Balancing a devotion to activism with personal relationships can be incredibly difficult. Kitty Stryker shares her experience as an activist, street medic and relationship educator to help others pursue the important work while maintaining healthy relationships and without burning out.
Both a call to action and a candid memoir, Stryker is open about what she has learned and her perceived limitations. Recognizing that it can feel overwhelming to know how to effectively make change, she encourages readers to consider how they can best advocate for causes they believe in, presenting different types of activism and urging readers to honestly examine their own hesitations.
She also emphasizes that without taking care of our interpersonal relationships, many people burn out of activism at the very time when we need more people on the ground, and offers practical strategies to avoid this and to encourage healthy relationships.
“Love Rebels does exactly what it says on the tin. It demystifies not just activism but accountability and how to handle it when you fall short of the mark.”—Riley Silverman, podcaster at Good Chaotic and head writer of Troubled Waters
“In frightening, exhausting times, experienced community organizer Kitty Stryker is a powerful and grounding voice. This book will teach you how to fight the good fight to the finish without destroying yourself in the process.”—Laurie Penny, journalist, political commentator and author of Sexual Revolution: Modern Fascism and the Feminist Fightback
“Love Rebels offers a tender and insightful roadmap for all who are fighting to maintain their humanity while refusing to surrender their people and principles.”—Soraya Chemaly, author of The Resilience Myth: New Thinking on Grit, Strength, and Growth after Trauma
“Love Rebels is packed with practical guidance for those who are new to rebellion or nervous about direct action, as well as those of us who’re exhausted from years of resistance. What makes this book extraordinary, though, is the loving generosity with which Kitty shares her own healing journey—an ongoing quest from burnout to boundaries and balance, with a healthy dose of accountability.” —Jenn Wilson, founder of the International Day of Consent
“With the threat of Trumpian fascism mounting by the day, millions of people are looking for ways to become active and fight back. Love Rebels is the place to start. Its seamless blend of memoir, how-to, activist wisdom and poignant self-reflection provide an ideal blend for stimulating the kinds of difficult conversations necessary to construct durable communities of resistance to outlive MAGA.”—Mark Bray, author of Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook
“A lot of us are looking around right now and wondering what to do. We’re asking ourselves: What should I do? How do I avoid accidentally causing harm? How do I avoid burning out? There is no answer to these questions. But there are ways to get started figuring it out for yourself.
Love Rebels is part-memoir, part handbook for surviving and even thriving in a fascist takeover. It is a book about relationships aimed at the kind of person who is prone to overthinking, overcommitting, going it alone, and burning out. Love Rebels offers practical advice for helping activists live and work productively alongside other humans, despite our flaws and peculiarities. It would be an important book at any time. But today, it’s essential.”—Cathy Reisenwitz, Sex and the State
“Kitty Stryker has done it again. Love Rebels is a deeply personal, heartfelt chronicle of activism in our present age and an indispensable primer on getting involved on all levels: local, national, and online. This inspiring, first-person account of grassroots organizing is desperately needed right now.”—Alex Winter, musician and actor, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
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