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The remarkable true story of the man who took on a corporate giant - and won

In the early days of the Covid pandemic, warehouse worker Chris Smalls and his colleagues continued showing up as the rest of the world was shutting down. A dedicated and experienced Amazon employee, increasingly frustrated by the inner workings of the retail giant, Smalls had already felt himself reaching breaking point. So when coworkers around him began falling ill, and with no assurances of safety coming from those at the top, he made the only choice left available to him. He staged a walkout with friend Derrick Palmer, eventually finding himself on the picket line without a job.

What began as a demand to keep essential employees safe in a crisis would grow into a movement devoted to achieving dignity and security for the wage worker, triggering a groundswell of organizers at the most notable companies across America – including Starbucks, Trader Joe’s and Apple – and leading to lasting change for workers’ rights.

When the Revolution Comes is the riveting inside story of how a young Black man from Hackensack, NJ with little-to-no resources led a scrappy band of Staten Island warehouse workers in an improbable fight against Amazon – and won. An epic David-and-Goliath tale, a searing exposé and a terrifying depiction of what it’s like to be working class in America today, this book tells a new, empowering story of what is possible when the overworked, underpaid and disempowered join together, a movement born in community.

© Chris Smalls 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026