Republic Of Outsiders: The Power of Amateurs, Dreamers and Rebels

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Description

Republic of Outsiders is a look at the growing number of American outsiders who disrupt the status quo: the outcasts who seek to redefine a wide variety of fields, from film and mental health to music and gender. These people range from professional and amateur filmmakers crowd-sourcing their work, to transgender and autistic activists, and Occupy Wall Street's 'alternative bankers'. They are the groups that have forged a new cultural practice Quart dubs 'identity innovation'; pushing the boundaries of who are they are and what they can achieve.

Reviews

"Quarts gift as a writer is her ability to report on the experiences of ordinary people, following their realistically messy lives for years, offering us vivid portraits that are profoundly humane."
The New York Times Book Review

"[Quarts] careful reporting and vividly rendered characters make the book a vital, engaging read."
Psychology Today

"Instructive for those who do creative work, and even for people who are trying to engage in any kind of meaningful self-definition: Dont always accept other peoples categories. You can always make your own."
Fast Company

"With brief but telling glimpses of the many people she interviews, the author makes connections that wouldnt otherwise be obviousa liberating vision of interlocking subcultures."
Columbus Dispatch

Author Bio

Alissa Quart is the author of Branded and Hothouse Kids. She has written features and opinion pieces for the New York Times, The Atlantic, O Magazine, The Nation, and many other publications. Her poetry has appeared in the London Review of Books and elsewhere. She lives in New York City.