Authentic Occupy

By: Travis Mushett

Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin

Everything you know about Occupy Wall Street is wrong. The criticisms you heard the media repeat over and over again - "the protesters don't know what they want!", "why don't they just rally around a leader?" - come from a fundamental misunderstanding of who the occupiers were and what they sought to accomplish. In this lively mix of memoir and analysis, writer-activist Travis Mushett takes you inside Occupy and demystifies a movement that was difficult for even its supporters to get a handle on. Pushing past the bromides, Mushett locates the source of this confusion.

We've come to expect that our politics will be mediated by slick advertisements, corporate cash, and elected officials who may or may not represent our interests, but Occupy Wall Street embodied something different, something highly unusual in postmodern America: A politics of authenticity.

©2013 Travis Mushett (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Critic reviews

"Travis Mushett takes an intriguing look at cutting-edge media theory through the lens of his experiences with Occupy Wall Street. Engagingly written, with an eye for detail and the telling anecdote, this is a great read for occupiers and media types alike." (Nick Mirzoeff, author of The Right to Look, A Counterhistory of Visuality)

"In this sprightly, insouciant, and deft account, Travis Mushett conveys the life of Occupy Wall Street - not what it was supposed to be, but what it was." (Todd Gitlin, author of Occupy Nation: The Roots, the Spirit, and the Promise of Occupy Wall Street)