progressiveissuesblog

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 Global Activists Manual: Local Ways to Change the World By Mike Prokosch and Laura Raymond (eds.)

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 Progressive’s Guide to Raising Hell: How to Wage Winning Campaigns, Pass Ballot Box Laws and Get the Change We Vote For By Jamie Court

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

Wise Fool Basics By K. Ruby

Women Activists: Challenging the Abuse of Power By Anne Witte Garland

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Books by the Issues

Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World