Cecily McMillan's revelatory story of how she became the face of the Occupy Wall Street Movement (OWSM) is a lot like riding in a car when the brakes fail: it has moments of sheer exhilaration and adrenaline-rush excitement, but just as quickly becomes a nightmare of epic proportions. Her brutal honesty paints her as a less than sympathetic character in her rebellious childhood in Texas and Atlanta--fighting with her family and teachers, repeatedly running away and behaving in ways that result in confrontations with the law. She didn't enjoy a cushy life in middle-class suburbia; in many ways she epitomized the stereotypes of her trailer park environment.
However, McMillan's defiance of rules and boundaries matures as she does. And when she begins to examine the systems instead of merely battling them out of spite, she sees the disparities, inadequacies and biases. Her desire to do something about those wrongs leads her to start a high school political action club, demonstrate against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's budget bill and join the OWSM.
Her frankness throughout the memoir is what makes the horror of her OWSM arrest, felony conviction and incarceration at Rikers Island so persuasively and shockingly believable. The Emancipation of Cecily McMillan brings to light some of the injustices and atrocities in the U.S. legal system, but it also illuminates an astounding young woman who grappled with her identity and found a voice for the 99%. Emotionally provocative, politically explosive, this memoir is a beautiful reminder that true patriots never stop battling to make their countries better. --Jen Forbus of Jen's Book Thoughts