About the Book
The definitive history of Seattle's 1999 World Trade Organization protests, featuring over 100 original interviews and timed to the event's twenty-fifth anniversary.
One week in late 1999, more than 50,000 people converged on Seattle. Their goal: to shut down the World Trade Organization conference and send a message that working-class people would not quietly accept the runaway economic globalization that threatened their livelihoods. Though their mission succeeded, it was not without blowback. Violent confrontations between police and protestors resulted in hundreds of arrests and millions of dollars in property damage. But the images of tear gas and smashed windows that flashed across TVs and newspapers were not an accurate representation of what actually happened that week.
In the oral history One Week to Change the World, award-winning journalist DW Gibson pieces together a complex and compelling account of what really went down in Seattle, immersing you in the angst that defined the end of a millennium, complete with fight clubs and Y2K doomsday scenarios. In more than 100 original interviews with protestors, police, politicians, anarchists, artists, activists, union members, and many others, Gibson reconstructs the events in gripping detail; documents its antecedents and aftermath; and shows how so many of its themes remain just as pressing today, including the vitalness and difficulty of grassroots activism, the aspirations and limitations of globalization, the militarization of policing, the sensationalism of the media, and the undeniable power of the people.
Timed to the 25th anniversary of the protests, this book is a page-turning drama, an essential history, and a practical handbook for how to make one's voice heard.
About the Author :
DW Gibson is the author of several books, including the award-winning The Edge Becomes the Center: An Oral History of Gentrification in the Twenty-First Century. He shared a National Magazine Award for his work on "This Is the Story of One Block in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn" for New York magazine. His work has also appeared in Harper's, The Atlantic, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. His radio work includes cohosting the podcast There Goes the Neighborhood, guest hosting various news programs for WNYC, and reading original essays for Live From Here, as well as All Things Considered. He serves as director of Art Omi: Writers in Ghent, New York, and he cofounded Sangam House, a writers' residency in India.
Soneela Nankani is a classically trained Brooklyn-based actress who holds an MFA from Columbia University. She has performed at many prestigious theaters and is an ensemble member of the award-winning Sojourn Theatre. She has also worked in film and television and has narrated over sixty audiobooks. Leon Nixon is a professional actor, playwright, and filmmaker. A Los Angeles native, he has performed in short films, web series, and on stage in dramatic and comedic roles. He is also an improviser and part of the group that appears in the Guinness Book of World Records for Longest Continuous Improv Show.
A classically trained actor, director, and teacher with many regional Shakespeare plays to his credit, Danny Campbell has narrated over 150 titles and directed at least that many. He is a multiple AudioFile Earphones Award winner and was named one of AudioFile's Best of the Year 2017. Jason Culp, an Earphones Award-winning narrator, has been acting since the age of ten, and his credits include a variety of television, theater, and film roles. He is best known for his role as Julian Jerome on General Hospital. In addition to audiobooks and voice-over work in national commercials, he has also narrated documentaries for National Geographic and the History Channel.
A graduate of Carnegie Mellon, Ramon De Ocampo is best known for his television work, especially for his recurring roles on many hit TV shows, including The West Wing, Notorious, 12 Monkeys, Sons of Anarchy, Killer Instinct, Medium, and Major Crimes. His film work includes indie film hit Happy Endings and the summer action film xXx: State of the Union. He is the winner of a prestigious OBIE Award for his Off-Broadway stage work, and has performed all over the world. A longtime audiobook narrator, Ramon is an Audie Award nominee and has won eleven AudioFile Earphones Awards, including Best Voice two years in a row. Cassandra Campbell has recorded nearly two hundred audiobooks and directed many more. She has been nominated for and won multiple Audie Awards, as well as the prestigious Odyssey Award. She has received numerous starred audio reviews in both Publishers Weekly and Library Journal and more than twenty AudioFile Earphones Awards. Cassandra was also named a Best Voice by AudioFile for 2009 and 2010. Fred Sanders, an actor and Earphones Award-winning narrator, has received critics' praise for his audio narrations that range from nonfiction, memoir, and fiction to mystery and suspense. He been seen on Broadway in The Buddy Holly Story, in national tours for Driving Miss Daisy and Big River, and on such television shows as Seinfeld, The West Wing, Will and Grace, Numb3rs, Titus, and Malcolm in the Middle. His films include Sea of Love, The Shadow, and the Oscar-nominated short Culture. He is a native New Yorker and Yale graduate.