The Activist's Handbook - 2nd Edition by Randy Shaw (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In this thoroughly revised and updated edition of The Activist's Handbook, Randy Shaw's hard-hitting guide to winning social change, the author brings the strategic and tactical guidance of the prior edition into the age of Obama. Shaw details how activists can best use the Internet and social media, and analyzes the strategic strengths and weaknesses of rising 21st century movements for immigrant rights, marriage equality, and against climate change. Shaw also highlights increased student activism towards fostering greater social justice in the 21st century.

The Activist's Handbook: Winning Social Change in the 21st Century details the impact of specific strategies on campaigns across the country, from Occupy Wall Street to battles over sweatshops, the environment, AIDS policies, education reform, homelessness, and more: How should activists use new media tools to expose issues and mobilize grassroots support? When should activists form coalitions, and with whom? How are students--be they DREAMers seeking immigration reform or college activists battling ever-increasing tuition costs--winning major campaigns? Whether it's by inspiring "fear and loathing" in politicians, building diverse coalitions, using ballot initiatives, or harnessing the media, the courts, and the electoral process towards social change, Shaw--a longtime activist for urban issues--shows that with a plan, positive change can be achieved.

In showing how people can win social change struggles against even overwhelming odds, The Activist's Handbook is an indispensable guide not only for activists, but for anyone interested in the future of progressive politics in America.

From the Back Cover

"A must read for grassroots activists, Shaw offers indispensable insights into the strategies and tactics necessary to overcome powerful interests. This new edition significantly expands and updates the original, which is an organizing classic."--Van Jones, author of Rebuild the Dream

Praise for Previous Edition:

"Anybody researching or writing anything about contemporary U.S. political life should be familiar with The Activist's Handbook. Anybody attempting to influence local, state, or national political decisions needs it desperately. Politicians may read it and tremble a bit. For that matter, the rich and powerful will probably read it to see how smart some of their enemies are becoming."--Ernest Callenbach, author of Ecotopia

"Provides rare insight into the strategies and tactics environmentalists must use if they are to succeed in today's political climate. A must read."--Barbara Dudley, Executive Director, Greenpeace

"This is a unique book, wise, realistic, and enormously valuable for anyone interested in social change. It is practical in its advice, and inspiring in its stories of ordinary people successfully confronting powerful interests."--Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States

"The Activist's Handbook could not have come at a more opportune time. In an era when poverty is growing and national social programs are threatened, the Handbook is an invaluable tool for community groups wishing to mobilize efforts in the service of escalating human needs."--Ben Bagdikian, author of The Media Monopoly and Double Vision

"Randy Shaw gives us a serious and respectful treatment of the strategic problems and opportunities that confront grassroots activists. This is a dimension of contemporary politics that is rarely treated, and welcome for that reason. Moreover, in developing his analysis, Shaw draws on numerous cases of local struggles to remind us of what the media has come to ignore, the persistent and insuppressible popular activism that is part of American political life."--Frances Fox Piven, City University of New York

Review Quotes

"The firsthand insights here are rich."-- "CHOICE"

"It's a remarkable, unsentimental record of modern Bay Area politics and causes, yet hardly belongs to a niche readership. . . . From a very local milieu he is able to draw conclusions about the dynamics of coalitions that apply to just about anywhere."-- "Capital & Main"

About the Author

Randy Shaw is Director of San Francisco's Tenderloin Housing Clinic and Editor of BeyondChron.org. His previous books include The Activist's Handbook: A Primer, Reclaiming America, and Beyond the Fields: Cesar Chavez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century, all from UC Press.