Dr Bramhall, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and long time activist, closed her twenty-five year Seattle practice in 2002 to live and work in New Zealand. Her recent memoir The Most Revolutionary Act: Memoir of an American Refugee describes how she came to make this life changing decision, following fifteen years of intense government harassment for her political activities.

Bramhall writes a left-green-feminist political commentary blog at www.stuartbramhall.com. She serves on the National Executive of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand and is extremely active in Transition Towns New Plymouth, a local sustainability movement.

The Most Revolutionary Act has just won a 2011 Allbooks Review Editor’s Choice award. Her next book Making Revolution: an Expatriate View is a collection of essays on the unique perspective she enjoys as an American expatriate on the political and economic crisis in the US.

Reviewed by Alice D. for Readers' Favorite

The Battle for Tomorrow opens in Seattle, Washington. Sixteen-year-old Ange is pregnant for the second time and is facing another abortion on her own; her distant, unsupportive mother Diane is paralyzed from a stroke, and Ange oversees her care. Ange's former, much older boyfriend introduced her to leftist politics. Now Ange is befriended by Trish who helps her and espouses nonviolent resistance, and Ange is hooked by the different protest movements. Ange is very bright, and understandably hates the life she currently lives. She decides to move to Washington, D.C., where she participates in nonviolent protests against the government, demanding fairness for all. She gets herself a job, a GED, and weeks in jail for participating as a juvenile in a protest demonstration. Is Ange headed for a better life? Reading this book to its conclusion will tell.

Much of this well-written, readable, believable story covers political actions and reasoning, and there the story bogs down. The reader may wonder whether a sixteen-year-old girl can actually hold her own as she meets up with one protestor after another. Also, some of Ange's dialogue is too sophisticated for a teenager. But once Ange is thrown into juvenile detention after being arrested at a protest, her actions as a teenager come into their own and her bright future begins.

With minor editing here and there and some attention to cutting down on the number of causes to be fought for, this will be a great read for adults everywhere. The Battle for Tomorrow is a great wake-up call for thinking people.