Stoking the Fire of Democracy: Our Generation's Introduction to Grassroots Organizing - Hardcover

Stephen N. Smith

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0879464143 ISBN 13: 9780879464141

Publisher: ACTA Publications, 2009

Synopsis

Stephen Smith is a voice from and for the next generation of fighters for social justice. Here he gives his colleagues an introduction to grassroots organizing based on his own experiences in a diversity of locales, such as Harvard University, Botswana and Chicago. Stoking the Fire of Democracy does what every good organizer does: tells good stories and asks good questions. Smith explains how "could-be radicals" recruit and support new leaders, turn isolated anger into targeted action, and more than anything muster the courage to make mistakes and learn from them. This book is for young people who want to know how to become what Saul Alinsky called "the fire under the boiler of democracy."

About this title

About the Author:

Stephen Noble Smith was born in 1979 in Charleston, West Virginia, and raised in Plano, Texas. A graduate of Harvard University, Smith recently received a Masters in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics. He has worked alongside young adults of all backgrounds, university workers, war veterans, AIDS activists, and homeless people. He is married to Sara Natania Whitaker. This is his first book.

Review:

If we don't have strong grassroots organizing, the age of Obama will become another neoliberal moment-- another missed opportunity for empowering poor and working people! --Cornel West, Princeton University

Stephen Smith has done a superb job in demonstrating that democracy is not a spectator sport. His footing is sure, strong and steady, and with this book he charts the course for other "could-be radicals" who desire to seize the power and ultimately determine the destiny of our democratic experiment. --Jacqueline Y. Collins, Illinois State Senator

Stoking the Fire of Democracy is a remarkable, well-written, and insightful account of the search for a way to turn democratic promise into practice. --Marshall Ganz, Harvard Kennedy School

About this edition

• Publisher: ACTA Publications
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0879464143
• ISBN 13: 9780879464141
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 128