Rest Is Resistance
A Manifesto
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4.8 • 5 Ratings
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Disrupt and push back against capitalism and white supremacy as Tricia Hersey, aka The Nap Bishop, encourages us to connect to the liberating power of rest, daydreaming, and naps as a foundation for healing and justice.
What would it be like to live in a well-rested world? Far too many of us have claimed productivity as the cornerstone of success. Brainwashed by capitalism, we subject our bodies and minds to work at an unrealistic, damaging, and machine‑level pace—feeding into the same engine that enslaved millions into brutal labor for its own relentless benefit.
In Rest Is Resistance, Tricia Hersey, aka the Nap Bishop, casts an illuminating light on our troubled relationship with rest and how to imagine and dream our way to a future where rest is exalted. Our worth does not reside in how much we produce, especially not for a system that exploits and dehumanizes us. Rest, in its simplest form, becomes an act of resistance and a reclaiming of power because it asserts our most basic humanity. We are enough. The systems cannot have us.
Rest Is Resistance is rooted in spiritual energy and centered in Black liberation, womanism, somatics, and Afrofuturism. With captivating storytelling and practical advice, all delivered in Hersey’s lyrical voice and informed by her deep experience in theology, activism, and performance art, Rest Is Resistance is a call to action, a battle cry, a field guide, and a manifesto for all of us who are sleep deprived, searching for justice, and longing to be liberated from the oppressive grip of Grind Culture.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"All of culture is collaborating for us not to rest," contends Hersey, the founder of the Nap Ministry, in this empathetic treatise. Arguing that rest is a political act, she suggests that capitalism and white supremacy have corrupted Americans' relationship with relaxation, especially for Black Americans, whose "bodies have been a constant source of exploitation." She critiques "grind culture" for equating productivity with self-worth and reducing "our divine bodies" to the level of machinery. Hersey describes how her belief in the liberatory power of rest stemmed from her exhaustion while in seminary school, as well as her church's message that her body is a "deep reflection of God" worthy of cherishing. Plumbing her family's history to highlight the painful consequences of constant work, the author describes how the stress of working two full-time jobs contributed to her father's death at age 55. She relates how her great-grandmother always stayed up late to watch for Klansmen and how her grandmother took half-hour naps to "find peace" after escaping the Jim Crow South, illuminating the intersection of racism and rest. Hersey's ministry background shines through in her passionate and eloquent arguments that read like a clear-eyed sermon, though the author sometimes struggles to find new ways to expand on her central point. Nonetheless, the provocative message will appeal to those tired of grind culture.
