Organizing America
Stories of Americans Who Fought for Justice
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
From the acclaimed author of A History of America in Ten Strikes, a sweeping account of the impact of organizers on United States history
We are living through a time when real social change seems to be in the rearview mirror. But this rousing new book offers a beacon of hope: the stories of organizers who have shown America the way forward in the darkest of times.
Author of the celebrated A History of America in Ten Strikes (a Kirkus Reviews best book of 2018), Erik Loomis uncovers a rich and revealing history of social change activism with immediate relevance to our present. In twenty short biographies, Organizing America tells the story of America through its most important organizers. A chronological story with a vast sweep, Organizing America considers a cross section of social justice activists across time, race, gender, and movement, examining lives as varied as Benjamin Lay, Ida B. Wells, Eugene V. Debs, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Bob Moses, Yuri Kochiyama, Daniel Berrigan, Dolores Huerta, Barbara Gittings, and many more.
With an introduction that explains what organizing is and how collective action works—and how we should think about the power of organizing in 2025 and beyond—Loomis sets a tone that is both practical and historical, providing context and inspiration for anyone seeking to step into the work of changing America for the better.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Historian Loomis (A History of America in Ten Strikes) profiles in this inspiring account 20 activists from the 17th century to today who each convey a specific lesson for political organizing. Among them is Benjamin Lay, an early-18th-century Quaker who fought against slavery "at a time when almost no white people thought it was wrong." His solo crusade led to the American colonies' first anti-slavery regulations, implemented through the political will of the Quakers, whose leaders Lay denounced and communities he galvanized until they agitated for change. Lay's example inspired one of Loomis's other subjects, Lydia Maria Child, a 19th-century suffragist who rejected the racism that pervaded that movement and similarly galvanized for change within its ranks. The takeaway, for Loomis, is that it makes sense to begin by shifting the perspective of an in-group, rather than taking on the whole public. Other lessons include making use of capitalism when expedient (he points to Maggie Walker, who helped freed Black communities in the post–Civil War South establish banks to build local power) and to not dismiss the need for armed self-defense (he cites Robert Williams, a Black WWII veteran who offered armed protection to civil rights organizers). Loomis's biggest takeaway—that his subjects "were not above us or better than us... they just did the work"—is a winning one. Readers will be galvanized themselves.
