The Instigators

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Amazon.com ReviewEgypt, January-February, 2011: It is indeed a brave new world. A handful of people, a simple message, and some social-media savvy can launch a revolution. But the image of an impromptu, leaderless Egyptian uprising, sprung spontaneously via Facebook and Twitter, was at least in part "preconceived, nurtured, and set in motion" by the organizing activists themselves. For several years David Wolman communicated with one of the central figures, Ahmed Maher, and The Instigators tells both his and the Egyptian revolution's story. Although relatively peaceful, the overturning of power was by no means bloodless, and Wolman documents its development--from the blogosphere to Tahrir Square--with deep reverence for its central lesson about the evolution of democracy: Citizens of the world, we still need principles, and we still need leaders, but we already have the tools._--Jason Kirk_Product DescriptionIn 2008, a small band of political activists in Egypt led by a young engineer named Ahmed Maher began organizing on Facebook under the moniker April 6 Youth. Dodging the secret police both online and off, they built a Web page into a movement. Then, in January 2011, they helped architect a final showdown with the country's dictator. David Wolman unspools the riveting behind-the-scenes story of these daring activists and how they planted the digital seeds of a revolution. Award-winning journalist and author David Wolman is a contributing editor at Wired, a former Fulbright journalism fellow and a winner of the 2011 Oregon Arts Commission individual artists fellowship. He is the author of two works of nonfiction. His third book, The End of Money, will be published in February. The Atavist is a digital publisher of longform journalism and nonfiction tales, researched and written by skilled reporters and authors. Atavist stories are longer than magazine articles but shorter than books, and each one is sold individually on portable devices. More information about The Atavist and our other stories is available at www.atavist.net.