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Title: Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals by Saul D. Alinsky ISBN: 0-679-72113-4 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 October, 1989 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.64 (22 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Truly exceptional
Comment: This book is the very best I have read about social change. It is devoid of any sentimental issues, rather focusing on the pragmatic aspects of change.
For example, he does not believe Ghandi was a pacifist from the beginning; he believes Ghandi realized that pacifism was the most effective approach in that case, so he chose it. If Ghandi had had guns and people to fight, Alinsky believes that Ghandi would have fought with guns. The book is full of similar stories that give life to the beliefs of the author. He also gives a blueprint of what the characteristics he believes make up a good radical organizer, and methods for such an organizer to better communicate with his audience.
This book is great for the radical who has a clue of what he would like to achieve and needs some help figuring out how to do it. It is not for someone simply seeking inspiration to make society better.
Rating: 5
Summary: Smashing the status quo!
Comment: Mr. Alinsky captures the outrage organizers have with the status quo. 'Why organize?' is the central question that permeates throughout this book, and Mr. Alinsky answers this question with a scathing attack on the powers that be, who are beholden to maintaining the status quo. Mr. Alinsky allows the reader to not just dream of a better America but doles out powerful, practical methods to either; A. work within the current system to effect positive change, or B. bring the system to its knees in the quest toward positive change. An absolute must read for anyone wishing to take on the status quo of poverty, injustice, hatred, and discrimination.
Rating: 3
Summary: Dated but valuable
Comment: People--and their writings--are a product of their culture and their times. Alinsky's writings are no different. A number of previous reviewers called him Marxist. That's possible but his tactics were aimed at helping the people of his era--the '30s to the '60s--crack the Capitalist monopoly on this country.
Reviewer John Devlin's ridiculous rant about Alinsky, using the words, "...wealthy, privileged, how a spoiled juvenile from a, (relatively), wealthy, privileged background would approach social change. Starting from the position of most adolescents, (the assumption of absolute moral and intellectual authority based upon little knowledge and no practical experience...perfectly reasonable to a rebellious adolescent dabbling at cultural revolution. After all, any real damage done will be to the working middle or lower class, and daddy will still be happy to bail you out if anything goes wrong" was a hoot. Substitute the words "George W. Bush" for "Saul Alinsky" and I couldn't agree more.
One of the problems that 8th grade civics classes never seem to drill into people's heads is that there's a big difference between Capitalism and Democracy. Most Americans equate the two, much to the glee of the unfettered, NAFTA-styled global corporations whose only allegiance is to money and power. Financial systems and political systems are very different and that's one of the core beliefs Alinsky expounds upon.
Too bad more people can't stop for a minute and think. Maybe they'd see Alinsky in a different light and bring power back to everyday people and their representatives--not cede it to the corporations and their paid lackeys in Congress.
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Title: Reveille for Radicals by Saul Alinsky ISBN: 0679721126 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 23 October, 1989 List Price(USD): $13.60 |
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Title: Organizing for Social Change: Midwest Academy: Manual for Activists by Kimberley A. Bobo, Jackie Kenoall, Steve Max, Kim Bobo, Jackie Kendall, Midwest Academy, Kimberly A. Bobo ISBN: 092976594X Publisher: Seven Locks Press Pub. Date: May, 2001 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: The Activist's Handbook: A Primer Updated Edition with a New Preface by Randy Shaw ISBN: 0520229282 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 05 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community's Assets by John P. Kretzmann, John L. McKnight ISBN: 087946108X Publisher: ACTA Publications Pub. Date: March, 1997 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Roots for Radicals: Organizing for Power, Action, and Justice by Edward T. Chambers, Michael A. Cowan, Studs Terkel ISBN: 0826414990 Publisher: Continuum Pub Group Pub. Date: October, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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