Are You Ready For The Good Fight?

White supremacist marches in Charlottesville.  National anthem protests by NFL players over the police shootings of unarmed black men. US Supreme Court case rulings on gay rights. Women demanding equal pay for equal work.

Every day we see civil rights issues play out in our communities and the media.

A very significant new book that addresses over a century of battles – legal, physical, political - is being released this week and couldn’t be more timely.

THE GOOD FIGHT: America’s Ongoing Struggle for Justice (Sterling Publishing, October 17, 2017, Hardcover $35.00; 258 pages; ISBN: 978-1454927341) captures the sporadically violent, often triumphant, always risky struggles of Americans who have experienced hatred, oppression or bigotry because of their gender, skin color, country of origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability or beliefs over the past 100 years.

I am proud to say that Media Connect is promoting this book to the media. For 55 years the leading book publicity firm has promoted thousands of books, many of them interesting, inspiring, and important but perhaps none that could speak to the hearts of all Americans like this one can.

Fought in the streets, the courthouse, and the corridors of Congress, this is a story that has unfolded across America, illustrated here through more than 180 memorable photographs, nearly 60 embedded videos, over a dozen compelling essays plus examples of music and lyrics that rallied America's resistance to injustice. For those who wish to eradicate bigotry and intolerance in America, the book is a call to action.

It shows us how much we as a nation have accomplished; it also reminds us of the fragility of our success and how quickly this hard-fought progress can slip away if we do not remain vigilant.

THE GOOD FIGHT, created by New York Times best-selling authors Rick Smolan and Jennifer Erwitt, and made possible with the generous support of the Anti-Defamation League, depicts injustices and successes experienced by African Americans, Native Americans, Jewish Americans, Muslim Americans, American Women, the LGBTQ community, Latino Americans, Asian Americans and Disabled Americans As seen through the eyes of the world's leading photographers over the past century, this book helps put today’s movements and thorny issues into perspective.

Featured contributors and essayists include:

·         George Takei, Star Trek television and film star

·         Bret Stephens, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times

·         Todd Brewster, award-winning journalist, best-selling author and historian

·         Bryan Stevenson, best-selling author and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative.

·         Cleve Jones, best-selling author and creator of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.

·         Jonathan Broder, award-winning journalist, formerly of the Chicago Tribune, NPR and Newsweek.

·         Ray Suarez, best-selling author and former correspondent for PBS News Hour and NPR’s Talk of the Nation

·         Charles Ramsey, former DC Police Chief and President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

·         Aimee Mullins, actress and Paralympics World-record holder

·         Zak Ebrahim, best-selling author and speaker on nonviolence

·         Wajahat Ali, New York Times Columnist and creative director of Affinis Labs

·         Tiffany Shlain, Emmy-nominated filmmaker and founder of The Webby Awards.

·         Mat Johnson, best-selling author and recipient of the U.S. Artist James Baldwin Fellowship

·         Richard Bernstein, best-selling author, former Time Bureau Chief and New York Times correspondent

“When Jonathan Greenblatt, the director of the Anti-Defamation League, and I first conceived THE GOOD FIGHT, we envisioned it as a retrospective, a book of history to remind every American of the inspiring progress made over the past century and to acknowledge how much further we as a nation still need to go,” says Smolan. “But then, as the 2016 presidential election played out around us, when so many previously hard-fought victories against hatred and injustice appeared to, once again, be in jeopardy, we expanded the scope of the project. We hope this book will prompt readers to appreciate how much work remains to be done.”

“’The Good Fight’” comes at a pivotal moment in our country when the struggle for equal rights remains not just a legacy of history, but is very much a current event,” said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO and National Director. “We cannot attain true civil rights in America without knowing and remembering our history and the struggles of our forbearers. This amazing retelling of America’s civil rights story highlights the many moments, large and small, that helped to transform America. These are the stories of the achievements that moved us closer to the goal of a society free of prejudice and hatred, and where all people have access to a life of freedom, equality and dignity.”

THE GOOD FIGHT communicates its messages in multiple ways – through 180 provocative photographs, over a dozen insightful essays, bold infographics plus a smartphone app (THE GOOD FIGHT VIEWER) that enables readers to point their smartphones or tablets at over 60 photos to immediately stream online video clips, including TED Talks, which vividly bring each story to life.

Smolan, CEO of Against All Odds Productions, is a #1 New York Times best-selling author with more than five million copies of his books in print. A former Time, LIFE, and National Geographic photographer, Smolan is best known as the co-creator of the “Day in the Life” book series. Today he and his partner, Jennifer Erwitt, orchestrate global projects that combine creative storytelling with state-of-the-art technology. Their projects each generate hundreds of millions of media impressions and are often featured on the covers of Fortune, Time, GEO and similar publications around the world.

More information can be found at www.thegoodfightbook.org

To learn more on how one can make a difference and get involved, learn more about The Anti-Defamation League, which was founded in 1913 to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.  Today it is the world’s leading organization combating anti-Semitism, exposing hate groups, training law enforcement on hate crimes, developing anti-bias curricula for students, countering cyber-hate and relentlessly pursuing equal rights for all. You can follow them on Twitter: @ADL_National

Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog 2017©. Born and raised in Brooklyn, now resides in Westchester. Named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs