If any young Progressive or a candidate of any stripe desires to read the bible on how to overcome impossible odds and get elected to public office from local Mayor to the United States Senate, Dan Chiasson’s BERNIE FOR BURLINGTON THE RISE OF THE PEOPLE’S POLITICIAN is the quintessential manuel.

Only Vermont native author Dan Chiasson, a master storyteller, could weave together the elements of Vermont politics with the human nature and the condition of Vermonters. Along comes a penniless New York Brooklyn Jew looking and acting more like a hippie than anyone remotely qualified for any office. Bernie Sanders a most unlikely farmer buys one and falls into even deeper poverty. He and his brother try all angles to eek out a living and finally find company among the colony of hippies that had been ensconced in Vermont since Woodstock.

Sanders an avowed Democratic Socialist dreams up the fantasy of seeking elected office in a Republican dominated state and sets his site on the Mayoralty of Burlington a city left behind by changing economic times. He also needed a job

Chaisson brilliantly maps the Sanders journey handshake by hand shake, door knob by door knock, bitter disappointment, financial woes, disallousament and then the impossible first victory!

If you wish to understand Bernie Sanders unwavering messaging from his very beginnings Dan Chiasson will become your teacher. Regardless of your political persuasion BERNIE FOR BURLINGTON is an in depth examination of Vermont society and just how remarkable the American Democratic system can be.