About Riot Act: Releasing on July 16th 2024, punk rock meets Orwell’s 1984 in this story of a group of theater kids who take on a political regime, perfect for readers who love books by A.S. King and Marie Lu.

What is anarchism? Defying all forms of domination. What is compassion? Feeling the suffering of others. What is punk? Rejecting the mainstream to do your own thing. The books below are intended for a range of ages and reading levels, but all influenced me as I wrote Riot Act, and all demonstrate the power of questioning orders when to comply would mean increasing misery in the world. As a Gen-Xer, I’ve included some selections from the 1980s, to share a glimpse of my generation’s roots in compassionate anarchic punk-rock ideals.

Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall by Tim Mohr

Mohr’s nonfiction account of how German punk rockers started the movement that brought down the Berlin Wall shows kids using their power to change the world.

Practical Anarchism: A Guide for Daily Life by Scott Branson

If the word “anarchy” scares you, check out Branson’s depiction of “a flexible anarchism that tries in each moment to reorder the world through care.”

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder

Clear, actionable ways to resist authoritarianism every day—because democracy is never the default.

The Flies by Jean Paul Sartre

In Sartre’s play, based on the Greek Electra myth, a plague of flies is making the townspeople desperate. Will they stop waiting for the gods to save them and save themselves?

Politics and the English Language by George Orwell (essay)

Orwell’s classic essay emphasizes the need for precise language in word and thought, because “to think clearly is a necessary first step towards political regeneration.”

Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys by Viv Albertine

The fierce memoir of a revolutionary punk rocker who, while her guitar dripped with saliva from men spitting at her for being a woman on stage, kept playing.

Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot by Masha Gessen

Curious what it’s like inside a Russian jail? Read Gessen’s precise, in-depth reporting on Pussy Riot, the punk collective imprisoned for performances protesting the Putin regime.

Troublemaker for Justice: The Story of Bayard Rustin, the Man Behind the March on Washington by Jacqueline Houtman

“We need, in every community, a group of angelic troublemakers,” declared Bayard Rustin, the nonviolent activist who organized the March on Washington, and faced homophobia as a leader of the Civil Rights Movement.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Oklahoma, 1965: the greasers and the soc’s rumble, and reflect on class and violence in America. The best-selling YA book of all time for a long time, for a reason.

Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block

An OG banned YA novel, published in 1989. “Alternative lifestyles,” as the censors labeled everything not heteronormative, depicted with imagination, teeth, and love. Read and rejoice.

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