Swim against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go With the Flow (Hardcover)

by Jim Hightower (Author), Susan DeMarco (Contributor)
Key Phrases: bus project, putting workers, Web Site, Organic Valley, Peace Coffee (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Syndicated columnist Hightower (Thieves in High Places) joins writer and activist DeMarco to produce this irreverent and uplifting look at how individuals and companies can be both successful and socially responsible. Disproving the notion that a business must operate solely to improve its bottom line, they share inspirational stories from a variety of industries including international banking, real estate development, medical services, and environmentally safe, sustainable farming. Hightower and DeMarco include portraits of progressive community organizations, activists and individuals-such as ACORN and the Rev. Rich Cizik-who have bucked the system and realized richer, happier lives. To their credit, the authors do not traffic in abstracts. They provide tangible steps to escape "corporate tentacles" and become catalysts for change; the book even lists contact information for a majority of the individuals and companies discussed. An entertaining and insightful look at making a living while staying true to one's values, this book will please Hightower's many fans and will earn him more than a few new ones.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"We all need some inspiration from time to time to remind us of what we’re fighting for, not just against. Hightower and DeMarco provide it in these pages, thank our lucky stars..." (DailyKos.com, April 6, 2008)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (March 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470121513
• ISBN-13: 978-0470121511
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (83 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #170,314 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Populist Activist Takes a Look at Life in America and Urges a Course of Action, August 22, 2007

By	J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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Jim Hightower has been nudging, no walloping, the consciences of Americans for more than thirty years now. I first heard of him in the mid-1970s when he was working for the presidential campaign of Oklahoma populist senator Fred Harris. He then got involved in Texas politics and was elected the state's commissioner of agriculture in the 1980s where he pushed for organic farming, direct marketing by farmers, and the regulation of pesticides, as well as other progressive notions. Along the way he was always muckraking in print and talking on radio and television in a vein similar to that of his old buddy Molly Ivins and he developed a devoted following (and some powerful enemies). He hasn't been, like some, a bloviating member of the chattering classes but has always been an activist for causes in which he believes.

In 'Swim Against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go with the Flow', Hightower, with his life-partner Susan DeMarco, takes a look at and urges actions concerning corrupt big business practices, the tainted political process and even the conduct of our private lives. Much of what he says is disturbing but it is always lightened by his down-home Will Rogers-like humor. It's not often that a book can put your stomach in a knot at the same time that you are laughing until tears roll down your cheeks.

Still, there is much here that is preaching to the choir. I suspect that the people who ought to read the book won't. But among those who do, perhaps it will stimulate some to get off their duffs and get deeply involved in the affairs of their community, state and country. I happen to live in a state, Vermont, where this is the modus operandi of more than the ordinary percentage of the citizenry and I can attest that citizen involvement makes life a helluva lot better than when you 'let someone else do it.'

Scott Morrison

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ignore the status quo and rediscover a better life, August 19, 2007

By	Kyle Tolle (Phoenix, Arizona USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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`Swim Against the Current' takes a bold look at three major and influential topics and examines their impacts on present day society. In a modern world where a nefarious element wants us to think, feel, and act in a predetermined manner, we as individuals and groups owe it to ourselves to resist this and become the catalyst for badly needed change.

Beginning with a look at business in the first section, the dubious history of greed, fraud, and lack of ethics in big corporations is not lost on anyone. In a refreshing change for the better, numerous examples are detailed here of people and organizations that have defied the odds to create successful businesses that are untouched by questionable influences. Cooperation and teamwork are basic fundamentals that reach far and wide in accomplishing so much and their benefits are explored here also.

Turning next to politics, this sometimes repugnant subject really needs no formal introduction. Immoral and unethical behavior of lobbyists and elected officials are firmly etched in our thoughts. Citizens are fed up and valuable changes are in progress. Four impressive programs described in this book are 'Clean Elections', `Democracy School', `Camp Wellstone', and `ACORN` (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). The impacts from these fine efforts have already had a positive political impact across the country. The underlying theme here is that the general public has the capacity to make these things happen. The process can be laborious at times with the gains coming slowly at first but the end results are positive and worth the efforts.

The last and probably most important focus is life itself. It begins with an unpleasant look at our deteriorating food industry but ends up on a positive note in that organic foods and farming are gaining huge popularity in America. The final issue is nature and how mankind is wreaking havoc on the environment. Global warming is a reality, it's not going away or getting better, and the public has to be the voice that facilitates change. The National Association of Evangelicals (NEA) and other groups are spotlighted here in the fight to save America's heritage and homeland.

I found 'Swim Against the Current' to be both educational and inspirational and the messages contained within are vitally important. This is a well written and thought provoking book, in my opinion, and I recommend it to everyone.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Progressive Call to Arms, August 20, 2007

By	Morgaine Swann, H.Ps. "Morgan" (Eastern KY United States) - See all my reviews

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I'm giving this Swim Against the Current 5 stars for the importance of its substance, but in spite of the style in which it is presented. To be fair, I reviewed an unedited draft, so the final product might be fine. For now, the text is a bit schizophrenic. The book is supposed to be written in Jim Hightower's well-known Texan voice, but is a collaboration between him and his long-time partner Susan DeMarco, and it shows. There's a failure to blend the two voices into a consistent presentation. The result is that the text will flow nicely for many pages, then out of nowhere some bit of odd Southern humor is thrown in and it's a bit jarring. I appreciate that Hightower is known first and foremost for his humor and his Texas origins, but his writing partner DeMarco is a Northerner. Hopefully their editor can smooth things out for the final draft. This is a wonderful book with great information, and I'd like to be able to recommend it wholeheartedly.

The theme of the book is that all of us, no matter who we are, can not only make a difference, but have an obligation to do so. We're treated to the stories of several citizen action groups and projects that were started by average people with no connections and not a clue how to begin. In spite ongoing challenges, these groups have made a difference in their own lives and the lives of those they touch.

The book is divided into three sections: Business, Politics and Life. In the Business section, we see workers overcome union-busting tactics in a Wisconsin cab company and a California strip club, both taken over and run successfully by their respective employees. We get a brief but enlightening history of Peace Coffee, a fair trade cooperative that is cutting out the middle men who have been making all the money that should have gone to the farmers growing the beans. A meeting among farmers in someone's kitchen grows to become the Organic Valley Family of Farms, a cooperative that eventually became the first group to say 'no' to Walmart's cost-cutting ways.

The reader is encouraged throughout to break the mold by redefining success in America. Rather than the cycle of fear and consumption that power structure uses to keep the public compulsively acquiring things, Hightower and DeMarco encourage us to look at sustainablity and quality of life, human rights and social justice as integral parts of business. A pharmacist leaves his 100,000 dollar a year job to provide discounts to low income customers with no insurance. He makes less money, but he has breakfast with his kids every day and he's back to helping people rather than turning them away because they can't pay for their medicine. Bankers defy the odds and conventional wisdom by moving into a troubled neighborhood and investing in the people who live there. The result is a thriving community and a profitable bottom line.

Section Two takes on the seedy practice of politics. Influence peddlers like Jack Abramoff are juxtaposed with citizen action groups that used persistence and bus-loads of volunteers to change the balance of power in their state legislatures. There's a very important chapter on Clean Elections, and the success that public funding has had in allowing ordinary people to run for office in six states and two cities. By removing the corporate money from the equation, politics is no longer exclusively for the wealthy and the powerful.

Section Three, Life, encourages everyone, young and even the very old, to get involved. A grandmother walks across the country in 14 months trying to end the war; a group of elderly women try to enlist and protest at a recruiting office; an unlikely alliance is formed between scientists and Evangelical Christians to encourage action to stem global warming.

Some of the statistics in the book are staggering. Only 18 cents of every dollar we spend on groceries goes to the farmers who produced the food. The National Association of Evangelicals represents 30 million activists awakening to "Creation Care" as a part of their beliefs, much to chagrin of Karl Rove. A CEO for Exxon/Mobil was compensated to the tune of $28,000 an HOUR.

There's plenty more to ponder here and a great list of resources to get would-be activists started. This is the kind of book you want to read then pass along to your local politicians. There's a real vision for a better world here, so jump in and get started.