All of your favorite characters from The Dandelion Insurrection are back! Charlie Rider and Zadie Byrd Gray may have won a revolution, but “they’ve got more problems than centipedes have legs” – as lawyer Tansy Beaulisle puts it. The new president can’t be trusted. The rich and powerful refuse to step down. A mysterious group called the Roots slips a violent edge into the heart of the movement. When the media cooks up a love affair between Zadie and the Roots’ leader, it takes every ounce of Charlie’s courage and compassion to keep the Dandelion Insurrection moving forward.
Find The Roots of Resistance here.
Find The Dandelion Trilogy here.
Find the 5-book set of The Dandelion Collection here.
“Love thrusts the world through eternity and carries us forward into the infinity of tomorrow. With love, the pivot of change emerges, and we find the lever that is long enough to move the world. With love, the arc of the universe bends toward justice, the spirit of humanity soars, and the flood of life revives.”
- From The Roots of Resistance
Reviews:
“Billed as ‘Book Two of the Dandelion Trilogy,’ this one makes me hope Sun is punching out Book Three soon and perhaps, like Douglas Adams, will give us, someday, Books Four and Five of the Trilogy.” – Tom H. Hastings, Conflict Resolution Assistant Professor, Portland State University. Read the full review here.
“Rivera Sun always gifts us with usefully creative fiction. Her Roots of Resistance – the second novel of her Dandelion Trilogy – offers an inspiring story to help guide love-based strategic change efforts . . . . It takes a storyteller like Rivera Sun who inspires us to rise to the challenge as her characters do, because her stories tell us how.” – Tom Atlee, Co-Intelligence Institute. Read the full review here.
“Rivera Sun’s The Roots of Resistance tells a story of a creative nonviolent resistance that is transforming the United States from inequality to equality, democratic dictatorship to a real people’s democracy, to a United States that puts necessities of the people and protection of the planet before profits. The resisters from The Dandelion Insurrection, the first story in this three-part series, fight the challenges of infiltration, misdirection and media propaganda that activists face today. They show us how to respond and the difficulties these challenges cause within movements. They also give us hope of what could be in a way that seems achievable.” – Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance
“If you loved Starhawk’s Fifth Sacred Thing, if you loved recently-departed Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Dispossessed, if you admire the spirit of the Standing Rock Water Protectors, you will drink in this must-read page-turner . . . an epic story that will move your spirit, bringing tears to your eyes and healing to your soul.” – Rosa Zubizarreta, Author of From Conflict to Creative Collaboration
“A tale of revolution, resistance and the indomitable power of love . . . skims tantalizingly close to the surface of what could be political reality in these United States in just a few short years. Recommended for wanderers, whistleblowers, and anyone curious about the question of violence vs. nonviolence.” – Elizabeth Murray, former Deputy National Intelligence Office for the Near East, National Intelligence Council and Member in Residence, Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action
“The Roots of Resistance is a compelling page-turner about the inner workings of a nonviolent movement and how it deals with forces that try to sabotage it. I loved this book!” – Judy Olson, Backbone Campaign
“This book is a treasure of a resource; it’s a repertoire of nonviolence techniques disguised as a novel.” – Michael Nagler, Founder and President, The Metta Center for Nonviolence
“A must-read, written by the talented Rivera Sun! Resistance is essential, as nonviolent actions will save humanity. Amazingly inspirational!” – Robin Wildman, Nonviolent Schools
“This novel is a nuanced political, moral, and emotional exploration of risks, sacrifices and rewards that a commitment to social justice can elicit in the hearts of some extraordinary people. In reading The Roots of Resistance, I was frequently moved to resist the plot’s incessant pull of haste so that I might linger and relish the rich emotional dynamics within such noble characters. A memorable cognitive and emotional journey.” – Nim Batchelor, Professor of Philosophy, Elon University
“In times of despair, we need hope. In times of frustration, we need inspiration. In times of confusion, we need clarity. Rivera brings us all of these and more.” – Stephen Zunes, University of San Francisco
“Once again Rivera Sun weaves a captivating story of change and shows us a path forward out of the fear and control of our current chaotic world and toward a world whose foundation is Love. This is just the story we need to inform, inspire and call us forth into action.” – Cindy Reinhardt, the Success Zone
“This novel represents Rivera Sun at her best – plenty of action, a gripping story-line, really interesting and conscious characters (at least the good guys!), and all in the service of a non-violent, yet wholly believable revolution that could just transform these United States.” – Jim Dreaver, author, End Your Story, Begin Your Life
Excerpt from “The Roots of Resistance”
Behind the curtains of the star-strewn sky, just beyond the edge of ordinary sight, Love churned as vast as plate tectonics and as powerful as thunderstorms. It pressed against the edges of reality, seeking to crack the barriers of awareness that blocked it. Zadie recognized this Great Love – the kind that sears the soul and hauls us back from human folly, the Love reverberating in revolutions of the heart, the Love that scorches cruelty away as it rises, the Love that breaks our hearts and turns out its contents to those in need.
Life wants to live, but more that that, it wants to love. Simple survival is not enough. Mere procreation leaves mothers turning their faces to the wall and fathers hanging from the rafters. Fallen in the wasteland, thirst alone may leave us collapsed, abandoning our bodies to the vultures. But love? For the hope of saving our children, seeing our beloved, or protecting our communities, we stagger to our feet and stumble forward on the burning sand. To save her granddaughter, an elderly woman can find the strength to lift a crushing vehicle. For his father, a son plunges into the flames of a burning house. We shoulder the unbearable, accomplish the impossible, endure the unthinkable by the intensity of our love.
These stories of love emerge on every continent, in every town. Multiplied by millions, they create a song of life louder than the small-hearted survivalists, richer than the death mongers and their addictions. More enduring than despair, more grounded than hope, this song reverberates in the genetic strands of humanity, woven into the biological structure of human life. Deep in history, our foremothers loved their children. Far in the future, our descendants love their families. In this present moment, which hangs like a bead of dew on the grass stem of time, where the life of the planet lies clouded by question marks and the body of humanity lies massive and sprawled in a wasteland of our own making, the love song of our ancestors and descendants is calling to us to rise. The hymn of life hums in the throats of our brothers and sisters. The chords of evolution roar and bark, howl and hiss, warble and moan from the tongues of fellow animals. The wind strikes the harp strings of the forests and marshes, prairies and mountains. The great tympani of the coasts booms and crashes across the cymbals of sands and the drum barrels of rocks.
All that is needed is to listen. The love song of the world enters our souls through the language of life. Our touchstone of strength forms the shape of our beloveds. Courage surges into our limbs. We rise. One foot steps in the direction of change. This is the Love that thrusts the world through eternity and carries us forward into the infinity of tomorrow. It sings overhead, scouring the barriers of reality, looking for an opening.
“They were leaderful, colorful, creative, and unruly,
hard to control, impossible to stop.
It was madness. It was glorious. It was the Dandelion Insurrection.”
– From The Roots of Resistance
More Excerpts:
March Into the Heart of Darkness Blazing With Love
Here’s what readers are saying:
Rivera paints a gritty story. . . Pero, asi es la vida. The Roots characters unapologetically show us that the change we want won’t be easy. Buckle up for a bumpy, triumphant ride! – Elyssa Marie Serrilli
The Roots of Resistance is an exciting read. I am always entertained, educated and inspired by Rivera Sun’s writing! I am grateful to her. – Kathryn Morse
My reading chair just became the best place to be. Thank you, Rivera Sun! High adventure is guaranteed in the (Dandelion Insurrection) sequel! – W. H.
Started reading last night during our first snow storm of the season and what a read this is! I have to hold back or I will read the whole book all at once. It’s that good!!! – P. M.
“She wrote a SEQUEL?!!!!” And before the squeal (from my kid) had faded, I realized I was going to be second in line to read Rivera Sun’s newest book. I knew I should have ordered 2 copies of The Roots of Resistance. – K. L.
These two books are not only page turners, but they’re also “how to” when it comes to transforming our mindsets and thus the world we live in – and more importantly the world our children are inheriting. – J. L.
I’m about 15% into the book, but wow! Don’t miss this opportunity! – S. T.
Oh my GAWD I love (the new character Alex Kelley) and what an addition to the Dandelion Insurrection! – L. P.
I’m loving this book. Thanks Rivera Sun, for offering such great possibilities of what we all can do to right the wrongs of this nation. – R. F.
Remember The Dandelion Insurrection? If not, read it now. Then back its sequel, The Roots of Resistance. Through both books, you’ll experience a world in which resistance is wild, joyful, unstoppable, and fertile. Wouldn’t you love to live in such a place, for a few hours – or forever? – H. Z.
The Dandelion Insurrection was ahead of the curve (prophetic and insightful really) and the same is true for The Roots of Resistance. The characters are facing the very issues we’re facing and they are Strong!!! – J. L.