Books about Activists from Amazon.com

"Sunshine, you're my baby and I'm your only mother. You must mind the one taking care of you, but she's not your mama." Ashley Rhodes-Courter spent nine years of her life in fourteen different foster homes, living by those words. As her mother spirals out of control, Ashley is left clinging to an unpredictable, dissolving relationship, all the while getting pulled deeper and deeper into the foster care system.

Painful memories of being taken away from her home quickly become consumed by real-life horrors, where Ashley is juggled between caseworkers, shuffled from school to school, and forced to endure manipulative,humiliating treatment from a very abusive foster family. In this inspiring, unforgettable memoir, Ashley finds the courage to succeed - and in doing so, discovers the power of her own voice..
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When it comes to thinking about statistics, there are four kinds of people: awestruck, naive, cynical, and critical According to sociologist Joel Best, the vast majority of people are naive (yes, you too probably suffer from a mild case of innumeracy), and the result is mutant statistics, guesswork, and poor policy decisions. "Bad statistics live on," writes Best in this highly accessible book, "they take on lives of their own." Take this one: a psychologist's estimate that perhaps 6 percent of priests were at some point sexually attracted to young people was transformed through a chain of errors into the "fact" that 6 percent of priests were pedophiles. Then there was the one about eating disorders. An original estimate that 150,000 women were anorexic, made by concerned activists, mutated into 150,000 women dying from the disorder annually (the truth: about 70 women a year). But these two mutant statistics have been published and passed along as facts for years, enduring long after the truth has been pointed out.

In an effort to turn people into critical thinkers, Best presents three questions to ask about all statistics and the four basic sources of bad ones. He shows how good statistics go bad; why comparing statistics from different time periods, groups, etc. is akin to mixing apples and oranges; and why surveys do little to clarify people's feelings about complex social issues. Random samples, it turns out, are rarely random enough. He also explains what all the hoopla is over how the poverty line is measured and the census is counted. What is the "dark figure"? How many men were really at the Million Man March? How is it possible for the average income per person to rise at the same time the average hourly wage is falling? And how do you discern the truth behind stat wars? Learn it all here before you rush to judgment over the next little nugget of statistics-based truth you read. --Lesley Reed.
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Compiled by members of the Midwest Academy this book is a bible for anyone who wants to effectively organize to change the quality of their lives or the lives of others. Now in its third edition this book has already sold 60,000 copies in all of its editions since 1991. With new information on the trends, technology, and concerns of the new millennium, this edition of Organizing for Social Change will help concerned citizens bring about needed changes by learning from the experiences of those who have succeeded..
Price: $16.29 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Coretta Scott King–Honor Winner Tonya Bolden focuses her critical eye on Martin Luther King, Jr.

In the tradition of her award-winning book Maritcha, Tonya Bolden brings words and pictures together to tell the life story of one of America’s greatest figures: Martin Luther King, Jr.—or M.L.K. Central to the story is King’s belief that agape—the selfless love for one’s neighbor—is the rope that binds all peoples together. This philosophy came forward in his sermons, in his daily practice, and especially in his support of nonviolent protests.

More than 80 photographs of M.L.K. preaching, leading marches, being arrested, and overcoming the violence and prejudice around him are juxtaposed with images of his wife and family, of his fellow protestors, and of other leaders of the day. A tribute to a great human being, M.L.K. will surely inspire young readers. .
Price: $11.24 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In Wild Grass, Pulitzer Prize—winning journalist Ian Johnson tells the stories of three ordinary Chinese citizens moved to extraordinary acts of courage: a peasant legal clerk who filed a class-action suit on behalf of overtaxed farmers, a young architect who defended the rights of dispossessed homeowners, and a bereaved woman who tried to find out why her elderly mother had been beaten to death in police custody. Representing the first cracks in the otherwise seamless façade of Communist Party control, these small acts of resistance demonstrate the unconquerable power of the human conscience and prophesy an increasingly open political future for China..
Price: $8.90 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The Activist's Handbook is a hard-hitting guide to making social change happen. Shaw, a longtime activist for urban issues, shows how positive change can still be accomplished-- despite an increasingly grim political order--if activists employ the strategies set forth in this desperately needed primer. In a new preface, Shaw describes how the power of grassroots activism has won newfound respect. Mass protests against globalization and in favor of stricter gun controls have led once-invulnerable targets like the World Bank and the National Rifle Association to take citizen action more seriously.
Inspiring "fear and loathing" in politicians, building diverse coalitions, and harnessing the media, the courts, and the electoral process to one's cause are only some of the key tactics Shaw advocates and explains. Central to all social-change activism, Shaw shows, is being proactive: rather than simply reacting to right-wing proposals, activists must develop an agenda and focus their resources on achieving it.
The Activist's Handbook details the impact of specific strategies on campaigns across the country: battles over homelessness, the environment, AIDS policies, neighborhood preservation, and school reform among others. Though activist groups can have widely different aims, similar tactics are shown to produce success.
Further, the book offers a sophisticated analysis of the American power structure by someone on the front lines. In showing how people can and must make a difference at both local and national levels, this is an indispensable guide not only for activists, but for everyone interested in the future of progressive politics in America..
Price: $10.98 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This book confirms the idea put forth nearly a century and a half ago by Alexis de Tocqueville, that American democracy is rooted in civic voluntarism--citizens' involvement in family, work, school, and religion, as well as in their political participation as voters, campaigners, protesters, or community activists.

The authors analyze civic activity as none have before. They have created an original survey of 15,000 individuals, which includes 2,500 personal interviews, that focuses on the central issues of involvement: how people come to be active, their motivations, their resources, and their networks. We see fascinating differences along cultural lines, among African-Americans, Latinos, and whites, as well as between the religiously observant and the secular. We observe family activism moving from generation to generation, and look into the special role of issues that elicit involvement, including abortion rights and social welfare.

This far-reaching analysis confirms that some individuals have a greater voice in politics than others, and that this inequality not only results from varying inclinations toward activity, but also reflects unequal access to such vital resources as money and education. This deeply researched study illuminates the many facets of civic consciousness and action and confirms their quintessential role in American democracy.

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