The Good Fight: America's Ongoing Struggle for Justice

by Rick Smolan, Jennifer Erwitt

Overview

"A powerful collection of personal journeys through words, images, music, and videos that shows how much progress still lies ahead in the quest for dignity and equality.” —Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life and Steve Jobs

From the creator of the bestselling Day in the Life series comes an extraordinary illustrated book showing how much progress has been made in America over the last 100 years against hatred, bigotry, racism, and injustice—and how much more work remains to be done. 

The Good Fight vividly depicts the human face of America's sporadically violent, often triumphant, always risky struggle to fulfill the promise of freedom and equality for all. Fought in the streets, the courthouse, and the corridors of Congress, it is a story that has become America's own morality play, 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 Good Fight 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.
 
In addition, The Good Fight features 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, that vividly bring each story to life.
 
This timely book captures the struggles—and the successes—experienced by women, African Americans, Native Americans, Jews, Muslims, the LGBTQ community, Latinos, Asian Americans, and the disabled. Along with the eloquent images and graphics, The Good Fight includes short guest essays from individuals representing each group. The writers 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, bestselling author, and historian
• Bryan Stevenson, bestselling 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 NewsHour 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, bestselling 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, bestselling author and recipient of the United States Artists James Baldwin Fellowship
• Richard Bernstein, bestselling author, former Time Bureau Chief and New York Times correspondent

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781454927341
Publisher:	Against All Odds Productions
Publication date:	10/17/2017
Pages:	258
Sales rank:	306,564
Product dimensions:	10.50(w) x 12.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Rick Smolan, a former Time, Life, and National Geographic photographer, is best known as the creator of the Day in the Life book series. As the cofounders of Against All Odds Productions, he and his partner, Jennifer Erwitt, orchestrate global photography projects that combine creative storytelling with state-of-the-art technology. Many of their books have appeared on TheNew York Times bestseller lists and have been featured on the covers of Time, Newsweek, Fortune, and similar publications around the world. Their projects include Inside Tracks, The Human Face of Big Data, America at Home, Blue Planet Run, The Obama Time Capsule, America 24/7, One Digital Day, 24 Hours in Cyberspace, Passage to Vietnam, The Power to Heal, and From Alice to Ocean. Fortune featured Against All Odds as “One of the 25 Coolest Companies in America.”

What People are Saying About This

Mitch Albom

“An evocative, stirring, and achingly beautiful project.”

Eric Liu

“There has always been a gap in America between our ideals and our institutions. The beautiful essays and images in THE GOOD FIGHT remind us that only one thing has ever closed that gap: people power, organized tirelessly and applied relentlessly. Justice for all is worth fighting for.”

Chad Griffin

“The LGBTQ community is as diverse as the fabric of this nation. We are women. We are Muslim. We are Jewish. We are black, white, Latin, Asian American, and Native American. We are immigrants and we are people with disabilities. This important history illustrates our combined struggle for full equality, and is testament to the deeply held American belief that dissent is the highest form of patriotism.”

Marc Benioff

“The heartrending, inspirational images of the fight for equality show us how far we’ve come in America the past 100 years and how far we still have to go.”

Darren Walker

“These stirring images and poignant essays illustrate, in stark relief, how deeply the spirit of standing up to discrimination and injustice is woven into the fabric of American history.”

Walter Isaacson

"A powerful collection of personal journeys through words, images, music, and videos that shows how much progress still lies ahead in the quest for dignity and equality.”

Cheryl L. Dorsey

“THE GOOD FIGHT boldly offers up what the shared passion for justice looks like. This is both a timely and timeless book that is essential in understanding the movements for greater rights and acceptance from multiple perspectives. For those who relentlessly envision and fight for the world as they wish to see it and what it will take to get there, this volume’s rousing testimonies and exquisite images will embolden you to continue onward with the tools of justice, innovation, and idealism as you fight the good fight.”

Janet Murguia

“Inclusive, informative, often infuriating when recounting both the well-known and forgotten injustices many communities have faced but ultimately truly inspirational.”

Beth Comstock

“THE GOOD FIGHT brings moving and important stories to life at a moment when a clear vision of equality seems to be blurring.”

David Wolpe

“This book recounts a story both gripping and sacred.”