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Maria A Ressa
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How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future Paperback – November 28, 2023

by Maria Ressa (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 575 ratings
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From the recipient of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, an impassioned and inspiring memoir of a career spent holding power to account, with an introduction by Amal Clooney

 Maria Ressa is one of the most renowned international journalists of our time. For decades, she challenged corruption and malfeasance in her native country, the Philippines, on its rocky path from an authoritarian state to a democracy. As a reporter from CNN, she transformed news coverage in her region, which led her in 2012 to create a new and innovative online news organization, Rappler. Harnessing the emerging power of social media, Rapplercrowdsourced breaking news, found pivotal sources and tips, harnessed collective action for climate change, and helped increase voter knowledge and participation in elections.

 But by their fifth year of existence, Rappler had gone from being lauded for its ideas to being targeted by the new Philippine government, and made Ressa an enemy of her country’s most powerful man: President Duterte. Still, she did not let up, tracking government seeded disinformation networks which spread lies to its own citizens laced with anger and hate. Hounded by the state and its allies using the legal system to silence her, accused of numerous crimes, and charged with cyberlibel for which she was found guilty, Ressa faces years in prison and thousands in fines.

 There is another adversary Ressa is battling. How to Stand Up to a Dictator is also the story of how the creep towards authoritarianism, in the Phillipines and around the world, has been aided and abetted by the social media companies. Ressa exposes how they have allowed their platforms to spread a virus of lies that infect each of us, pitting us against one another, igniting, even creating, our fears, anger, and hate, and how this has accelerated the rise of authoritarians and dictators around the world. She maps a network of disinformation—a heinous web of cause and effect—that has netted the globe: from Duterte’s drug wars to America's Capitol Hill; Britain’s Brexit to Russian and Chinese cyber-warfare; Facebook and Silicon Valley to our own clicks and votes.

Democracy is fragile. How to Stand Up to a Dictator is an urgent cry for Western readers to recognize and understand the dangers to our freedoms before it is too late. It is a book for anyone who might take democracy for granted, written by someone who never would. And in telling her dramatic and turbulent and courageous story, Ressa forces readers to ask themselves the same question she and her colleagues ask every day: What are you willing to sacrifice for the truth?

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  1. Print length
    320 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Harper Perennial
  4. Publication date
    November 28, 2023
  5. Dimensions
    5.31 x 0.72 x 8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0063257521
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0063257528
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“[Maria's] book takes us on a rare and wonderous hero’s journey that teaches us how to be heroes too. Ressa invites us into her . . . thrilling life story . . . . As she transforms from shy schoolgirl, to Princeton polymath, to pathbreaking journalist and warrior for democracy, the same candor and generosity that define her distinctive courage infuse her storytelling with magical power. We experience Maria Ressa’s becoming, and we become more too—more prepared to embrace fear, paddle against the tide, commit to loving kindness, link arms, challenge the supposedly inevitable, and even stand up to dictators.” — Shoshana Zuboff, author The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, Professor emeritus Harvard Business School

"[Ressa’s] courageous work has garnered well-deserved international attention, and her book serves as a readable, urgent plea for journalistic integrity, vigilance, and transparency. . . . An indispensable journalist presents an impassioned, well-informed warning about vital global issues." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Nobel Peace Prize cowinner Ressa . . . delivers an outstanding memoir-cum-action plan for creating “a vision of the internet that binds us together instead of tearing us apart” . . . . Elegantly written yet stuffed with research data and technical details, this is an essential update on the battle against disinformation." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"In this impassioned warning and inspirational call to arms, Ressa identifies and illuminates her core values of empathy, honesty, and faith in humanity to illustrate how a strong commitment to such foundational beliefs can provide the key to democracy’s survival. . . . Searing and electrifying." — Booklist (starred review)

About the Author

Maria Ressa is the co-recipient of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for her work defending freedom of expression and democracy. She is CEO, cofounder, and president of Rappler, the Philippines’ top digital news site, and has been a journalist in Asia for over thirty-six years. She was TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year in 2018 and won the UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize in 2021. Among the many other awards she has received are the prestigious Golden Pen of Freedom Award from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, the Knight International Journalism Award from the International Center for Journalists, the Shorenstein Journalism Award from Stanford University, and the Sergei Magnitsky Award for Investigative Journalism. She grew up in the Philippines and the United States and currently lives in Manila.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper Perennial (November 28, 2023)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0063257521
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0063257528
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 0.72 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 575 ratings

About the author

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Maria A Ressa

Maria A Ressa

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Maria has been a journalist in Asia for more than 25 years, most of them as CNN's bureau chief in Manila then Jakarta. For nearly 2 decades, she had a front-row seat chronicling Southeast Asia's transition from authoritarian rule to democracy, the Asian financial crisis, as well as reporting on separatist, ethnic and sectarian violence across Asia. She was CNN's lead investigative reporter focusing on terrorism in Southeast Asia.

Maria was one of the founders of independent production company, Probe Productions, Inc. based in the Philippines. In 2005, she took the helm of ABS-CBN News and Current affairs, for 6 years managing more than 1,000 journalists for the largest multi-platform news operation in the Philippines. Her work aimed to redefine journalism by combining traditional broadcast, new media and mobile phone technology for social change.

She taught courses in politics and media for her alma mater, Princeton University, and in broadcasting at the University of the Philippines. She was Author-in-Residence and Senior Fellow at the International Centre for Political Violence & Terrorism Research in Singapore as well as Southeast Asia Visiting Scholar at CORE Lab at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
575 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Jane Nohl
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good biography
Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2024
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This book is very interesting and a quick read. It gives us history too in a very relatable way and is emotional too .
One person found this helpful
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Mitchell Ivers
5.0 out of 5 stars A breathtaking book by one of the most extraordinary figures of times
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2022
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She is brave, she is brilliant, and she is a beautiful writer. Don't let the simplicity of the "how to" title mislead you. This is one of the deepest, most insightful books written in recent years that explain the mess the world is in and what we've been doing to allow it. The "how to" of course is that she did it--she stood up to Duterte in the Philippines, but she's much too humble to call the book "How I stood up to a dictator." The real "how to" of the book is that it inspires the reader to think more deeply, know more with complexity, and therefore be in a position to help change the world for the better. The dictators we have to stand up to are not only the politicians, but also the men who own the social-media-companies that are poisoning our social discourse.
98 people found this helpful
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J. E. Chanay
4.0 out of 5 stars A good read but author spends far too long on verifying her journalistic morality.
Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2023
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A good read but author spends far too long on verifying her journalistic morality. I understood early on that she has high standards and so does her staff and the news organizations she created. Wish she’d spent more time on Zuckerberg and Facebook and how internet platforms are being used to make fools of users.
4 people found this helpful
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Sharon F. Schaap
5.0 out of 5 stars Deeper understanding of social media dangers!
Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2023
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In depth explanation of Maria Ressa’s untiring fight against corruption within social media & how corrupt governments use this to sow misinformation to their benefit. A granular description of how she & her team fought back & suceeded. A blueprint for other organizations which gave me a greater understanding of what our world is up against if we support democracies! Thinking of giving this book for Christmas, I learned so much & have a new respect for the integrity of news organizations!
4 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning! Heroic! Courageous!
Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2023
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This is the incredible story of the fight for the truth when so much of the world cares only for that which feeds their fears. The story of have we all are being manipulated through social media to support those only interested in power. This truly is a MUST READ.
2 people found this helpful
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M. Alexander
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for the current times
Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2022
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As a Filipino-American, this was such an important perspective to witness — and to realize how large an impact disinformation campaigns brought about by malicious parties and groups on social media can have on a country’s state of affairs and political landscape. We must hold the line and keep our government officials and tech companies accountable. Surveillance capitalism must be regulated to the fullest extent, if not completely eradicated. Human rights must come before profit. We are living this nightmare right now and it’s up to us to change course for the better.

This was written so effectively and concisely. I was glued between listening to the audiobook and reading the hard copy version. Both were phenomenal. Fully support Maria Ressa’s fight for justice and press freedom!
14 people found this helpful
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Lars Soderstrom
5.0 out of 5 stars Goebbels would have LOVED social media
Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2022
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Loved this book and it made me realize its the same story being played out all over the world pretty much-and they use more or less the very same template.
Unless ”we” can decode what is actually happening (and fast) democracy is dead.
This book and Marias story is a part of this process perhaps even a large part!
Recommended by everyone who like me have spent the last 7-10 years (for me it started with the swedish elections already in 2010) puzzled about what is happening and with that I mean REALLY happening.Are we more divided and polarized?Take away social media and the answer is clearly no.
Impressive woman with an all too important message
35 people found this helpful
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Joe Blow
3.0 out of 5 stars St Maria the Martyr
Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2023
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She has an easy way of writing and draws the reader in at the outset, from the death of her father at a young age to being "kidnapped" by her mother and new stepfather, hustled off to the US at a young age and learning how to speak English and survive in a new country.
Et voila, her hard work gets her into Princeton, but her calling is really back in the Philippines, where her high moral ground knows no end, none.
She says nothing (zero) about her mother and stepfather, whose surname she carries. Nothing other than they worked very hard. Even at the end, nothing other than they moved to Manila to be closer to her, but of course she never saw them. Or if she did doesn't mention it. Same for her sister who was 'kidnapped' with her-two sentences towards the end of the book. And pretty much nothing about her stepsisters or brothers. Oh, she does mention she's gay, but says nothing much about it or any relationships, anything that would give more context to the woman.
She's far far too busy getting ready to be nailed on the cross. And we are reminded of her sainthood constantly. Please. Or when she's called by the Nobel Committee. "OMG, OMG" of course she had absolutely no idea, none. Hard being so righteous. I really wanted to like her, but all that moralising and lack of who SHE is made it a book with little colour.
I fully agree with her dislike of FB, by the way, and her points are well taken, no question. Either she could have written an actual biography or a screed against Big Tech, but instead tried to take on both. Doesn't work. Not for me.
7 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Barry
5.0 out of 5 stars some characteristics of truth . . .
Reviewed in Canada on December 21, 2022
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are that it is the essence of a thing; that reality (the power of performance created in each person’s now moment) is the manifestation of it, as in a conscious awareness of its existence; that you have to be in it to see it, because it’s like experiencing infinity, a hyper-synchronicity, which is an omniscient truth happening instantaneously and which can only be experienced in a now moment; that it is dynamic in nature, because it’s an infinite constant; that it is forever evolving, because reality (that which was created and is being created) precedes truth; and that it is always found on the foundation of light (knowledge) and love. Who you are is a unique gift of love and love loves to be loved. It’s a purity of intent. It’s the core honesty of all that is. Since your willingness to receive determines what you experience, whenever one chooses not to receive love, the void may be filled with separation, hate, revenge, contradictions and negative chaos generated by despair.
One person found this helpful
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KJ
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating read from a journalist who is standing up for democracy
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 23, 2024
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I love this book. It is a fascinating story of how a corrupt government tried to silence a brave journalist. It has taught me a lot about the importance of good, fact-based journalism, the terrible recent situation in the Philippines and how social media can be deliberately used for harmful purposes.
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christophe
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent livre, passionant, effrayant, réel!
Reviewed in France on November 25, 2023
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Maria Ressa explique la réalité des médias sociaux: facebook, google et twitter qui sèment la haine et la violence pour l'argent... Elle en est une des victimes... Et nous aussi!
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Ｋｕ
5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting
Reviewed in Japan on January 10, 2024
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I haven't finished reading it all yet, but it’s interesting so far.
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David L Brodie
4.0 out of 5 stars A great insight to the toxic internet
Reviewed in Canada on July 16, 2023
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I liked the brief explanation on Ressa’s identification - with data - of the bad actors on the internet, and how Facebook enables them. Also shows that Facebook can dial down the violence if it chooses.
Did not suggest any way to make the public less gullible.
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