This Changes Everything: Occupy Wall Street and the 99% Movement

Berrett-Koehler Publishers and YES! Magazine are bringing the first substantive book on the Occupy Wall Street movement to bookstores nationwide on November 17, 2011-- exactly two months since the initial Occupy encampment at Zuccotti Park in New York's financial district.

This Changes Everything blends the voices of participants and organizers inside the Occupy Wall Street protests with those of such perceptive observers as Naomi Klein, David Korten, David Graeber, Rebecca Solnit, Chuck Collins, and Ralph Nader. It includes accounts published for the first time in this book and reports adapted for this book from YES! Magazine and elsewhere.

The book begins with an Introduction by YES! co-founder and executive editor Sarah van Gelder. Van Gelder shows how the movement erupted in response to decades of soaring inequality and disenfranchisement. In pointing to how the system is rigged to benefit the richest 1% at the expense of the 99%, the Occupy movement has named the key crisis of our time-something the political establishment had refused to do. It is transforming the frustration and isolation of the millions, who are losing access to a middle-class standard of living, into a potent force for change.

"This rapid publication is possible because YES! Magazine has been at the forefront of reporting on the Occupy Wall Street movement from the beginning," explains Steve Piersanti, President of Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

"This book captures an extraordinary moment, when people who have been sitting, frustrated, on the sidelines finally have a voice," explains YES! Magazine's Sarah van Gelder, editor of This Changes Everything. Adds Piersanti, "I believe that this book will not only be immediately useful in helping people everywhere understand the far-reaching impact of this movement-how it is truly changing everything-but that it will also stand the test of time as a profound analysis of its meaning and significance.

YES! Magazine is donating royalties from this book to support the Occupy movement and plans to give out 500 copies at Occupy sites. The book's initial press run is 10,000. Because of the high immediate demand, a second printing is planned for the week of November 14.

The Book:

This Changes Everything: Occupy Wall Street and the 99% Movement

By Sarah van Gelder and the Staff of YES! Magazine

(Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2011; 96 pages)

In Part One, people at the heart of the movement along with close observers describe the early, heady days of Occupy Wall Street and reflect on the challenges of implementing inclusive decision-making and authentic diversity, and dealing with violence.

Part Two explores ways to address gross inequality, the corruption of our money and banking systems, an unjust tax system, and the desperate need for jobs in a climate-constrained world.

Part Three is a selection of powerful ways the movement can move forward, with articles on the legal fiction of corporate personhood, accomplishments of past people's movements, lessons from the uprisings of the Arab Spring and Europe, and ways anyone can support the Occupy movement.

Spokesperson available: Sarah van Gelder, Co-founder and Executive Editor, YES! Magazine

Additional Spokespeople: Upon request

About Sarah van Gelder:

Sarah van Gelder edited This Changes Everything and wrote an original introduction to the book. As co-founder and executive editor of YES! Magazine, Sarah leads the framing and development of each issue of YES!. Sarah blogs regularly for YES! Magazine and Huffington Post, writes articles and op-eds, does interviews for YES! Magazine, and speaks on leading-edge innovations that show that another world is not only possible, it is being created today. Last month, Sarah van Gelder was featured on PBS' NewsHour program, talking about the Occupy movement. For complete video and transcript, see: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec11/protests2_10-17.html

About YES! Magazine:

Since their founding in 1996, YES! Magazine and YesMagazine.org <https://yesmagazine.org/> have been showing how powerful ideas fused with practical actions can drive profound change towards a more just, sustainable, and compassionate world. Project Censored calls YES! "the standard for solutions journalism." Democracy Now's Amy Goodman calls YES! a "vital voice of independent journalism." The Utne's Independent Media Awards have repeatedly recognized YES! Magazine; and Treehugger.com <https://treehugger.com/> named YES! the best green business and politics website of 2011.

About Berrett-Koehler Publishers:

Berrett-Koehler Publishers was founded in 1992 by Steve Piersanti in San Francisco, CA. The mission-based publisher believes in "Creating a World That Works for All" and publishes an average of 40 titles per year that reflect that mission in the business, current affairs, and lifestyle categories. Berrett-Koehler Publishers is a Certified B Corporation.