So I was recently nudged to share my top list of books for organisers - here goes with a few recommendations, but really keen for other suggestions + additions....
1. The Purpose of Power - just out, the best thing I've read all year. Full of wisdom and challenge. https://twitter.com/MrTomBaker/status/1337032405668990978
1. The Purpose of Power - just out, the best thing I've read all year. Full of wisdom and challenge. https://twitter.com/MrTomBaker/status/1337032405668990978
2. Rules for Radicals - A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals. First published in the 1970s, the handbook for Alinsky, and still used by organisers today. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102748.Rules_for_Radicals
3. Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change Everything - Becky Bond. The playbook for the Sanders campaign in 2016 - and an approach that many others have looked to draw on since.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32564956-rules-for-revolutionaries
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32564956-rules-for-revolutionaries
4. How to Resist: Turn Protest to Power by @MatthewBolton_ - this short book unpacks the approach that @CitizensUK have been using to such great impact. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35668862-how-to-resist
5. How Organizations Develop Activists: Civic Associations and Leadership in the 21st Century by @hahriehan - accessible academic look at why some organisations succeed (and others don't). Rightly read by so many working for civil society organisations. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22104237-how-organizations-develop-activists
6. Strategy and Soul: A campaigner's tale of fighting billionaires, corrupt officials, and Philadelphia casinos by @DanielActivism - a wonderfully written account of local communities organising to win change - and full of useful lessons https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/17786375
7. No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age by Jane F. McAlevey - written by a union and community organiser. If we want to win we need to build power and that takes time and investment. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29639226-no-shortcuts
8. Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin.
Rustin was a master strategist, tireless activist, and civil rights organiser who's legacy is huge, but too often gets overlooked. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29222.Lost_Prophet
Rustin was a master strategist, tireless activist, and civil rights organiser who's legacy is huge, but too often gets overlooked. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29222.Lost_Prophet
9. The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism by Theda Skocpol + Vanessa Williamson
An excellent look at the organising methods of the Tea Party in the US - don't agree with their policies, but you can still learn from the approach. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13002614-the-tea-party-and-the-remaking-of-republican-conservatism
An excellent look at the organising methods of the Tea Party in the US - don't agree with their policies, but you can still learn from the approach. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13002614-the-tea-party-and-the-remaking-of-republican-conservatism
10. Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit
Because to win requires you to hold onto hope, even in moments of challenge and difficulty, and this book beautiful captures that. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28048.Hope_in_the_Dark
Because to win requires you to hold onto hope, even in moments of challenge and difficulty, and this book beautiful captures that. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28048.Hope_in_the_Dark