Title: Fight: How Gen Z Is Channeling Their Fear and Passion to Save America

Author: John Della Volpe

Series: N/A

Publication Date: January 18, 2022

Format: Hardcover

Genre: Non-Fiction

Sub Genre(s):  Politics

Summary: 9/11. The war on terror. Hurricane Katrina. The 2008 financial crisis. The housing crisis. The opioid epidemic. Mass school shootings. Global warming. The Trump presidency. COVID-19.

Since they were born, Generation Z (also known as “zoomers”)—those born from the late 1990s to early 2000s—have been faced with an onslaught of turmoil, destruction and instability unprecedented in modern history. And it shows: they are more stressed, anxious, and depressed than previous generations, a phenomenon John Della Volpe has documented heavily through decades of meeting with groups of young Americans across the country.

But Gen Z has not buckled under this tremendous weight. On the contrary, they have organized around issues from gun control to racial and environmental justice to economic equity, becoming more politically engaged than their elders, and showing a unique willingness to disrupt the status quo. -Goodreads

What I Liked: This book made me have hope not only for the future but for the future of our government and its institutions. Using real world examples, interviews, and surveys, Della Volpe managed to lay out exactly how Gen Zers view the world and the changes he believes they will bring about in the next 5, 10, even 30 years. One of the most fascinating parts of this book was his theory on the major events that shaped Millennials and Gen Z and the impact those events had on their lives. While this book is structured like a paper, it doesn’t read like one, and the ideas within are easy to understand. The moments in this book that had the most impact on me were the interviews he had with students about gun violence and how they live their lives in constant fear of dying, just by going to school.

What I Didn’t Like: While not the premise of this book, I would have liked some ideas or action items for how non-Gen Zers can help the younger generation.

Who Should Read It: Della Volpe clearly has a liberal bias (that’s not a bad thing) but it’s going to prevent the people who actually need to read this book from reading it. Despite this, I still feel like everyone would find something interesting or worthwhile in this book.

Review Wrap Up: What could have been a depressing book filled with horrifying statistics and disheartening anecdotes is in fact a very inspiring and hopeful book about the future. If you’re feeling down about the state of the world, this book will surely make you feel better.

Favorite Quote(s): “To this day, few moments in a focus group have had a greater impact on me than when I asked for an explanation of what older generations don’t get about Generation Z. Grace, a biology student about to turn twenty-one at the time told me: ‘an older generation would not understand walking into a classroom and thinking how easy it would be for someone to shoot it up. The same daily weight on an adult’s shoulders over bills or taxes is what children feel about living or dying.’”

“Zoomers yearn for a capitalism open to everyone and do not shy away from debating the merits of other political and economic systems. The data-driven outcomes from the modern Nordic version of market-driven social democracies-less poverty, more innovation, more family time, and overall a more relaxed, healthy and satisfied citizenry-are worth exploring and learning from, they tell me.”