Marriott Library Unrequired Reading

Marriott Library Unrequired Reading http://dream.lib.utah.edu/services/prog/unreq/fb/3mp_demac.html

return to: Marriott Picks | UnRequired Reading Marriott Library Home

DEMOCRACY, ACTIVISM, AND ACTIVISTS These books were on display in the Marriott Library as part of the Library's September Project events in 2005. For more information about the September Project see http://www.theseptemberproject.org

View Printable List (PDF)

A to Z of American women leaders and activists . By Donna Langston. Facts on File, 2002. HQ1412 .L36 2002; Level 2. …biographical sketches of a group of racially, ethnically, socially, and regionally diverse women from many reform movements.—Choice

The Activist's Handbook: A Primer Updated Edition with a New Preface by Randy Shaw . University of California Press, 1996. HN65 .S48 1996; Level 1. In an age of escalating human need, The Activist's Handbook is an invaluable tool. It's a user-friendly primer to fighting back, effecting change, and making a difference, written by someone with the right blend of pragmatism and disgruntlement, someone who's not afraid to stand in the front line with a banner and who yet recognizes that wilier tactics are sometimes needed. —Earth Island Journal

Beating the system: using creativity to outsmart bureaucracies by Russell L. Ackoff and Sheldon Rovin. Berrett-Koehler, 2005. HM806 .A35 2005; Browsing, Level 3. Who better to teach ways to defeat "the system" than the people who taught how to construct t it in the first place? Ackoff and Rovin, retired Wharton School professors, provide a humorous account of various ways of either thwarting or circumventing bureaucrats.-- CIO Insight

Building America : the democratic promise of public work by Harry Chatten Boyte and Nancy N. Kari. Temple University Press, 1996. HD5713.6.U54 B69 1996; Level 1. Public work is defined as the work of diverse groups of people who together make things of value and importance for themselves and others. Such work, whether paid or unpaid, meets people's desire for creative, meaningful occupation and, the authors argue, can be used to solve community problems, renew public spirit, and overcome America 's growing racial divide.—Choice

Canaries on the rim: living downwind in the West by Chip Ward. Verso, 1999. GE155.G74 W37 1999; Level 1 and Browsing, Level 3.

1 of 6 4/16/09 3:18 PM Marriott Library Unrequired Reading http://dream.lib.utah.edu/services/prog/unreq/fb/3mp_demac.html

This is the new classic tale of American heroism that not enough people are telling: how ordinary citizens in small towns, reservations, and remote regions take on the military and industrial sites contaminating us with a free hand and how sometimes the little guys win.— Rebecca Solnit, author of Savage Dreams and A Book Of Migrations

Citizen Indians: Native American intellectuals, race, and reform by Lucy Maddox. Cornell University Press, 2005. E78.T77 M33 2005; Level 1. Lucy Maddox's Citizen Indians brings to life the active work done by Native American intellectuals on behalf of uplift, progressive reform, of universally conceived Indian rights as well as specific tribal concerns.—Werner Sollors, Harvard University.

Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau . In Walden, and Civil disobedience. Authoritative texts, background, reviews, and essays in criticism, edited by Owen Thomas, by Henry David Thoreau. W. W. Norton, 1966. PS3048 .A1 1966; Level 2. More than any other piece of American writing, " Civil Disobedience " inspired and authorized the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War protest movement, and the student unrest of the sixties. —American Scholar.

Crazy for democracy: women in grassroots movements by Temma Kaplan . Routledge, 1997. HN49.W6 K36 1997; Level 2. Crazy for Democracy uses personal and organizational case studies of community-based social movements in the United States and South Africa to demonstrate the ways in which women are key actors in promoting direct democracy and are struggling to improve conditions for their communities .— Political Science Quarterly

Culture jam: the uncooling of America by Kalle Lasn . Eagle Brook, 1999. P94.6 .L37 1999; Level 2. Like Adbusters, the magazine that Lasn founded and publishes, Culture Jam both mocks consumer capitalism and reveals how powerfully it influences our lives. —Sierra

Democracy and distrust : A theory of judicial review by John Hart Ely. Harvard University Press, 1980. KF4575 .E4; Level 2. John Hart Ely 's classic book has helped to shape the intellectual agenda of constitutional scholars ever since it appeared.—Stanford Law Review

Democracy and the problem of free speech by Cass R. Sunstein. The Free Press, 1993. JC591 .S86 1993, Level 2. The author, professor of jurisprudence and political science at the Univ. of Chicago , outlines a general understanding of the purposes of a system of free expression. His objective is to reassess the appropriate role of the First Amendment to the US Constitution, our most precious constitutional right, in the contemporary democratic process in the light of modern economic and technological changes.—Choice

Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville. [various editions] JK216 .T7, Level 2. "No better study of a nation's institutions and culture than Tocqueville's Democracy in America has ever been written by a foreign observer; none perhaps as good."—The New York Times

The Fire This Time : Young Activists and the New Feminism by Vivien Labaton, and Dawn Lundy Martin. Anchor Books, 2004. HQ1111 .F47 2004; Level 2. Labaton and Martin, the former director and cofounder, respectively, of the Third Wave Foundation, let us know from the beginning that their goal is to bring us all closer to gender equity.—Library Journal

The First Amendment, 1791-1991: two hundred years of freedom by James E. Leahy. McFarland & Co., 1991. KF4558 1st .L4 1991; Level 2.

2 of 6 4/16/09 3:18 PM Marriott Library Unrequired Reading http://dream.lib.utah.edu/services/prog/unreq/fb/3mp_demac.html

Leahy has produced a commendable survey of First Amendment cases and issues. Covering religion, both free exercise and establishment, speech, assembly and petition, association, and press, the cases in each subject area are summarized, if not analyzed.—Choice

Free speech in the college community by Robert M. O'Neil. Indiana University Press, 1997. LC72.2 .O54 1997; Level 2. O'Neil's book deals with campus speech codes, speech and technology, off-campus speech, groups (gays, Greeks), free press, artistic expression, academic freedom, religious speech, and freedom of speech at private institutions.—Choice

Gag rule: on the supression of dissent and the stifling of democracy by Lewis H. Lapham. The Penguin Press, 2004. JC599.U5 L33 2004; Level 2. ''Gag Rule'' is a lively political pamphlet written in the tradition of Thomas Paine's ''Common Sense.'' Full of examples of the post-Sept. 11 chill on dissent, it takes aim not only at the politics of fear, but also at institutions and social phenomena that bolster an American tyranny of the easily manipulated majority, from media passivity to craven consumerism to political correctness of the right and left.—New York Times

Generation at the crossroads: apathy and action on the American campus by Paul Rogat Loeb. Rutgers University Press, 1994. LA229 .L62 1994; Level 2. Loeb seeks to demonstrate that only students who sit-in, act-up, or march-on can realize their full human potential.—Public Interest

Going local: creating self-reliant communities in a global age by Michael H. Shuman. Free Press, 1998. HC110.E5 S49 1998, Level 1. …some interesting case studies and creative ideas about strengthening the economy and sense of ownership in local communities from small villages to large cities… Of particular interest is a lengthy topical appendix that identifies organizational resources on every subject from appropriate technology to urban development.—Choice

The good fight: declare your independence & close the democracy gap. / Ralph Nader . ReganBooks, 2004. E905 .N33 2004; Level 1. …Nader, a Harvard-trained lawyer, offers his case that virtually all of America's woes can be traced to the rise and growing power of what he calls multinational corporate predators.—New York Times

A history of hope: when Americans have dared to dream of a better future by James W. Fraser. Palgrave Macmillan, 2002 . E179 .F83 2002; Level 1. This book is a paean to select individuals and groups who have defied great odds and opposition and who, in the author's opinion, have ultimately enriched the mosaic of American life by their courageous examples.—Choice

Hope's horizon: three visions for healing the American land by Chip Ward . Island Press/Shearwater Books, 2004. QH76 .W37 2004 Browsing, Level 3. From alliances working to reunite America's native habitats to people dedicated to deconstructing the dam that flooded Glen Canyon in order to create Lake Powell to Native American elders educating nuclear engineers about the dangers of and alternatives to this threatening technology, Ward paints an encouraging, if cautionary, portrait of the movement toward a more responsible ecological paradigm.—Booklist

How to change the world: social entrepreneurs and the power of new ideas by David Bornstein. Oxford University Press, 2004. HN18 .B6363 2004; Level 2. Well-documented cases of grassroots entrepreneurial activities to tackle such diverse social problems as child abuse, disability, illiteracy, and environmental degradation give life to [this book ].—Business Week

3 of 6 4/16/09 3:18 PM Marriott Library Unrequired Reading http://dream.lib.utah.edu/services/prog/unreq/fb/3mp_demac.html

The Impossible will take a little while: a citizen's guide to hope in a time of fear by Paul Rogat Loeb . Basic Books, 2004. HN65 .I46 2004; Browsing, Level 3. …this collection of essays focuses on finding the courage to persist in activism in the face of despair [Terry Tempest Williams is one of the contributors].—Sierra

Intellectual freedom: a reference handbook by John B. Harer. ABC-CLIO, 1992. KF4770.Z9 H3 1992; Level 2. Harer, a member of the American Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee, offers an overview of the issues encompassing intellectual freedom—the First Amendment rights that guarantee freedom of religion, speech, and press and the right to assembly. – Library Journal

The King's English: adventures of an independent bookseller by Betsy Burton. Gibbs Smith, c2005. Z232.5.P4 B88 2005; Browsing, Level 3. This is a book of passion, of intellectual integrity, of right ethics--the fascinating story of a woman living a life that has made an indelible difference to all of us who read.—Mark Spragg, Author of An Unfinished Life

Letters to a young activist by Todd Gitlin . Basic Books, c2003. JF799 .G57 2003; Level 2. For former and current activists, this is a thoughtful and philosophical look at the personal delight and social efficacy of activism—Booklist

Libraries & Democracy: The Cornerstones of Liberty by Nancy Kranich (Editor). American Library Association, 2001. [Call number available soon]. What is needed is a way to effectively disseminate [the information in this book] to those, outside librarianship, who do not understand the vital and essential contributions that libraries and librarians have made to the past, present, and future of this institution we call democracy.—College and Research Libraries

Making genes, making waves: a social activist in science by Jon Beckwith . Harvard University Press, 2002. QH429.2.B38 A3 2002; Level 4. This book will force scientific readers to consider their motives for remaining in science and challenge them to contribute to society in a direct way. It will give nonscientific readers a better perspective on the motivations and goals of the practitioners of science. —Choice

The making of a Chicano militant: lessons from Cristal by José Angel Gutiérrez. University of Wisconsin Press , c1998. F394.C83 G88 1998; Level 1. Gutiérrez describes the rise and fall of the Chicano Youth Movement in Texas and assimilation of this movement into the contemporary Chicano Movement [La Raza Unida].—Choice

The new warriors: Native American leaders since 1900 edited by R. David Edmunds . University of Nebraska Press, 2001. E89 .N48 2001; Level 1. Edmunds (history, Univ. of Texas at Dallas) has filled a gap in Indian Studies by assembling a dozen scholarly biographies of 20th-century American Indian leaders…Indians and non-Indians alike will benefit from learning about modern heroes.—Choice

No space, no choice, no jobs, no logo by Naomi Klein . Picador : Distributed by Holtzbrinck Publishers, c1999. HD69.B7 K58 1999; Level 1. It is an eminently readable and accessible survey of some of the most salient characteristics of early global capitalism as it has developed in the last two decades, as well as of the dawning resistance to the terms of corporate rule.—Canadian Dimension

One makes a difference: inspiring actions that change a world by Julia Butterfly Hill and Jessica Hurley . HarperSanFrancisco, 2002. GE195.7.H55 2002; Browsing, Level 3. An inspiration to many in the environmental movement following her two-year stint atop a thousand- year-old redwood to protest old-growth logging, activist Hill's motivational message and methods

4 of 6 4/16/09 3:18 PM Marriott Library Unrequired Reading http://dream.lib.utah.edu/services/prog/unreq/fb/3mp_demac.html

come down to ground level as she eloquently advocates the power of an individual approach in the preservation and conservation of the earth's resources.—Booklist

The Open space of democracy by Terry Tempest Williams. Orion Society, 2004. JK1726 .W55 2004; Level 2 and Browsing, Level 3. The most political book she has written, this impressionistic work consciously connects the importance of place with the necessity of cultivating democracy. Whether or not you agree with her, Williams is dependably eloquent with her word.—Deseret News

The quickening of America : rebuilding our nation and remaking our lives / Frances Moore Lappé, Paul Martin Du Bois. Jossey-Bass Publishers, c1994. JK1764 .L36 1994; Level 2, Democracy, Lappé and Du Bois argue, can solve real-life problems and "bring new meaning and effectiveness into our lives [if it] becomes not simply what we have, but what we do .—Booklist . The Radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon S. Wood. A.A. Knopf, 1992. E209 .W65 1992; Reserve Desk. In this beautifully written and persuasively argued book, one of the most noted of U.S. historians restores the radicalism to what he terms "one of the greatest revolutions the world has ever known”…It was a revolution of the mind, in which the concept of equality, democracy, and private interest grasped by hundreds of thousands of Americans transformed a country nearly overnight. —Library Journal

Simple justice: the history of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America 's struggle for equality by Richard Kluger. Knopf, 2004. KF4155 .K55 2004; Level 2. Combining intensive research with original interviews with surviving participants, Richard Kluger provides the fullest possible view of the human and legal drama in the years before 1954, the cumulative assaults on the White power structure that defended segregation, and the step-by-step establishment of a team of inspired Black lawyers that could successfully challenge the law. [Updated with a new last chapter]— Black Issues in Higher Education

The struggle for student rights: Tinker v. Des Moines and the 1960s by John W. Johnson. University Press of Kansas , 1997. KF228.T56 J64 1997; Level 2. Johnson (history, Northern Iowa) has produced a highly readable and accessible case study on the now-famous black armband case, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District …the book examines the individuals and issues that shaped the course of events leading to a major constitutional decision by the US Supreme Court.—Choice

Taking back the academy!: history of activism edited by Jim Downs & Jennifer Manion. Routledge, 2004. E175.45 .T35 2004; Level 1. Taking Back the Academy brings together a dynamic cast of scholars and activists representing a broad range of generational, institutional, and disciplinary backgrounds. They invite us to consider the multiple ways in which colleges and universities can stimulate social change.—Jacquelyn Hall, Spruill Professor of History, UCNC/Chapel Hill

Taking time off: inspiring stories of students who enjoyed successful breaks from college and how you can plan your own by Colin Hall and Ron Lieber . Noonday Press, 1996. LC32 .H35 199; Level 2. Thirty-three students, some graduates, some still in school, tell of how they used time off from college, either before or during, to help build housing for the poor, teach disabled people how to ski, model for the jet set, fight in the Gulf War, and promote Arab-Jewish conflict resolution.—Library Journal

Time longer than rope : a century of African American activism, 1850-1950 edited by Charles M. Payne and Adam Green . University Press, c2003. E185.61 .T497 2003; Level 1. Time Longer Than Rope is a significant effort to "acknowledge the depth of African Americans'

5 of 6 4/16/09 3:18 PM Marriott Library Unrequired Reading http://dream.lib.utah.edu/services/prog/unreq/fb/3mp_demac.html

activist initiative.”—The Journal of American History

Unfettered expression: freedom in American intellectual life by Peggie J. Hollingsworth. University of Michigan Press, 2000. LC72.2 .U64 2000; Level 2. … an interesting discussion of various aspects of academic freedom and its relationship to freedom of speech on campuses.—Academ

Welfare warriors: the welfare rights movement in the United States by Premilla Nadasen. Routledge, 2005. HV97.N34 N33 2005; Level 2. Welfare Warriors reveals the largely untold story of how poor and working class women come together to fight for a decent life.—Mimi Abramovitz, Professor, Hunter school of Social Work and the City University of New York Graduate Center

William Sloane Coffin Jr.: a holy impatience by Warren Goldstein. Yale University Press, c2004. BX9225.C6243 G65 2004; Level 1. In a period when sociopolitical conservatism dominates the image of Christianity in the US, it is important to be reminded of the liberal/progressive tradition represented in the Social Gospel movement, and by figures such as Bushnell, Beecher, King, and William Sloane Coffin…As chaplain at Yale from 1958 to 1975, Coffin emerged as one of the most charismatic and controversial figures in US religion through his pivotal roles as civil rights champion, "freedom rider," anti-Vietnam War activist, and opponent of the draft.—Choice

You can't say that!: the growing threat to civil liberties from antidiscrimination laws by Bernstein, David E. Cato Institute, 2003. KF4749 .B47 2003; Level 2. The question of what should count as expressive harm is central to You Can't Say That! written by Professor David Bernstein of the George Mason University School of Law and published by the Cato Institute. As the book's title implies, Professor Bernstein argues that antidiscrimination laws may restrict speech.— Constitutional Commentary

Linda Keiter, Marriott Library

6 of 6 4/16/09 3:18 PM