A Songwriter's Story of Hope, Change and Courage
Ratings6
Average rating4.3
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A timely and passionate call to action for engaging with our current political moment, from the Grammy-nominated and multiplatinum singer-songwriter and New York Times bestselling author Tori Amos.
Since the release of her first, career-defining solo album Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos has been one of the music industry’s most enduring and ingenious artists. From her unnerving depiction of sexual assault in “Me and a Gun” to her post-9/11 album, Scarlet’s Walk, to 2017’s Native Invader, her work has never shied away from intermingling the personal with the political.
From her time as a teenager playing hotel bars in Washington, DC, for the politically powerful to the subsequent three decades of her formidable music career, Amos explains how she managed to create meaningful, politically resonant work against patriarchal power structures—and how her proud declarations of feminism and her fight for the marginalized always proved to be her guiding light. She teaches us to engage with intention in this tumultuous global climate and speaks directly to supporters of #MeToo and Time’s Up, as well as young people fighting for their rights and visibility in the world.
Filled with compassionate guidance and actionable advice—and using some of the most powerful, political songs in Amos’s canon—Resistance is for anyone determined to steer the world back in the right direction.
Reviews with the most likes.
A beautiful guide for any artist who is struggling to create. A wonderful walk through Tori's career and her creative process. Probably mostly meant for the die hard fans who understand her history.
I've been a long-term fan of Tori Amos so I pre-ordered this book last year, and then I just never felt compelled to pick it up and start reading it. (Partly I think I was afraid of getting burned the way I was by Ani DiFranco's bad memoir, and partly I was afraid it would be too “political” in a way that would just make me even more pointlessly worked up as I have been for...awhile. And partly also IDK I just had other stuff going on!)
ANYWAY it was worth the wait, I really enjoyed it. It's kind of loosely structured essay/anecdotes about her personal life and/or bigger picture history that inspired a song, then lyrics of a song, then another essay-ish thing. I would absolutely not recommend it to someone who wasn't already a big fan of Tori Amos. But if you are a fan of hers, at least for me this made me appreciate her even more and added some context for some of her songs (whose lyrics can be uhh abstract). And inspiring about the power of art and community! Ultimately left me feeling slightly less depressed about the state of the world! Wow!