People Power

Saul Alinsky, according to Time Magazine in 1970, was a 'prophet of power to the people,' someone who 'has possibly antagonized more people . . . than any other living American.' People Power introduces the major organizers who adopted and modified Alinsky's vision across the United States:--Fred Ross, Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and the Community Service Organization and National Farm Workers Association--Nicholas von Hoffman and the Woodlawn Organization--Tom Gaudette and the Northwest Community Organization--Ed Chambers, Richard Harmon, and the Industrial Areas Foundation--Shel Trapp, Gale Cincotta, and National People's Action--Heather Booth, Midwest Academy, and Citizen Action--Wade Rathke and ACORNWeaving classic texts with interviews and their own context-setting commentaries, the editors of People Power provide the first comprehensive history of Alinsky-based organizing in the tumultuous period from 1955 to 1980, when the key organizing groups in the United States took form. Many of these selections--previously available only on untranscribed audiotapes or in difficult-to-read mimeograph or Xerox formats--appear in print here for the first time.