How to Read a Protest
The Art of Organizing and Resistance
by L.A. Kauffman
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Pub Date Jan 14 2019 | Archive Date Jan 29 2019
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Description
In this original and richly illustrated account, activist and organizer L.A. Kauffman delves into the history of America’s major demonstrations from the 1963 March on Washington onward to reveal just what it is that protests accomplish, and how they’ve shifted over time. Using the signs that demonstrators carry as rich clues to how protests are organized, Kauffman explores the nuanced relationship between the way movements are made and the impact they have. In the process, How to Read a Protest sheds new light on the catalytic power of collective action and the bottom-up, women-led model for organizing that's transforming what movements look like and what they can win.
L.A. Kauffman has been a grassroots organizer for more than thirty years and was the mobilizing coordinator for the massive Iraq antiwar protests of 2003–2004. She has covered social movement history and activism for The Guardian, n+1, and numerous other publications and is the author of Direct Action: Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism.
Advance Praise
“L.A. Kauffman is one of the people I look to most for the big picture about American activism—where it’s been, where it’s going, what works, who’s doing the work, and why. For How to Read a Protest, you could paraphrase George Orwell to say that those who remember the past understand the present, and those who understand the present (sometimes) shape the future. This swift-moving book equips us all to do exactly that, as it revises and deepens and corrects what we know about past social movements in America and appraises what has made the women-led, grassroots resistance to Trump unlike any movement that came before. The next chapter is something we will all write together if and when we rise to the promise and the legacy of the radical past that Kauffman so ably describes.”—Rebecca Solnit, author of Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities
“Kauffman’s new book offers critical historical analysis and strategic insights, raising provocative and complex questions about the relationship between protests and movement building. Every organizer and social movement historian should read it.”—Barbara Ransby, author of Making All Black Lives Matter: Reimagining Freedom in the Twenty-First Century
“How to Read a Protest is an incredible tool for understanding collective action: who is involved, how it unfolds, and what makes it successful, with special emphasis on the often-overlooked role of women in making movements and how ideas of organization and leadership have shifted. L.A. Kauffman helps us understand and interpret the reasons behind, and meanings of, protest in our time, giving us a valuable gift of insight and research.”—Marina Sitrin, coauthor of They Can’t Represent Us! Reinventing Democracy from Greece to Occupy
“L.A. Kauffman is a marvelous combination of mobilization-insider and historical commentator. No one else could bring so much fruitful commentary to bear on mass protests. The illustrations here are fascinating in themselves, wonderful to observe and ponder. This is a splendid and much-needed book.”—Paul Buhle, coeditor of the Encyclopedia of the American Left
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9780520301528 |
| PRICE | $22.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 142 |
