Monday, February 18, 2013

Have Guitar, Will Travel: Protest Travel Writing

EBOOK!  My ebook of stories from the road is available on Amazon, Kobo and other ebook platforms. At $2.99 each, I'm hoping I'm pricing it to sell...!

Please be encouraged to a) buy the ebook, b) write a review, and c) tell all your friends to do the same.

A crowd-sourced bestseller is the aim!


Here's what some other folks have said about the book:

“Spin the globe and follow Rovics and his guitar from the Americas to Europe to the Middle East, illuminating under-covered facts, challenging conventional thinking and celebrating peace and justice. David Rovics’ subversive songs have energized street movements around the world for years. What make this new work Have Guitar, Will Travel so engaging are the pages and pages of detailed observations. His ideas provoke as his words reverberate. Truth has a voice and its name is Rovics. He writes that the spell of so-called democracies can be broken, but only if we don't give up. These reports back from big cities and faraway forests inspire us to go on. David Rovics is our troubadour of dissent.”
David Barsamian
Host, Alternative Radio

“There are a small number of progressive voices out there who back up the strength of their convictions with an understanding of historical and geographical truths in a way that's smart, honest, clear, angry and loving all at the same time. And precious few who effectively carry on the traditions forged by the great political singers of the post New Deal era (Seeger, Guthrie, Robeson, etc.). Musician/journalist David Rovics is just such an artist, and whether these essays inspire action or hope or anger, you will surely learn something about the world you live in that transcends the junk food disinformation spoon fed us by the conventional news media. Think Democracy Now! with a guitar. His voice is essential. His songs are essential. And these essays are essential, too.”
Mark D. Moss
Editor, Sing Out! Magazine

“The great troubadour David Rovics put down his guitar long enough to compose this gripping and vivid book, filled with illuminating stories about the courageous people he met over the last few years who are fighting for justice in the United States and around the world. Impassioned yet conversational, he brings loving portraits -- and damning indictments. Rovics's humanity shines through, as does his unquenchable thirst for a better, fairer world.”
Matt Rothschild
Editor, Progressive Magazine

“You won't often see them in your newspaper, but if you follow protests on the internet you will find them breaking out almost daily from Mexico to Ireland and from Palestine to Columbus, Georgia. What would it be like if instead of a news account you could actually be there, hang out, talk with participants, and discover the experiences and feelings that underlie the protests? That's what protest singer David Rovics has done over the past decade and more, performing his songs in dozens of countries and hanging out with activists, local folks, and on occasion cultural leaders and even members of the national elite. Now in Have Guitar, Will Travel he gives a vivid, insightful, and often wry account of the politics and people behind the protests worldwide.”
Jeremy Brecher
Author of Strike! and many other books

“Tirelessly crisscrossing the planet, guitar in hand and song in his heart, David Rovics generously takes us along. With prose as simple and crystal clear as water, he introduces us to people fighting for justice and for a little thing called democracy in the streets of Japan, Palestine, Denmark, Nevada, Texas, and dozens of points in between. If you're ever tempted to believe that 'nothing's happening,' consider these beautifully told stories to be the perfect antidote: read it to give yourself courage.”
Mark Rudd
Author of Underground: My Life with SDS and the Weathermen

“One of the greatest gifts of wisdom is to educate people by telling them stories. That is what David Rovics does in his songs, and this is what he does, at much greater length, in his book of travel writing. In the songs, he often speaks in the voices of others; in the travel writing, he speaks directly in his own voice. But the insight, the humor, and the radical vision are a constant. When you read this book, you'll become acquainted both with the repressive forces (cultural as well as paramilitary) and with the communities of resistance in a wide range of countries, spanning the Americas, Australasia, and both northern and southern Europe. And you'll do it all quite effortlessly; it's like listening to an extended version of what David tells his audiences in between songs at one of his gigs.”
Victor Walls
Professor, Berklee College of Music

“Rovics's 'protest travel writing' is both entertaining to read and a valuable account of our contemporary activist history. He takes us into some of the most important conflict zones of the last decade, and his first-person stories bring alive the events and memories. Activist history too often disappears -- thank you David for documenting these struggles!”
Starhawk
Author of The Spiral Dance and many other books

“Not only has David Rovics typically been there, done that, and composed a song about it to boot, but he's written eloquent and impassioned essays as to why he was there, what was actually going on, and that there's more to life, and understanding it, than the soundbite -- however catchy -- of a song. Fortunately, his gifts as an essayist and commentator are at least equal to those of singer and songwriter. To call this a 'best-of' would be to denigrate the fantastic body of work that David Rovics has been penning since he got down to it. Let's just say this is a a generous, and eminently engaging sample of some of the finest, and timeless 'travel' writing you're likely to encounter.”
Ramsey Kanaan, PM Press

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