We Are #ALTGOV

Amanda Sturgill is a professor at Elon University, where she teaches courses in journalism, media analytics, and digital strategy. She has built a 20-plus year career studying the ways people communicate online, including how breaking news is covered on Twitter, how people learn from digital media, how media work and don’t work for poor people and those with disabilities, and how people form online communities around their interests. Her research and teaching have been featured on CBC Radio, KABC Radio, and in The Washington Post.

• Table of ContentsAuthor’s NotePrefaceChapter 1 – The TransitionChapter 2 – First Day PromisesChapter 3 – Finding Each OtherChapter 4 – ThreatsChapter 5 – StrategyChapter 6 – StormsChapter 7 – Where are the ChildrenChapter 8 – Finding FakesChapter 9 – Making a DifferenceChapter 10 – War RoomChapter 11 – National SecurityChapter 12 – PandemicChapter 13 – Who Are We?Chapter 14 – Election and InsurrectionChapter 15 – Transitions, AgainReferences

Sturgill capably weaves together interviews with a number of federal bureaucrats who participated in the #ALTGOV movement and current events to create a gripping narrative. The work fleshes out anonymous Twitter accounts into full personas with individual reasons for joining the movement. Using the bureaucrats' own words, Sturgill dismisses the claim that the #ALTGOV movement consisted only of political opponents of the Trump administration. Undergraduates will digest this book easily and gain an appreciation for this unique time in American politics, and scholars will find Sturgill's research foundational for further studies of protest activities by government officials, both in the US and abroad. This book is relevant to the disciplines of political science, political communication, mass communication, and public administration and fits well into courses on American politics, bureaucracy, and political movements. Recommended. All readership levels.