Hightower and DeMarco point out in this surprising and inspiring book: "Those who say it can′t be done should not interrupt those who are doing it."

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Cuprins

Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 PART ONE Business 5 CHAPTER 1 Business without Greed 7 CHAPTER 2 Fair Trade 14 CHAPTER 3 Cooperation Works 19 CHAPTER 4 Socially Responsible 29 CHAPTER 5 Putting Workers in Charge 42 CHAPTER 6 The Good (Business) Life 51 CHAPTER 7 Banking on Change 58 Connections for Part One 66 PART TWO Politics 73 CHAPTER 8 Shape Up, America! 75 CHAPTER 9 Run for It! 83 CHAPTER 10 Clean Elections 92 CHAPTER 11 Democracy School 105 CHAPTER 12 Build It! 111 CHAPTER 13 Granny Power 122 CHAPTER 14 The Politics of Fun 127 Connections for Part Two 134 PART THREE Life 139 CHAPTER 15 Take Charge! 141 CHAPTER 16 How We Live 151 CHAPTER 17 A Mass Movement Arises 158 CHAPTER 18 Flowers in the Field 164 CHAPTER 19 The Conscience of an Evangelical 176 Connections for Part Three 188 Final Thoughts 193 DeMarco′s Reading List 197 Index 201

Notă biografică

Jim Hightower is a syndicated columnist, a national radio commentator, the publisher of the Hightower Lowdown newsletter, and the New York Times bestselling author of Thieves in High Places . Susan DeMarco is a writer, a former radio talk–show host, a public–interest activist, and longtime Hightower partner–in–crime.