Youth to Power: How Today's Young Voters Are Building Tomorrow's Progressive Majority

In this quick, matter-of-fact analysis of current youth participation in politics, Music for America co-founder, Connery argues that we are in the midst of a revival of youth civic involvement. Enabled by the internet, grassroots organizers are engaging youth and completing the work abandoned by the Democratic Party and mainstream progressives. Having organized get-out-the-vote efforts in 2004 and blogged about youth politics for various progressive web sites, Connery approaches his subject with an authority that is simultaneously his greatest strength and greatest liability. Insider knowledge informs stellar reporting of the rift between grassroots hip-hop activists and celebrity moguls such as Russell Simmons (""In more ways than one, Simmons was and still is quite literally selling civic engagement to black youth along with soft drinks and sneakers.""). However the author's attachment to his topic also feeds a tendency to descend into lengthy, acronym-laden dissections of the histories of youth political organizations and their minute workings. Such sections may interest progressive organizers and politicians looking for an overview of the youth voting landscape-and with an election on the horizon, such a release is timely-but may put-off the casual reader.