Semafor's Best Political Book of 2023
A riveting insider account of the progressive movement in Congress centering A.O.C., Rashida Tlaib, Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush, Ayanna Pressley, and Ilhan Omar--their rise, their efforts to set an ambitious agenda for the country, and their struggle to find their footing within the Democratic party.
The Squad is the definitive, must-read book about the most exciting figures defining our new era. The story is urgent, and the stakes are high--for the country and the world--and Grim, an experienced political reporter who covered the Squad before they were the Squad, is uniquely qualified to tell it.
When Bernie Sanders, an obscure Vermont senator, launched his quixotic 2016 presidential campaign, few could have seen just how radically the Democratic Party would transform in just a few short years--or that such a transformation could be led by a Bronx bartender volunteering for Bernie in her spare time. The world as it was when that campaign began is almost unrecognizable today, and the Squad has both shaped and been shaped by the seismic social, cultural, and political changes underway.
Referred to informally as the Squad, led by the preternaturally politically savvy Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the group laid down a marker for an aggressive left-wing agenda. Grim takes you behind the scenes as that new energy makes impact with Washington, and the Squad spends as much time fending off assaults from Donald Trump--who regularly singled them out and led chants of "send them back" at rallies--as they did battling their own party's sclerotic leadership. As they've grown in office, they've had to contend with the eternal question that confronts outsiders who power their way into the inside: Are they still radical organizers willing and able to lead a political revolution?
About the Author :
Ryan Grim is The Intercept's D.C. Bureau Chief and the co-host of Counter Points. He was previously the Washington bureau chief for HuffPost, where he led a team that won a Pulitzer Prize. He has been a staff reporter for Politico and Washington City Paper and is a former contributor to MSNBC and The Young Turks. He's the author of the book We've Got People: From Jesse Jackson to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the End of Big Money and the Rise of a Movement and This is Your Country on Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America.
Review :
Semafor's Best Political Book of 2023
"[Ryan Grim] needs to do his own show. He's really good . . . objective . . .no bullshit rhetoric."
--Joe Rogan
"If you've been reading Ryan Grim's consistently groundbreaking reporting over the past decade, the recent monumental shift in our politics came as little surprise. For anybody who wants to understand where we've been and where we're going, The Squad is an essential read."
--Naomi Klein, New York Times bestselling author
"[Grim] has become one of the most authoritative voices in Washington on a wide range of topics, but his specialty has always been giving voice to the voiceless and taking on powerful institutions trying to screw over the most vulnerable among us."
--Lydia Polgreen, New York Times columnist
"A richly reported account of how the House's most outspoken bloc of left-wing lawmakers, and the movement they represent, have fared in the nation's capital."
--HuffPost
"The book is a fascinating insider account of how power really works. The Squad were all elected as insurgent Democrats challenging the party establishment. But once inside the House, they encountered a familiar dilemma: do you go to war against the party leaders, and alienate them, or do you try to work with them?"
--Current Affairs
"Political reporter Grim, D.C. bureau chief for the Intercept, examines the rise, challenges, and influence of six aggressive left-wing politicians: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, and Ilhan Omar, branded by the media as The Squad, and the two representatives who joined them in 2021, Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush...Drawing on his own on-the-ground reporting, Grim creates a detailed account of seven tumultuous years. An insider's often dismaying picture of national politics."
--Kirkus Reviews
"Insightful.... Grim skillfully elucidates the political substance beneath the bewildering complexity of congressional legislating, election strategizing, and influence peddling, conveying it all in prose that's perceptive and pithy...The result is a fresh and penetrating take on a divided Democratic Party."
--Publishers Weekly
