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This “groundbreaking study of the increasing influence of cultural outsiders” (The Philadelphia Inquirer) is “at once an ode to the underrepresented and a reporting tour de force” (The Writer). Alissa Quart, “one of the smartest cultural interpreters of her generation” (Susan Cain, author of Quiet), introduces us to those who have created new ways to keep themselves sane, fulfilled, and, on occasion, paid.
Republic of Outsiders is the story of Americans who, freed of middlemen and armed with new technology, are able to make their unusual ideas go viral and disrupt the status quo. They include amateur filmmakers who crowdsource their work, scientists developing artificial meat, neurodiverse activists, and “alternative” bankers. These outsiders create and package new identities (a process Quart dubs “identity innovation”). They push the boundaries of who they—and we—can be.
Excerpted in O Magazine and The Nation, given a starred review in Publishers Weekly, chosen as a Flavorwire "must read," and placed on the "brilliant highbrow" quadrant of New York's Approval Matrix, Republic of Outsiders also was praised by Douglas Rushkoff, author of Present Shock, as “an essential account of how and why fringe activism has become central to our culture and politics in a digital age.”
Republic of Outsiders is the story of Americans who, freed of middlemen and armed with new technology, are able to make their unusual ideas go viral and disrupt the status quo. They include amateur filmmakers who crowdsource their work, scientists developing artificial meat, neurodiverse activists, and “alternative” bankers. These outsiders create and package new identities (a process Quart dubs “identity innovation”). They push the boundaries of who they—and we—can be.
Excerpted in O Magazine and The Nation, given a starred review in Publishers Weekly, chosen as a Flavorwire "must read," and placed on the "brilliant highbrow" quadrant of New York's Approval Matrix, Republic of Outsiders also was praised by Douglas Rushkoff, author of Present Shock, as “an essential account of how and why fringe activism has become central to our culture and politics in a digital age.”
Price: $16.95
Pages: 224
Publisher: The New Press
Imprint: The New Press
Publication Date:
07 October 2014
Trim Size: 8.25 X 5.50 in
ISBN: 9781620970294
Format: Paperback
"Quart's gift as a writer is her ability to report on the experiences of ordinary people, following their realistically messy lives for years, offering us vivid portraits that are profoundly humane."
—The New York Times Book Review
"[Quart's] careful reporting and vividly rendered characters make the book a vital, engaging read."
—Psychology Today
"Instructive for those who do creative work, and even for people who are trying to engage in any kind of meaningful self-definition: Don't always accept other people's categories. You can always make your own."
—Fast Company
"With brief but telling glimpses of the many people she interviews, the author makes connections that wouldn't otherwise be obvious…a liberating vision of interlocking subcultures."
—Columbus Dispatch
—The New York Times Book Review
"[Quart's] careful reporting and vividly rendered characters make the book a vital, engaging read."
—Psychology Today
"Instructive for those who do creative work, and even for people who are trying to engage in any kind of meaningful self-definition: Don't always accept other people's categories. You can always make your own."
—Fast Company
"With brief but telling glimpses of the many people she interviews, the author makes connections that wouldn't otherwise be obvious…a liberating vision of interlocking subcultures."
—Columbus Dispatch
Alissa Quart is the author of Branded and Hothouse Kids. She has written features and opinion pieces for the New York Times, The Atlantic, O Magazine, The Nation, and many other publications. Her poetry has appeared in the London Review of Books and elsewhere. She lives in New York City.