The Occupiers: The Making of the 99 Percent Movement

This account of the protests that filled the streets of New York's financial district in September and October 2011 conveys the immediacy and momentum of a newly-formed social justice movement. Sociology doctoral candidate Gould-Wartofsky straddled the line between observer and participant during the heady eight weeks in which tens of thousands of demonstrators occupied Zuccotti Park. His first-hand experience allows for colorful details, but also leaves him prone to overstatement, such as calling an incident where a protestor was pepper-sprayed by a police lieutenant "the scream heard %E2%80%98round the world.'" Occupy Wall Street is put in the context of similar movements in Europe, particularly Spain, and of its expansion to other American cities, especially Oakland, Calif.. The often heavy-handed police response, both in New York and other cities, cleared the streets in November, but the Occupiers' message was heard, with President Obama expressing a guarded sympathy with the "frustrations being expressed in these protests." The book's final section works overly hard to convey a measure of coherence and solidarity to the post-Occupy protest movement, which saw many participants drift back to struggling workaday lives, other forms of protest, or homelessness. The final picture, though, is a sobering one: Occupy Wall Street a "shadow of its former self" and the conditions it protested "still very much with us." Illus. (Feb.)