As so it begins. I begin my interviews of practitioners of the art of protest from Selma to Seoul tomorrow for the Surmountable book project. Thanks to my co-writer Adam Edwards and to our 80+ Kickstarter funders for supporting my travel to 4 continents over the next two months. My first interview will be at the iconic City Lights bookstore in North Beach, San Francisco, Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s shop on the corner of Broadway and Columbus which shocked the literary world with its publication of Alan Ginsberg’s “Howl.” I will talk to the shop’s executive director and publisher Elaine Katzenberger then on to tech writers and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. What would you ask her??

The “Surmountable” Kickstarter project is funded as of March 1 at $15,011 with over 80 backers. The trip to scenes of historic protests around the United States and around the world begins immediately. Thanks to all of our backers for supporting this adventurous and ambitious project. I will be blogging from each destination throughout March and April, starting in San Francisco. USA destinations will include Seattle/ Vancouver, Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, Selma and Montgomery, Alabama, Charleston, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., the Alice Paul Institute in Mount Laurel New Jersey and New York City.

Here is a first look at the March and April Travel Itinerary for the  “Surmountable” book project. I leave 2 March at 2:10am and will arrive in San Francisco with the Kickstarter campaign completed. I will be blogging throughout the project, sharing interviews and observations throughout.

OK, time’s here for Kickstarter campaign fans who like to torment Creators by funding at the 11th hour. We are a few thousand away from hitting our goal and the campaign ends in a day. As you know, if you don’t hit your goal, no moneys are drawn and the campaign fails. YIKES!

Surmountable was nominated last week by Kickstarter as one of their “Projects We Love.”

I hit the Bangkok airport tonight to start my travel around the USA and the world to scenes of historical political protests to gather stories for a playbook on citizen engagement. We have great Rewards for funders from signed books to events to a week of creative writing on a Thai island. My backpack is groaning from the extra gear and I’m all in. How about you???? America and the world need you. Big hugs from The Road. Hit this link or click on any of the images to find out more about the campaign.

“Surmountable” is Kickstarter’s top Print Journalism and featured Publishing project.

To support the project, go to our Kickstarter project page and select from terrific rewards, including a weekly writing retreat on a gorgeous Thai island.

Surmountable \sər·moun’tə·bəl\, adj.

• capable of being overcome or conquered despite the challenges ahead
• the opposite of insurmountable
• a new book by Brian Gruber and Adam Edwards

The American Constitution was revolutionary and inspired the world because it put citizens in charge with a specific blueprint for how to keep aristocrats, autocrats, and chaos at bay. We are at an extraordinary moment when Americans from every part of the political spectrum feel abandoned and disaffected, the system paralyzed and corrupted.

It wasn’t always this way. Throughout our history, everyday Americans organized and effectively moved the needle on big ideas and causes that mattered. Executive producer Adam Edwards and acclaimed author Brian Gruber are partnering to explore why that is no longer the case, what we can learn from history, and how citizens can engage in 2019 to move mountains.

We believe our current challenges are surmountable as those came before us faced much greater odds and won — from the women’s suffrage and civil rights movements to the single person responsible for the most recent Constitutional amendment to the Bonus Army veterans who helped swing the 1932 election to see justice served.

We have plenty of history books. We need a playbook. Adam is funding the writing process, but we are looking for your help to fund the travel, production, and other elements to deliver an important new book and big impact. We will harvest fresh narratives from witnesses to history, family members, key stakeholders, thought leaders, those behind the scenes who solved the logistics, and those who imagined the big ideas that moved the country.

Our goal is to understand how they surmounted seemingly impossible obstacles and how they brought the vision of the country’s founders alive. And, depending on the funds raised, we will travel to the scenes of historic global protests from Berlin to Tunis to Seoul to mine provocative stories for models and lessons learned.