Political activism / Political engagement Books

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Book SynopsisInvestigates the emerging phenomenon of militant fundamentalist Islam of a global nature and without links to a particular country or culture. Olivier Roy investigates here the emergence of a militant 'de-territorialised' Islam that has fewer and fewer links to any particular country and/or culture. His main contention is that contemporary Islamic fundamentalism is largely a consequence of, and a factor contributing to, globalisation. Roy argues that mainstream Islamist movements in the Muslim world have become 'Islamo-nationalist', recasting their political action within a national framework (e.g. Islamic Iran, the Hamas of Palestine, the Hezbullah of Lebanon), thereby relinquishing their internationalist agenda.Hence a schism has emerged between 'political Islam' and the modern, uprooted militants who strive to establish an imaginary 'Ummah which is not embedded in any particular society or territory. A detailed comparison of these transnational movements, whether peaceful like Tabligh Jamaat and the Islamic brotherhoods or violent like Osama bin Laden, forms the core of this book. In parallel with this 'deterritorialisation', new forms of 'Western Islam' have put down strong roots.For the first time in history, a huge Muslim population has come voluntarily to live in non-Muslim countries. Among these migrants pristine ethnic cultures are being eroded and giving way to the recasting of Islam as a mere religion, one that is less and less embedded in a particular, localised culture. In this sense the 'Salafist' or neo-fundamentalist approach, which stresses the return to an authentic Islam, shorn of local traditions and superstitions, is both a consequence and an agent of the contemporary process of acculturation and globalisation. Roy also examines relations between neo-fundamentalism and globalisation, and the recasting of Islam into a personal faith. To be a 'true' Muslim in the West is an individual choice, because it usually means a double break: with an overly traditional familial environment and with the dominant secular society.Trade Review[This] new book provides one of the best and most detailed snapshots of 'real existing Islam' currently available. * The Guardian *a new book by Roy [is] something of an event . . . 'Globalised Islam' is a highly original, methodologically rigorous . . . superb and complex sociological study. * The Washington Post *High-octane brainwork . . . a large and highly intelligent contribution. * The Economist *Olivier Roy is perhaps the most provocative and innovative writer on Islamism today. . . . There is no more reliable guide to this labyrinth. -- Martin Kramer * Middle East Quarterly *A characteristically informed and incisive analysis of the new transnational movements and globalized responses that have developed in that past twenty years or so in the Muslim world. . . . Roy is one of the most important analysts of political Islam today. -- James Piscatori, FellowTable of ContentsContents: Introduction - The Nationalisation of Islamism - Islam in the West: From Acculturation to New Sets of Identities - Redefining Islam as a Mere Religion in the West - Islam on the Web and the Virtual Ummah - Neo-Fundamentalism as a Pattern and a Tool of Acculturation - The Radical Neo-Fundamentalist Networks: Osama Bin Laden - Post-Islamism:The Protestanisation of Islam - Conclusion: Islam between Religion, Culture and Individualisation.

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Book SynopsisEleanor Marx is one of the most tragically overlooked feminist intellectuals in history, usually overshadowed by her father, Karl Marx. But not only did she edit, translate, transcribe and collaborate with her father, she also spent her extraordinary life putting his ideas into practice as a labour organizer, feminist radical, and Marxist theorist.The outstanding exception to the omission of Eleanor Marx from history is Yvonne Kapp's highly acclaimed biography. First published at the height of feminist organizing in the 1970s, Kapp's work brilliantly succeeds in capturing Eleanor's spirit, from a lively child opining on the world's affairs, to the new woman, aspiring to the stage, earning her living as a free intellectual, and helping to lead England's unskilled workers at the height of the new unionism; being always more than, yet at the same time inescapably, Karl Marx's daughter. It is also, inevitably, an unrivalled biography of the Marx household in Victorian London, of the Marx circle, and of Friedrich Engels, the family's extraordinary mentor.During today's resurgence of feminist writing, organizing, and protesting, Kapp's foundational single-volume biography serves as a crucial corrective to a narrative that puts feminists and marxists on opposing sides of radical history.Trade ReviewOne of the few unquestionable masterpieces of 20th-century biography. * Guardian *A work of scholarship but also a work of art. -- Michael FootA work of vitality and of scholarship. -- E P ThompsonDoes full justice to both [public and private]aspects of Eleanor's difficult life. * New York Times *The 1,000 pages of Eleanor Marx rest onexhaustive and flawless research. -- Eric HobsbawmMasterful. -- Tristram Hunt, author of the Frock-Coated Communist: The Revolutionary Life od Friedrich Engels

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Book SynopsisMany people say they want to make a difference but don't know how. This book offers examples of real people making real differences. It reminds us to see the joy and love in every moment of every day.

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Book SynopsisShalvi has been a pioneer in advancing the status of women in Israel and in religious girls' education. She has been an active participant in peace dialogues and inter-religious initiatives and has been a social activist all her life.Born in Germany in 1926 to Orthodox parents, Shalvi grew up in London and studied English at Cambridge, before moving to Jerusalem in 1949 where she went on to pursue a PhD at Hebrew University, eventually teaching English Literature.In 1950, Shalvi met and married her husband, Moshe Shelkowitz (later Shalvi), who died in 2013. They had six children together.One of Shalvi's greatest accomplishments was the establishment of the Pelech School which she headed from 1975 to 1990. This experimental/ progressive religious high school for girls in Jerusalem has become a model for women's Orthodox education across the country.Shalvi was a co-founder of the Israel Women's Network, established to advance the status of women.In 2007 she was awarded the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievements in the areas of education, social welfare and human rights.

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Book SynopsisHanna Sheehy Skeffington was the most significant feminist in twentieth-century Ireland - an activist, writer and polemicist of the highest rank. An advocate of feminism, socialism, and republicanism, her writings - published in Britain and America as well as Ireland - transcended national boundaries. In these pages we experience the excitement of the suffrage years, anti-war campaigns, prison experiences, the impact of the brutal killing of her husband, meetings with Prime Minister Asquith and President Wilson, the bitter years of civil war, impressions of Bolshevik Russia, inter-war Europe, her friendship with Constance Markievicz, debates with Sean O'Casey, and her involvement in feminist campaigns against the exclusion of women from public life during the 1930s and 1940s. Her organisational abilities were recognised by the leaders of the Easter Rising, who agreed she would be the sole female member of a civil provisional government, to be formed if the Rising was a success.She remained an activist throughout her life, an advocate for a Workers' Republic, serving a prison sentence in Armagh jail in 1933, campaigning against the Constitution in 1937 and standing for election to the Dail as an independent feminist in 1943. Her political writings, including book and theatre reviews, newspaper articles, reminiscences, interviews, obituaries, and analysis of key events in the first half of the twentieth century- authoritative, passionate and witty - provide the reader with an indispensable source for understanding the personalities and the issues behind the long march for women's equality and national independence in Ireland.Trade Review`This is a thematically organised work that scholars of Irish and women's history will surely turn to time and again ...'Jennifer Martin, Books Ireland, March 2018; `What is striking is how fresh Sheehy Skeffington's voice still seems, particularly on the long campaign for women's rights. ... The book is particularly vivid in charting the struggle for suffrage -- a timely subject ahead of next year's centenary of (some) women gaining the vote. ... Hers was a journey that deserves commemoration, and this new collection does so with gusto and authority.' Catherine Healy, Sunday Business Post, Nov 2017; `...an extensive and valuable collection that makes for a thoroughly engaging read. ...a tremendous primary resource to support the still neglected, but growing, area of Irish women's history and gender history more broadly.' Sonja Tiernan, The Irish Catholic, Nov 2017; `The value of this kind of volume is demonstrated by the immediacy, passion and humour of the prose, happening in real time when no one knew the outcome. ... Margaret Ward has done us a service in assembling these writings carefully, so that a clear and distinctive voice can be heard in her own words.' Catriona Crowe, Irish Times, Oct 2017; `What's most striking about Sheehy Skeffington's prose is its sheer resilience, nobility, and belief in the concept of justice at all costs: even in the face of despair, grief, and anguish. ... I would place [Hanna's] prison diaries alongside writing from other political figures who penned some of their best work behind bars, such as Italian Marxist, Antonio Gramsci, and Indian pacifist Mahatma Gandhi.' J. P. O'Malley, Sunday Independent, Oct 2017; `She was a truly remarkable woman and deserves nothing less than to have her writings presented to us by an historian of the calibre of Margaret Ward and more importantly to have them read, the better to inspire our thoughts and actions today.' Liberty newspaper, Oct 2017; 'The collection of Hanna's writing, which also comprises Hanna's unpublished memoir fragments, is an important addition to our understanding of a woman ahead of her time.' Martina Devlin, Irish Independent, Oct 2017; `The production is handsome and a significant contribution to the recovery of Irish women's history in the gestation, birth, and withering away of the national revolution.' Emmet O'Connor, Irish History Review, Oct 2017;“Her great heart stopped too soon”, the Irish Press observed in its obituary. “It was worn out in the pursuit of many causes..”. That great heart still beats through her writings and Ward has done a great service in collecting them.';Mary Carolan, Women's History Association of Ireland, August 2018; `Hanna’s life and work now made available in this definitive collection was certainly a model for women, but the question remains why did the model fail to engage Irish women until the later generation of Irish feminists?’; Irish Literary Supplement. Fall 2018Table of ContentsForeword by Micheline Sheehy Skeffington; Chronology of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington's Life and Times; chapter 1: Unpublished Memoirs; chapter 2: Women and Education; chapter 3: Women, the National Movement and Sinn Fein; chapter 4: Votes for Women; chapter 5: War and Pacifism; chapter 6: Death of a Pacifist; chapter 7: After the Rising In America; chapter 8: The War of Independence and the Treaty; chapter 9: Opposing the `Free State'; chapter 10: Hanna and Sean O'Casey; chapter 11: Travels in Europe; chapter 12: Memories of Countess Markievicz; chapter 13: The 1930s. Feminist Reflections and Feminist Fightback; chapter 14: Prison Experiences; chapter 15: Looking Backwards. War, Election and Final Years; chapter 16: Book and Theatre Reviews; chapter 17: Obituaries of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington; Notes; Selected Reading; Index

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Book SynopsisThis full-length biographical study - substantially rewritten and updated - of one of the most important women in Irish political life in the 20th century is now reissued by UCD Press. Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, part of a pioneering generation, played a significant role in the early Irish Republic. Hanna Sheehy Skeffington was a leading figure in the suffrage movement, she was an activist in the anti-war movement of 1914-18 and was an executive member of Sinn Fein. She opposed the Free State and provided consistent support for women's resistance to anti-women measures enacted by both Cumann na nGaedheal and Fianna Fail. Her later career saw her as an electoral candidate to the Dail in 1943 and she proved herself fearless in her fight for justice, confronting both the British Prime Minister and the President of the United States of America. Incorporating new archival research and featuring an array of newly discovered images, Ward brings to light previously unpublished material about Hanna's personal life: her relationship with her husband and her role as a single parent. This timely revised edition serves to highlight the fascinating life of a pivotal figure in feminist, labour and nationalist movements in Ireland.Trade ReviewWard's book offers a vision of Irish feminism in its complexity, revealing the subtler and more nuanced relationships that crossed ideological differences, as well as the friendships and alliances among feminists in Ireland, England, America and Europe. Through close and devoted study of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, scholars may see how all the theatrics of resistance - choreographies, stage business, the orchestration of shots, interruptions, heckling - is developed and transmuted. She remains a powerful feminist ancestor to study and admire. Lucy McDiarmid, Irish Literary Supplement It takes a book like this to remind us how women have been written out of mainstream Irish history. In this biography of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington she draws out of oblivion the history of Irish feminism in the first decades of this century. When one reads Margaret Ward's account of that period it is astounding that such consistent political action was omitted from Irish history. Ethna Viney, Irish Times ;Margaret Ward's biography of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington reveals her to have been a remarkable woman in her own right who established a militant suffrage movement in Ireland, supported the organization of women workers and went on to become a significant figure in Sinn Fein. Throughout her life Hanna faced the difficult task of balancing the claims of her feminism and her commitment to Irish independence. Margaret Ward gives a balanced account, sifting through stories and myths. Sheila Rowbotham, The Times; Margaret Ward is one of a number of women historians who have been engaged in excavating the history of women in Ireland and the history of Irish feminism. This biography is an important contribution to that process. ;Catriona Crowe, Sunday TribuneTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsList of IllustrationsFamily TreeChronology of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington’s Life and TimesSuffrage Friends and Colleagues of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington1Early Years 1877–19002The Making of a Feminist 1900–19033Partnership 1903–19084A Feminist Mother 1908-19105The Stone and The Shillelagh 1910–19126Outlaws 1912–19147'Rolling Up the Map of Suffrage' 1914–19168Death of a Pacifist 19169Challenging the Empire 1917–191810A Feminist Sinn Féiner 1918–192111Republican Envoy 1921–192512The Struggle Continues 1925–193213Feminism, Republicanism, Communism 1932–193714‘The Seeds Beneath the Snow’ 1937–1946Notes BibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThis is the life and times of Jabu Ndlovu—wife, mother, worker, union activist—who fought for the rights of her fellow workers and community members. Flashes in Her Soul is the second book in the Hidden Voices series and is the story of Jabu Ndlovu, a shop steward of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and a community leader in Imbali near Pietermaritzburg. Jabu, her husband and her oldest daughter were killed in a brutal attack on their home in May 1989. This story shows the courage and compassion with which Jabu fought against all forms of exploitation. Her story represents the experiences of thousands of women who struggled and suffered as a result of the war in KwaZulu-Natal in the 1980s and 1990s. Jabu's story reminds us of the devastation that violence brings to families, communities and organizations.The politics and dynamics behind the violence today are not the same as in the 1980s and early 1990s, but the need remains for strong and moral leaders like Jabu to speak out and organize against the violence and the moral corruption that lies behind it.

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Book SynopsisThis book addresses the multiple dimensions of the limited reach, or breakdown, of central authority in border regions of Arab states, and their implications for state sovereignty and modes of governance. These include the emergence of illicit networks of exchange, the rise of new nonstate actors in border regions, including paramilitary or jihadi groups, and the transformation of border areas into areas of regional conflict. Collectively, the essays in this volume address such processes, which have been observable in conflict-stricken countries such as Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, and in fragile political or economic contexts, like the ones in Lebanon, Tunisia, and Algeria, as well as in relatively stable Emirates such as Kuwait. The contributions also shed light on how border peripheries in the Arab world have impacted the center of political and economic power in their states. Table of Contents1. Introduction, Maha Yahya2. Smuggling and State Formation: A Match Made in Algeria, Dalia Ghanem3.Cronies and Contraband: Why Integrating Tunisia’s Informal Economic Elite Has Become Necessary, Hamza Meddeb4. North Pacific: Why Lebanon’s Akkar Region Weathered the Syrian Conflict, Maha Yahya and Mohanad Hage Ali5. Transnationalization of a Borderland: Center, Periphery, and Identity in Western Iraq, Harith Hasan6. Hadramawt’s Emergence as a Center: A Confluence of Yemeni Circumstances and Hadrami Resourcefulness, Ahmed Nagi7. How Syria’s War Extended Border Policies to Much of the Country, Kheder Khaddour and Kevin Mazur8. The Center Gives: Southern Syria and the Rise of New Peripheral Powerbrokers, Armenak Tokmajyan9. On the Edge: How Risks from Iraq Have Helped Form Kuwaiti Identity, Bader Al-Saif

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Book SynopsisAn exemplary story of solidarity in action, Cultivating a Revolutionary Spirit conveys the exhilarating experience of being part of paradigm-changing revolutions.Bill Lankford visited Nicaragua in 1984 to see the Sandinista revolution for himself. What he found led this physics professor to volunteer his skills teaching at the Central American University in Managua. There, he and his students developed a solar cooking project which took on a life of its own, spreading throughout the five countries of Central America.In Cultivating a Revolutionary Spirit, Bill describes how local women used the tools of carpentry to build solar ovens and how they used the tools of feminism to take more control over their own lives and their communities. Bill leveraged his personal resources as a white North American man—professionally educated, fluent in English, with access to money and connections—to facilitate the work of Central America

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Book SynopsisFighting for France is a ground-breaking examination of violence in French politics in the interwar period. During these years, a range of groups at the political extremes employed physical aggression against their enemies and threatened to bring about the violent demise of the democratic regime. Until now, historians have denied and downplayed the frequency and seriousness of French political violence in favour of an interpretation that emphasises France''s weddedness to democracy. Fighting for France demonstrates that the democratic culture of the late Third Republic co-existed with a culture of violence in which the physical punishment of rivals and opponents was considered acceptable. Drawing on the narratives constructed around outbreaks of violence, the book reconstructs the lived experience of fighting and the sense that contemporaries made of conflict. It examines violence in a variety of settings, from the street to the factory floor. A range of actors come under investigationTrade Review...this is an important piece of research that will help historians gain a greater understanding not just of French political culture in this period but also of the relationship between violence and democratic political culture in Europe more broadly. * Karine Varley, H-Net *Millington contributes a nuanced exploration of the circumstances in which violence took place in France, and the political cultures that both nurtured and constrained its use. * Joan Tumblety, European History Quarterly *Fighting or France is sure to be of interest to specialists in French twentieth-century politics and political culture, as well as to those with an interest in the comparative study of democracies' responses to political extremism in the era of fascism. It could serve as a readable and engaging supplementary text for an undergraduate course on Europe in the era of the World Wars, and could also be used to provoke productive discussion about the similarities and differences between political violence in interwar Europe and in our own time. * Drew Flanagan, H-France *

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Book SynopsisA political movement rallies against under regulated banks, widening gaps in wealth, and gridlocked governments. Sound familiar? Historians wrote approvingly of the Populists up into the 1950s. This title sets out to uncover the truth of populism, focusing on the prominent Populist state, Kansas.Trade Review"Often misrepresented and misunderstood, its very name stolen and twisted by movements hostile to the progressive reforms it fore-shadowed, American Populism deserved the penetrating corrective report contained in Walter Nugent's book of fifty years ago. For readers in today's threatened democracy, this anniversary reissue is more timely than ever." (Bernard Weisberger, author of America Afire)"

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Book SynopsisThis study offers an interpretation of the political battles that paved the way for reform in Iran. The author argues that the struggle for a more democratic Iran can be traced back to the revolution itself, and to the contradictory agendas of the revolution's founding father, Ayatollah Khomeini.

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Book SynopsisEmphasizes the coexistence of different kinds of radicalism, their tensions, and their implications. This title reveals the importance of radicalism's links to pre-industrial culture and attachments to place and local communities, as well as the ways in which journalists who had been pushed out of "respectable" politics connected to artisans.Trade Review"The Roots of Radicalism brings to bear both rich historical cases and comparative reflections on one of the central theoretical debates in sociology and history. Through his deep and broad analysis of protest in the early nineteenth century, Calhoun develops an important and contrarian contribution to the debate over collective action that has heretofore been dominated by the imagery of individual rational actors." (Elisabeth S. Clemens, Univeristy of Chicago)"

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Book SynopsisWhy do people keep fighting for social causes in the face of consistent failure? Why do they risk their physical, emotional, and financial safety on behalf of strangers? How do these groups survive high turnover and emotional burnout? This title provides answers to these questions.Trade Review"This is a very good comparative case study of two different types of organizations and a beautifully written, engaging work of participant observation." - Jonathan Turner, University of California, Riverside"

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Book SynopsisDoes the ease with which one can now participate in online petitions or conversations about current events seduce some away from civic activities into slacktivism? Drawing on a diverse body of theory, from Hannah Arendt to Anthony Appiah, this book offers a range of visions for a political ethics to guide citizens in a digitally connected world.Trade Review"For anyone who thinks that the Internet has created a whole new order, From Voice to Influence ought to be essential reading. This is a very important and valuable book, rich with fascinating case studies and pertinent data." (Peter Levine, Tufts University)

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Book SynopsisDoes the ease with which one can now participate in online petitions or conversations about current events seduce some away from civic activities into "slacktivism?" Drawing on a diverse body of theory, from Hannah Arendt to Anthony Appiah, this book offers a range of visions for a political ethics to guide citizens in a digitally connected world.Trade Review"For anyone who thinks that the Internet has created a whole new order, From Voice to Influence ought to be essential reading. This is a very important and valuable book, rich with fascinating case studies and pertinent data." (Peter Levine, Tufts University)

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Book SynopsisBetween 1979 and 2000 four major lesbian and gay demonstrations took place there. Drawing on archival research, historical data, original photographs, interviews with key activists, and more than a thousand news articles, this book offers an analysis - descriptive, historical, and sociological - of these marches and their organization.Trade Review"A dazzling accomplishment, both conceptually and substantively. Ghaziani's rich and meticulously researched work significantly expands our understanding of the history of gay and lesbian activism during a critical period. Using these four previously unstudied cases of mass protest as a means to tell that history is a brilliant idea." - Verta Taylor, University of California, Santa Barbara"

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Book SynopsisBetween 1979 and 2000 four major lesbian and gay demonstrations took place there. Drawing on archival research, historical data, original photographs, interviews with key activists, and more than a thousand news articles, this book offers an analysis - descriptive, historical, and sociological - of these marches and their organization.Trade Review"A dazzling accomplishment, both conceptually and substantively. Ghaziani's rich and meticulously researched work significantly expands our understanding of the history of gay and lesbian activism during a critical period. Using these four previously unstudied cases of mass protest as a means to tell that history is a brilliant idea." - Verta Taylor, University of California, Santa Barbara"

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Book SynopsisDespite there having been no significant move to the right in recent years in public political opinion, conservatives have fared much better than progressives. This text explores the reasons for this pattern through examination of case studies of grassroots movements.

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Book SynopsisAn analysis of the 1960s Civil Rights sit-ins that focuses on their legal aspects: the arguments made, the way law was employed, and their effects.Trade Review"Schmidt, one of our most talented young legal historians, has written an engaging and fast-paced narrative of one of the civil rights movement's epic events: the sit-in demonstrations. Thoroughly researched and convincingly argued, Schmidt's book is a model of the 'new' legal history: He demonstrates how ordinary Americans shape the development of constitutional law and how the sundry interactions of diverse institutions influence constitutional change in unpredictable ways. The sit-in movement finally has the legal history it deserves."--Michael Klarman, Harvard Law School, author of From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality "Schmidt has written the definitive legal treatment of the sit-in movement of the 1960s. He masterfully weaves together the social, political, and legal history of the transformative protests of the brave African American college students who challenged Jim Crow. Schmidt is unafraid to look at the messiness of the law--the confusions, gaps, and inconsistencies that most scholars try to neaten up. There is conflict here, and that conflict is deeply illuminating. The Sit-Ins tells a fascinating story that adds much to our understanding of the relationship between law and social movements, the role of popular constitutionalism outside the courts, and the meaning of the Constitution itself."--Risa L. Goluboff, dean, University of Virginia School of Law

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Book SynopsisHow do people become activists for causes they care deeply about? Many people with similar backgrounds, for instance, fervently believe that abortion should be illegal, but only some of them join the pro-life movement. Delving into the lives and beliefs of activists and nonactivists alike, this book examines the differences between them.Trade Review"Munson's focus on variations across pro-life activists - rather than between pro-life and pro-choice activists - adds exceptionally valuable nuance to our understanding of the movement. Along with this comparative emphasis, his clear and theoretically subversive argument makes this an original and significant book." - Elisabeth Clemens, University of Chicago"

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Book SynopsisFew relationships have proved more pivotal in changing the course of American politics than those between presidents and social movements. For all their differences, both presidents and social movements are driven by a desire to recast the political system, often pursuing rival agendas that set them on a collision course. Even when their interests converge, these two actors often compete to control the timing and conditions of political change. During rare historical moments, however, presidents and social movements forged partnerships that profoundly recast American politics. Rivalry and Reform explores the relationship between presidents and social movements throughout history and into the present day, revealing the patterns that emerge from the epic battles and uneasy partnerships that have profoundly shaped reform. Through a series of case studies, including Abraham Lincoln and abolitionism, Lyndon Johnson and the civil rights movement, and Ronald Reagan and the religious right, Sidney M. Milkis and Daniel J. Tichenor argue persuasively that majorpolitical change usually reflects neither a top-down nor bottom-up strategybut a crucial interplay between the two. Savvy leaders, the authors show, use social movements to support their policy goals. At the same time, the most successful social movements target the president as either a source of powerful support or the center of opposition. The book concludes with a consideration of Barack Obama's approach to contemporary social movements such as Black Lives Matter, United We Dream, and Marriage Equality.

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Book SynopsisA deeply researched ethnographic portrait of progressive senior activists in Chicago who demonstrate how a tiny public wields collective power to advocate for broad social change. If you've ever been to a protest or been involved in a movement for social change, you have likely experienced a local culture, one with slogans, jargon, and shared commitments. Though one might think of a cohort of youthful organizers when imagining protest culture, this powerful ethnography from esteemed sociologist Gary Alan Fine explores the world of senior citizens on the front lines of progressive protests. While seniors are a notoriously importantand historically conservativepolitical cohort, the group Fine calls Chicago Seniors Together is a decidedly leftist organization, inspired by the model of Saul Alinsky. The group advocates for social issues, such as affordable housing and healthcare, that affect all sectors of society but take on a particular urgency in the lives of seniors. Seniors connect and mobilize around their distinct experiences but do so in service of concerns that extend beyond themselves. Not only do these seniors experience social issues as seniorsbut they use their age as a dramatic visual in advocating for political change. In Fair Share, Fine brings readers into the vital world of an overlooked political group, describing how a tiny public mobilizes its demands for broad social change. In investigating this process, he shows that senior citizen activists are particularly savvy about using age to their advantage in social movements. After all, what could be more attention-grabbing than a group of passionate older people determinedly shuffling through snowy streets with canes, in wheelchairs, and holding walkers to demand healthcare equity, risking their own health in the process? Trade Review"In Fair Share: Senior Activism, Tiny Publics, and the Culture of Resistance, Fine makes an excellent case for . . . an example of observing a social movement as something like a social club. The meso-level of society, a middle and peopled realm wherein local values, interactions, experiences, and stories produce the necessary sociality for pursuing activism, shines through the book." -- J. L. Johnson * Symbolic Interaction *"Fine’s ethnography offers a deep and joyful dive into the contradictions and strengths of elder activism." * Choice *“The Baby Boom generation is not going quietly into the night. In entertaining detail, Gary Alan Fine, perhaps the finest ethnographer of that generation, shows us how and why they continue to cause beautiful trouble in politics. Fair Share is a pleasure to read.” -- James M. Jasper, CUNY Graduate CenterTable of ContentsPrologue: A Snowy Day in Racine Introduction: Of Seniors, for Seniors 1 Causes, Commitment, and Culture 2 Coming of Age 3 Where the Actions Are 4 Movement Memories and Eventful Experience 5 Staff Power and Senior Authority 6 Diversities 7 The Nexus of Politics 8 Our Fair Share Acknowledgments Notes Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"In Fair Share: Senior Activism, Tiny Publics, and the Culture of Resistance, Fine makes an excellent case for . . . an example of observing a social movement as something like a social club. The meso-level of society, a middle and peopled realm wherein local values, interactions, experiences, and stories produce the necessary sociality for pursuing activism, shines through the book." -- J. L. Johnson * Symbolic Interaction *"Fine’s ethnography offers a deep and joyful dive into the contradictions and strengths of elder activism." * Choice *“The Baby Boom generation is not going quietly into the night. In entertaining detail, Gary Alan Fine, perhaps the finest ethnographer of that generation, shows us how and why they continue to cause beautiful trouble in politics. Fair Share is a pleasure to read.” -- James M. Jasper, CUNY Graduate CenterTable of ContentsPrologue: A Snowy Day in Racine Introduction: Of Seniors, for Seniors 1 Causes, Commitment, and Culture 2 Coming of Age 3 Where the Actions Are 4 Movement Memories and Eventful Experience 5 Staff Power and Senior Authority 6 Diversities 7 The Nexus of Politics 8 Our Fair Share Acknowledgments Notes Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Saul Alinsky and the Dilemma of Race is a major contribution to scholarship on postwar racial politics in northern US cities. Writing at the intersections of urban, labor and African-American histories, Santow has forged an analytical narrative that depicts Alinsky’s decades-long efforts to bridge Chicago’s racial divide neither as a quixotic challenge to white flight nor as a broad strategy that might have prevented northern resegregation. Rather, he provides a nuanced portrait of both the potential of Alinsky’s organizing for promoting neighborhood integration and its inability to address the structural forces driving racial transition in mid-twentieth-century Chicago.” -- Matthew Countryman, author of Up South: Civil Rights and Black Power in Philadelphia"What do race in the US and Saul Alinsky have in common? Both are mercurial, shrouded in myth, and caricatured across the political spectrum. Mark Santow confronts each, illuminating the intersection of the community organizer and the pragmatics of racism in the crucible of Chicago." -- Amanda I. Seligman, author of Block by Block"The Catholic theologian Jacques Maritain once called Saul Alinsky 'a great soul'--a mahatma, devoted to promoting human dignity through the pursuit of radical democracy. In his exemplary new book, Mark Santow brings Alinksy’s vision up against the brutal realities of race in midcentury Chicago. The result is a consistently compelling, sometimes exhilarating, often sobering story of idealism, activism, and reactionary resistance in one of the nation’s most segregated cities." -- Kevin Boyle, author of The Shattering: America in the 1960sTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. “Americanism in the Truest Sense?” Alinsky and Race in Packingtown 2. “Dissolving the Walls of Racial Partition”: The 1957 General Report 3. Chicago’s “Great Question”: Racial Geography and the Creation of the Organization for the Southwest Community, 1958–1959 4. The “Benign Quota,” Racial Liberalism, and the OSC 5. “And Just All of a Sudden, They Left”: The OSC and the Challenges of Neighborhood Integration, 1961–1969 6. “We Will Not Be Planned For”: The Creation of the Woodlawn Organization 7. Truth Squads and Death Watches: TWO, Schooling, and Spatial Strategy 8. Maximum Feasible Alinsky: TWO and the War on Poverty 9. Model Cities, TWO, and the Spatial Dilemmas of Metropolitan Segregation Conclusion: Mending Walls and Building Bridges Acknowledgments Notes Index

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Book SynopsisAn insightful examination of how intersecting individual motivations and social structures mobilize spontaneous mass protests. Between 15 and 26 million Americans participated in protests surrounding the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and others as part of the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, which is only one of the most recent examples of an immense mobilization of citizens around a cause. In The Rise of the Masses, sociologist Benjamin Abrams addresses why and how people spontaneously protest, riot, and revolt en masse. While most uprisings of such a scale require tremendous resources and organizing, this book focuses on cases where people with no connection to organized movements take to the streets, largely of their own accord. Looking to the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, and the Black Lives Uprising, as well as the historical case of the French Revolution, Abrams lays out a theory of how and why massive mobilizations arise without the large-scalTrade Review“Skillfully drawing on and synthesizing an impressive range of theoretical perspectives, Benjamin Abrams has fashioned a highly original theory of spontaneous mass mobilization. As if that weren’t enough, he goes on to make a compelling, empirically informed case for the application of his affinity-convergence theory to four iconic mass movements, ranging from the French Revolution to the George Floyd Protests of 2020. Anyone interested in the dynamics of spontaneous mass action will want to read this book.” -- Doug McAdam, Ray Lyman Wilbur Professor of Sociology, Stanford University“Drawing on four diverse cycles of contention. . . . Abrams shows how much of the process of mobilization can be explained as the product of affinities and convergence on the part of unorganized groups—the 'masses' in his title—while their failures can be explained as their inability to create viable and robust structures around their affinities. His book should be read by social movement specialists and by general readers concerned with the current waves of mass mobilization alike. While the book is based on immense reading and research, it is Abrams's deep thinking that I admire most. A very readable and engaging book." -- Sidney Tarrow, author of Power in Movement“Social movements and revolutions are enormously consequential. Yet, their confounding and elusive mysteries are not fully understood. How do they burst forth, who brings them into being, and why do they fail or succeed? Do they spring from spontaneity or organization? The Rise of the Masses squarely confronts these fundamental questions through careful analysis, copious evidence, and enthralling narratives of historic movements. In so doing, Abrams illuminates how these engines of social change operate. This book is a rich fount of knowledge that should be widely read.” -- Aldon Morris, author of The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement"This book will be important reading for those interested in explaining mobilization generally and delving into how we can better understand more spontaneous mobilizations. In addition, it would be of interest to any scholars or publics interested in the four core cases of analysis. I found the book compelling, beautifully written, and convincing." -- Catherine Corrigall-Brown * Social Forces *Table of ContentsIntroduction Part I: Theorizing Mobilization 1. What We Know about Mobilization, and What We Need To 2. Affinity-Convergence Theory Part II: The Egyptian Revolution, 2011 3. Egypt on the Eve of Revolution 4. The Anatomy of a Revolutionary Moment 5. The Fall and Fall of Revolutionary Egypt Part III: Occupy Wall Street 6. Globalizing the Revolution 7. Enter the Occupiers 8. The End of the Extraordinary Part IV: The Black Lives Uprising, 2020 9. From Tragedy to Uprising 10. Mass Mobilization for Black Lives Part V: The French Revolution, 1789 11. Mass Mobilization against the Ancien Régime 12. The Development of Revolutionary Mobilization Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes Index

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