If there is a young indefatigable chronicler of efforts to wrest democracy from the growing corporate control of our government, it is David Sirota.

We have known David since he worked as press secretary for then Congressman Bernie Sanders. Sanders, now a U.S. Senator from Vermont, is a big fan of BuzzFlash, and we are big fans of Sanders and David Sirota, who is now a syndicated columnist, author, and populist cheerleader working out of Denver.

Sirota is a youthful Jim Hightower, who chastises the D.C. establishment, whether Republican or Democrat, for caving into the influence of big corporate money on political decisions in the Capitol.

"The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington," as usual is not influenced by any coziness between the author and the D.C. insiders -- as is often the case, even with progressive journalists. Sirota is a true maverick, who isn't awed by the scepters of power on Capitol Hill or in the White House. He's cast his lot with the people who make up our democracy and against the corporations who buy our government.

Sirota would have more a following with his column if he pulled his punches more, but it's not in his blood to do that. He comes out swinging with the truth, and that is off limits to many corporate media outlets.

But God bless him for sticking to his guns. We need an army of David Sirotas in the media and writing books if we are going to restore rule of, by and for the people.

"David Sirota is honest, uncompromising, passionate, and a brilliant communicator. He is the most important progressive voice we have in this country. The Uprising should be read by anyone who wants to understand exactly how the ordinary person has been sold out by the political system."
�Matt Taibbi, national political correspondent for Rolling Stone and author of The Great Derangement

"After so many decades of fake populism - of revolts by the wealthy, red-state fantasies, and stock-picking grandmas - could we finally be looking at the real thing? In this compelling book, rooted in history but as contemporary as this morning's newspaper, David Sirota gives us reason to hope."
-Tom Frank, author of What's the Matter with Kansas?

"This book engages in the nearly lost art of reporting to tell us what's going on in the many places that the elite media can't be bothered to look. It chronicles just how fed up Americans have become, and nominates a few heroes for them to turn to: that great senator Bernie Sanders, or the activist nun Pat Daly, for instance. It cheered me a good deal to read how many Americans are finally starting to fight back against the rule of greed that has been our lot for too many years."
�Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy and The Bill McKibben Reader

"With a historian�s and a journalist�s storytelling gifts, David Sirota describes the populist tide that so many elites fear and ignore at all our peril: multinational corporations that rip off local communities as if they were resource colonies, a national security state that manipulates our young to bleed for that same empire, and a political elite more concerned with preserving its power than empowering citizens to become self-governing. Since leaving the Beltway behind, David Sirota has become a must-read chronicler in the populist tradition."
�Tom Hayden, author of The Tom Hayden Reader and Ending the War in Iraq

"David Sirota details with clarity the sharp knife of corporate greed pointed at the throat of our democracy--and the populist uprising that may thwart the threat if enough Americans heed his call. If you love your country, buy The Uprising, read it, and act."
�Joe Trippi, chief presidential campaign strategist for Howard Dean and John Edwards and author of The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

"David Sirota is a clear-headed and principled hell-raiser for economic justice. More like him and we'll have a real uprising on our hands. "
�Naomi Klein, author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine

From the publisher, Crown books:

"The Uprising is a new book by New York Times bestseller David Sirota about the re-emergence of populist politics on both the Right and Left in America. The book, published by Crown, will be released on May 27th, 2008. The Uprising is all new, firsthand investigative reporting from across the country, showing how populism has become a dominant political force in both national and local politics. Sirota, a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist, takes us far from the media spotlight into the trenches where real change is happening - from the headquarters of the most powerful third party in America to the bowels of the U.S. Senate; from the auditorium of an ExxonMobil shareholder meeting to the quasi-military staging area of a vigilante force on the Mexican border."