DAVID SIROTA’S new book, The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Popular Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington (Crown Publishers, New York, 2008), is a political volume with a decidedly apolitical beginning. The opening gambit isn’t an attempt at a universal definition or the expression of a general theory of whatever but an anecdote about the author upchucking in a hotel bathroom after a night of frat-boy-like debauchery. It is an inauspicious start to an audacious account of the re-emergence of populism as a force in American politics.

“An insurrection is on,” Sirota reports thinking as he lays on the floor, “a fist-pounding, primal screaming revolt from a mob wielding protest signs, ballots, computer keyboards, shareholder proxies, and even, in some cases, guns.”

Rhode Islanders should take note because in many ways The Uprising is happening here, too.

The “tour” of the title is a collection of accounts of the underdog in action. Throughout the book we meet folks who have dedicated themselves to taking on the entrenched and powerful wherever they find them — often in their own backyards. Sirota, who has a true gift for phrase-making and the pithy comment, introduces us to “The Protest Industry” and “The Players,” people who are nominally in business to end the war in Iraq but who both benefit, in their own way, from the war continuing. We meet barrel-chested Brian Schweitzer, the governor of Montana, leading successful legislative fights against the decades-long entrenchment of corporate special interests, such as the Burlington North Santa Fe Railroad and the Montana Power Co. We learn about the idea of fusion balloting helping to get different voices heard in the New York political world and we hear stories about how the “Dilberts of the World” are uniting to protect their economic interests against mighty Microsoft.

“A boss is a boss is a boss,” one of the Dilbert organizers tells Sirota, confirming for us one of the themes of the book — populism might be hard to define, but we know it when we see it.

Sirota gives equal attention to participants in the “uprising” from both the left and the right wings of American politics. He spends much time on the right-leaning populism of CNN’s Lou Dobbs and the overtly anti-immigrant sentiments of the Minuteman movement patrolling the Southern California/Mexico border. Rhode Islanders and Providence Journal readers familiar with the controversial executive order signed by Governor Carcieri in March will immediately see the connections that Sirota artfully draws between the legitimate goals of “protecting our borders” and the manufactured dissent embodied in the weekend warriors who can’t stand the way corporations get away with bringing in “illegals,” but still vote Republican because of the way leaders like Carcieri have used immigration as this decade’s wedge issue. The “Mainstreaming of the Militia” is a frightening reminder about how populism can be exploited by those in power as well as being a bottom-up force.

For more than a decade, the one-party Democratic monopoly in Rhode Island’s General Assembly and weak leadership at the executive level have created a conservative consensus on tax and economic issues — a consensus creating, perhaps deliberately, the economic crisis we now face in the state. A $450 billion deficit doesn’t happen overnight. Politicians across America, such as Schweitzer, or U.S. Senators Sherwood Brow of Ohio, Jon Tester of Montana and Bernie Sanders of Vermont (all of whom Sirota interviews for the book), have learned that economic populism — beating back corporate tax-break give-aways, fighting tax breaks for the wealthy at the expense of popular programs, and demanding that tax cheats pay up — are planks in successful election platforms. Meanwhile, Rhode Island’s leadership seems intent on following the same path it has been on since the Lincoln Almond days. If Rhode Island is going to make progress, the economic populism energizing other parts of America needs to continue to bubble up from the bottom here at home.

Wafting through the various accounts is the spirit of community organizer Saul Alinsky. Sirota repeatedly refers to Alinsky’s admonition to young organizers to “start where the world is, not where [they] want it to be.” It is a cogent reminder for those of us engaged in the uprising here in Rhode Island, and I believe it truly is an uprising. Teachers are organizing against the economic chaos of our state’s refusal to enact a funding formula while passing the tax cap Paiva-Weed bill. Such non-traditional labor organizations as Jobs with Justice and Fuerza Laboral are linking with such community groups as DARE, and Immigrants United to engage in direct-action events.

“Green Jobs” is a mantra repeated by folks in both the environmental movement and the labor movement. Bloggers at RIFuture.Org, KMareka.Com and Providence Daily Dose are democratizing political reporting and giving people the chance to challenge the assumptions of Rhode Island political elite. Even SDS, Students for a Democratic Society, is back to life at Brown and other campuses.

All of these elements — challenging the status quo, direct action, partnerships with like-minded groups, and a belief in the power of the people — are part of “The Uprising” Sirota describes working in other places and that with perseverance will make Roger Williams and Thomas Wilson Dorr proud.

Patrick Crowley is co-chairman of Rhode Island Jobs with Justice and assistant executive director of the National Education Association’s Rhode Island unit. He lives in Lincoln.