Nonviolent movement building is one of the greatest of 20th-century inventions, a way for the powerless to stand up to the powerful. But we don’t study it systematically—there’s no West Point for activists. That makes a book like this, rich in detail and history, tremendously useful to everyone trying to make change happen.
—Bill McKibben, founder of climate crisis group 350.org and author of The End of Nature
Wow! It’s superb! Timely, readable, clear, extensive, a mix of theory and wonderfully textured examples and case studies. Reading through it, I realized that in my neck of the woods, academic political theory, there is a dearth of literature on activism as such, and certain no comprehensive field guide. Oh, there have been some abstruse theoretical renderings, but nothing with a go-to, can-do comportment that doesn’t compromise one’s intellectual chops … I don’t think they make the transition from theory to action in the way that you have.
—John Seery, professor of political science at Pomona College and author of Political Theory for Mortals
