Choosing the President By League of Women Voters
Civic Arousal – Ralph Nader When we were youngsters, our father would ask us provocative questions. One day he asked, ‘What is the most powerful, event-producing force in the world?’ We guessed and guessed. His answer: ‘Apathy.’ What? ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘apathy, because huge numbers of apathetic citizens, or victims, allow bad guys to create all kinds of problems on the ground — from dictatorial regimes, to repressed economic conditions, to health and safety hazards, to corruption, to wars and so forth.’ Edmund Burke, the British conservative philosopher around the time of our country’s revolution, put it another way– ‘All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.'” Thomas Paine’s Common Sense galvanized his fellow American colonists into seizing their independence from Britain. Today, as we again face “times that try men’s souls,” Ralph Nader’s call to civic action is as crucial to our country’s future as Paine’s was in 1776. country.
Corruption of American Politics By Elizabeth Drew
The Book of Obama: From Hope and Change to the Age of Revolt By Ted Rall
The Change I Believe In: Fighting for Progress in the Age of Obama By Katrina Vanden Heuvel
The Division of Light and Power by Dennis Kucinich Private, investor-owned utilities in Texas, Ohio, California, Illinois and elsewhere are crushing consumers with sky-high rates, price gouging and criminal behavior. The Division of Light and Power is the thoroughly documented, true story of one courageous American mayor who fought, and beat, a utility monopoly in an epic battle which involved corporate espionage and sabotage, bank co-conspirators, extortion, political corruption, organized crime, mob-directed assassination attempts, congressional investigations, and media cover-ups.
The Informed Activist: A Guide to Progressive Activism on the Internet By Todd Beer
The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the 21st Century By Grace Lee Boggs
The Peace Corps and More By Medea Benjamin
The Rich and the Rest of Us By Tavis Smiley and Cornel West
The Snarling Citizen By Barbara Ehrenreich
The Trajectory of Change: Activist Strategies for Social Transformation By Michael Albert
The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy By Howard Zinn
Transforming the Revolution: Social Movements and the World System By Immanuel Wallerstein
Twilight of the Social: Resurgent Publics in the Age of Disposability By Henry A. Giroux
Under the Influence: Putting Peer Pressure to Work – Robert H. Frank Psychologists have long understood that social environments profoundly shape our behavior, sometimes for the better, often for the worse. But social influence is a two-way street—our environments are themselves products of our behavior. Under the Influence explains how to unlock the latent power of social context. It reveals how our environments encourage smoking, bullying, tax cheating, sexual predation, problem drinking, and wasteful energy use. We are building bigger houses, driving heavier cars, and engaging in a host of other activities that threaten the planet—mainly because that’s what friends and neighbors do.
War Resisters League, By Organizers Handbook
Why Bother? Getting a Life in a Locked-down Land By Sam Smith
Women Activists: Challenging the Abuse of Power By Anne Witte Garland
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