The New York Times bestselling author and America's funniest activist gives the lowdown on how to put up-not shut up-in the fight for our future.

Hightower, the country's #1 populist, has picked up some useful advice over the years, from never eat at a caf featuring 'bargain kebobs' to never hit a man with glasses; hit him with something much heavier. As he and his longtime co-conspirator Susan DeMarco have rambled through grassroots America, however, they've also come up with more serious words of wisdom to share here, namely: question authority, trust your values, seek alternatives, break away, stand up for your beliefs, and swim against the current.

Their book introduces readers to people across the country who have actually done this — people in business, politics, health care, farming, religion, and other areas who are taking charge, living their values, doing good, and doing well. Hightower and DeMarco show how they are doing precisely what the elites want us to believe can't be done: changing their lives and making a difference. He tells the stories of these people and offers inspiration and information that will help readers tap into their own maverick potential in order to navigate a different, more satisfying course of their own.

Whether they are young and just starting out or older and searching for a different path, the commonsense folks in this book have escaped the corporate tentacles to find their own way toward a richer life and a better American future. They are creating a new, deeply democratic model for the country, edging it back onto the long road toward egalitarianism and the common good.

Hightower and DeMarco are at their contrarian, sharp-witted, and straight-shooting best as they celebrate the triumph of grassroots gumption over the tight-fisted grip of corporate control.

Hightower is most often called a populist, but he just shrugs it off and starts pointing out features of the real world that the rich and powerful would rather people did not notice. Here he and co-conspirator Susan DeMarco present vignettes of how once-ordinary people are fighting corruption and injustice in business, politics, and life, often by providing an alternative to the mainstream. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

"We all need some inspiration from time to time to remind us of what we’re fighting for, not just against. Hightower and DeMarco provide it in these pages, thank our lucky stars..." (DailyKos.com, April 6, 2008)

Pssssst! Bookstore browsers!

Don't look around, but the corporate and political powers that be want you to put this book down, right now. It definitely is NOT on their approved list.

Swim against the Current is one of those books that the power elites don't like seeing in stores, much less in your hands—not merely because it challenges their established order, but especially because our book reveals paths that folks like you can use to escape their rigid, hierarchical structures and discover a bit more satisfaction in life.

They prefer that you pick up one of those escapist novels over there across the store, rather than finding out that the greatest escape of all can be from stultifying conventional wisdom. We Americans are constantly harassed into thinking that we can't break the mold that those in charge have made for us. But as a friend of ours puts it: "Those who say it can't be done should not interrupt those who are doing it."

It's the uplifting stories of mavericks that we tell here. They've broken free of the corporate tentacles, free of business-as-usual politics, free of top-down elites. They're figuring out new ways to do commerce, ways to create political channels that empower grassroots Americans, and ways to live their lives.

As these folks show, resistance is not futile . . . it's fertile. Join the fun! Happy reading!

Will Jim Hightower ever stop complaining about corporate greed and political corruption long enough to say something positive for a change? Yes!

In Swim against the Current, America's most irascible and hilarious curmudgeon turns a kind and benevolent eye toward the brave, hardy, and hardworking souls who have found ways to break free from corporate tentacles; redefine success in business, politics, and life in general; and blaze new pathways toward a richer and (dare he say it?) happier way of life.

The people whose stories you will read in this eye-opening tour of "Other Ways to Live Your Life" didn't set out to be mavericks or revolutionaries. They are solid, productive American citizens who found it necessary to define their own kind of success, take charge of their own destinies, live according to their own values, and find ways to do well while doing good.

Is it possible to operate a large and successful business without low-balling your suppliers, underpaying your employees, and kowtowing to your clients' demands for rock-bottom prices? You'll find the answer when you meet the farmers' cooperative that said "NO!" to Wal-Mart and thrived, the economists who got into the coffee business by accident and turned the entire industry on its ear, and the cab drivers who turned a dead-end job into a satisfying, lifelong career.

What about breaking loose from politics-as-usual and building a new politics based on our democratic ideals and our desire to be self-governing? Hightower introduces you to a group of young Oregonians who set out to wrest control of their state legislature from the hands of corporate interests—and succeeded! You'll also meet people across the country who are fighting campaign-finance corruption through the Clean Elections movement, as well as the Minnesotans whose missionis to mentor people everywhere on how to get personally involved in politics on the local, state, and even national levels.

And what about the rest of life? Are we condemned to a future of complacent consumerism as corporations and kleptocrats exploit our differences over abortion and gay marriage to distract us from what's really going on? Here, too, Hightower has good news. He reports on an astounding alliance between scientists and evangelical Christians to combat global warming, environmental destruction by mining companies, indiscriminate logging, and more.

Complete with an extensive contact list to help you find your own path to a more involved and satisfying life, Swim against the Current is the one book that the CEOs, lobbyists, and bought politicians don't want you to read.

Jim Hightower is a syndicated columnist, national radio commentator, publisher of the Hightower Lowdown newsletter, and the New York Times bestselling author of Thieves in High Places.

Susan DeMarco is a writer, former radio talk-show host, public-interest activist, and longtime Hightower partner-in-crime.

Acknowledgements.

Introduction.

Part One: Business.

Chapter 1. Business without Greed.

Chapter 2. Fair Trade.

Chapter 3. Cooperation Works.

Chapter 4. Socially Responsible.

Chapter 5. Putting Workers in Charge.

Chapter 6. The Good (Business) Life.

Chapter 7. Banking on Change.

Connections for Part One.

Part Two: Politics.

Chapter 8. Shape Up, America!

Chapter 9. Run for It!

Chapter 10. Clean Elections.

Chapter 11. Democracy School.

Chapter 12. Build It!

Chapter 13. Granny Power.

Chapter 14. The Politics of Fun.

Connections for Part Two.

Part Three: Life

Chapter 15. Take Charge!

Chapter 16. How We Live.

Chapter 17. A Mass Movement Arises.

Chapter 18. Flowers in the Field.

Chapter 19. The Conscience of an Evangelical.

Connections for Part Three.

Final Thoughts.

DeMarco's Reading List.

Index.