Bookshop Santa Cruz: Kate Schatz & Miriam Klein Stahl, Rad American History A-Z

Bookshop welcomes Kate Schatz and Miriam Klein Stahl, the New York Times bestselling team behind Rad American Women A-Z, for a reading and signing of Rad American History A–Z, their new illustrated collection of radical and transformative political, social, and cultural movements in American history.

"An engaging, fascinating, and necessary book that speaks truth to power."--Congresswoman Barbara Lee

In Rad American History A-Z, each letter of the alphabet tells the story of a significant moment in America's progressive history--one that isn't always covered in history classes: A is for Alcatraz, and the Native occupation of 1969; C is for the Combahee River Raid, a Civil War action planned in part by Union spy Harriet Tubman; Z is for Zuccotti Park, and the Occupy movement that briefly took over the world.

Paired with dynamic paper-cut art by Miriam Klein Stahl, the entries by Kate Schatz explore several centuries of politics, culture, art, activism, and liberation, including radical librarians, Supreme Court cases, courageous youth, punk rocker grrrls, Southern quilts, and modern witches. In addition to the twenty-six core stories, short sidebars expand the discussion, and dictionary-style lists refer readers to additional key moments. So while F is for Federal Theater Project, a New Deal-era program that employed thousands of artists, F is also for Freedom Rides and First Amendment. E is for Earth First!, but also for Endangered Species Act and Equal Rights Amendment.

There are tales of triumph, resilience, creation, and hope. Each engaging, fact-filled narrative illustrates an eye-opening moment that shows us how we got to now--and what we need to know about our histories to create a just and sustainable future.

Kate Schatz is a feminist writer, activist, and educator. With illustrator Miriam Klein Stahl, she is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Rad American Women A-Z and Rad Women Worldwide, as well as My Rad Life: A Journal and Rad Girls Can. Kate is the co-founder of Solidarity Sundays, a nationwide network of feminist activist groups, and she speaks often about politics, resistance, feminism, race, parenting, and more.

Miriam Klein Stahl is an artist, educator, and activist. In addition to her work in printmaking, drawing, sculpture, and paper-cut and public art, she is also the co-founder of the Arts and Humanities Academy at Berkeley High School, where she has taught since 1995.



This free event will take place at Bookshop Santa Cruz. Chairs for open seating are usually set up about an hour before the event begins. If you have ADA accommodation requests, please email [email protected] by March 6th.