Fight like a Mother: How a Grassroots Movement Took on the Gun Lobby and Why Women Will Change the World

Written by Shannon Watts

Narrated by Shannon Watts

Shannon Watts was a stay-at-home mom folding laundry when news broke of the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary. In one moment, she went from outraged to engaged and decided to do something about it. What started as a simple Facebook group to connect with other frustrated parents grew into Moms Demand Action, a national movement with millions of supporters and a powerful grassroots network of local chapters in all 50 states. Shannon has been called ""the NRA’s Worst Nightmare”—and her army of moms have bravely gone up against the gun lobby, showing up in their signature red shirts, blocking the hallways of congress with their strollers, electing gun sense candidates and running for office themselves, and proving that if the 80 million moms in this country come together, they can put an end to gun violence.

Fight like a Mother is the incredible account how one mother’s cry for change became the driving force behind gun safety progress. Along with stories of perseverance, courage, and compassion, Watts shines a light on the unique power of women—starting with what they have, leading with their maternal strengths, and doubling down instead of backing down. While not everyone can be on the front lines lobbying congress, every mom is already a multi-tasking organizer, and Shannon explains how to go from amateur activist to having a real impact in your community and beyond. Fight like a Mother will inspire everyone—mothers and fathers, students and teachers, lawmakers, and anyone motivated to enact change—to get to work transforming hearts and minds, and passing laws that save lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: May 28, 2019
• ISBN: 9780062932976

Shannon Watts

SHANNON WATTS is the founder of Mom's Demand Action for Gun Sense in America—the leading force for gun violence prevention, with chapters in all 50 states and a powerful grassroots network of moms that has successfully effected change at the local, state and national level. In 2013, MDA partnered with Mayors Against Illegal Guns to form Everytown for Gun Safety, nationwide movement of millions of Americans working together to end the epidemic of gun violence. She is an active board member of Emerge America and Rise to Run, two of the nation's leading organizations for recruiting and training women to run for office. Watts is a contributor to The Huffington Post, and Medium. Her writing has appeared in Vogue , Time , The Washington Post , and others. She is a mother of five.

Reviews for Fight like a Mother

[jnmegan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Part personal account, part “How To” manual and part PR recruitment tool for her organization, Shannon Watts’ Fight Like a Mother is a call to action aimed specifically at mothers who are concerned about the current state of gun control in the U.S. Spurred to action after the horrific events at Sandy Hook, Watts founded Moms Demand Action, a national movement that grew out of her Facebook page. This book details the evolution of the grassroots group and recounts the successes and “losing forward” events that have resulted from its efforts. Watts emphasizes how the skill sets mothers often already possess can be utilized for activism and encourages those who may be reluctant to participate. She discusses how to recruit and motivate volunteers, build expertise through networks and data collection, use social media for low-cost message distribution, and combat challenges to delegation and life/work balance. Throughout, Watts uses her own experiences to highlight potential pitfalls and recommend methods for maintaining momentum. She provides advice for finding solutions to common internal and external roadblocks that can occur when addressing a complex and controversial issue. Like any book based on constantly-evolving current events, Fight Like a Mother will inevitably contain some expiring data in the time it takes to be published. Still, there is plenty of extremely useful and inspiring information that Watts provides for anyone who desires to contribute to the gun reform debate or even build a movement of their own.Thanks to Edelweiss and Harper Collins for an ARC of this book in exchange for an objective review.