How to Read a Protest
The Art of Organizing and Resistance
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
"Explores protesting as an act of faith . . . How to Read a Protest argues that the women's marches of 2017 didn't just help shape and fuel a moment—they actually created one."—Masha Gessen, The New Yorker
O, the Oprah Magazine’s “14 Best Political Books to Read Before the 2018 Midterm Election”
"A fascinating and detailed history of American mass demonstrations."—Publishers Weekly
When millions of people took to the streets for the 2017 Women’s Marches, there was an unmistakable air of uprising, a sense that these marches were launching a powerful new movement to resist a dangerous presidency. But the work that protests do often can’t be seen in the moment. It feels empowering to march, and record numbers of Americans have joined anti-Trump demonstrations, but when and why does marching matter? What exactly do protests do, and how do they help movements win?
In this original and richly illustrated account, organizer and journalist L.A. Kauffman delves into the history of America’s major demonstrations, beginning with the legendary 1963 March on Washington, to reveal the ways protests work and how their character has shifted over time. Using the signs that demonstrators carry as clues to how protests are organized, Kauffman explores the nuanced relationship between the way movements are made and the impact they have. How to Read a Protest sheds new light on the catalytic power of collective action and the decentralized, bottom-up, women-led model for organizing that has transformed what movements look like and what they can accomplish.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Professor and activist Kauffman explores the nature of American mass protest and what can be inferred about a protest's character from its signage, in this slim but in-depth history. The first half of the book focuses on the 1963 March on Washington, advocating for integration and economic opportunities for African-Americans; Kauffman looks at the organization of the march (top-down, by male heads of activist groups, who excluded female organizers and stipulated everything from the messages on the printed signs to what kinds of sandwiches participants should bring for lunch), its collaborative relationship to the government (typical of large-scale U.S. mass demonstrations, with permits), and its effects (including backlash). From there, Kauffman traces the march's effects on subsequent mass protests, particularly the 2017 Women's March on Washington on the day after Donald Trump's inauguration as president. This march, she points out, had a different flavor, a decentralized, grassroots, "woman-led, multi-issue character" exemplified by the homemade signs marchers carried and the intersectional makeup of the organizing group. This, Kauffman claims, gave the women's marches around the country "a powerful and unprecedented movement-building impact." While Kauffman presents a fascinating and detailed history of American mass demonstrations, scarcely a year and a half on from the women's marches, it's hard to assess the accuracy of her claims about what current mass protests achieve in building movements. Photos.
