Includes bibliographical references (pages 293-324) and index.

Introduction: No future shock -- Banks got bailed out, we got sold out -- Middle-class meltdown and the debt trap -- Walmart, Walmart, you can't hide, we can see your greedy side -- Challenging the Austeritarians -- Race to the bottom -- A moral movement -- Red scares and radical imagination -- The militarization of everything -- Change is gonna come -- Conclusion: Our future is not yours to leverage.

Over the last few years, we've seen the growth of the Tea Party, BlackLivesMatter, Occupy Wall Street, and the grassroots networks supporting presidential candidates in defiance of the traditional party elites. Sarah Jaffe leads readers into the heart of these movements, explaining what has made ordinary Americans become activists. Jaffe argues that the financial crisis in 2008 was the spark, the moment that crystallized that something was wrong. For years, Jaffe crisscrossed the country, asking people what they were angry about, and what they were doing to take power back. Americans are discovering the effectiveness of making good, necessary trouble. Regardless of political alignment, they are challenging who wields power in this country.