This diary is a sampling and response to The Occupy Handbook, a collection of essays on Occupy Wall Street -- its history, current state, and possible futures -- from some of America's best thinkers. Hopefully you will get some idea from this report as to whether you might want to buy it, or ask your local library to get it.
How do you write a 500-page book on a leaderless, locally varied social movement that flowered just a few months ago? Nonhierarchically. Janet Byrne got sixty-seven authors to contribute fifty-five essays for this book, including a large number of the names you see in news reports as the idea generators and policy makers surrounding the Occupy movement: Paul Volcker, Paul Krugman, Emmanuel Saez, Ken Rogoff, Nouriel Roubini, Barbara Ehrenreich, Brad DeLong, and many more.
Having the ideas presented in a series of essays means the book is well-organized for subway or lunchtime reading. Although there are overarching themes -- the three sections are on how the crisis developed, analysis of its current state, and suggestions for action -- the essays are basically independent. Those that are not recipes for action can still inform your efforts to come up with one. Opinions will vary on which are the most useful; I include a sampling of my reactions below to give the reader a sense of the book's contents as well as my personal selections of the best ideas.
