Best of
Social-Change

2006

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur's Odyssey to Educate the World's Children


John Wood - 2006
    Wood felt trapped between an all-consuming career and a desire to do something lasting and significant. Stressed from the demands of his job, he took a vacation trekking in Nepal because a friend had told him, "If you get high enough in the mountains, you can't hear Steve Ballmer yelling at you anymore."Instead of being the antidote to the rat race, that trip convinced John Wood to divert the boundless energy he was devoting to Microsoft into a cause that desperately needed to be addressed. While visiting a remote Nepalese school, Wood learned that the students had few books in their library. When he offered to run a book drive to provide the school with books, his idea was met with polite skepticism. After all, no matter how well-intentioned, why would a successful software executive take valuable time out of his life and gather books for an impoverished school?But John Wood did return to that school and with thousands of books bundled on the back of a yak. And at that moment, Wood made the decision to walk away from Microsoft and create Room to Read—an organization that has donated more than 1.2 million books, established more than 2,600 libraries and 200 schools, and sent 1,700 girls to school on scholarship—ultimately touching the lives of 875,000 children with the lifelong gift of education.Leaving Microsoft to Change the World chronicles John Wood's struggle to find a meaningful outlet for his managerial talents and entrepreneurial zeal. For every high-achiever who has ever wondered what life might be like giving back, Wood offers a vivid, emotional, and absorbing tale of how to take the lessons learned at a hard-charging company like Microsoft and apply them to one of the world's most pressing problems: the lack of basic literacy.

Responsibility for Justice


Iris Marion Young - 2006
    Young argues that addressing these structural injustices requires a new model of responsibility, which she calls the social connection model. She develops this idea by clarifying the nature of structural injustice; developing the notion ofpolitical responsibility for injustice and how it differs from older ideas of blame and guilt; and finally how we can then use this model to describe our responsibilities to others no matter who we are and where we live.With a foreward by Martha C. Nussbaum, this last statement by a revered and highly influential thinker will be of great interest to political theorists and philosophers, ethicists, and feminist and political philosophers.

Homegrown: Engaged Cultural Criticism


bell hooks - 2006
    In Witness, Amalia Mesa-Bains and bell hooks invite us to reexamine this politically popular binary and consider which differences are manufactured and which are real.In Witness, Mesa-Bains and hooks explore their own similarities and differences, sharing the ways their childhoods, families, and work have shaped their political activism, teaching, and artistic expression. Drawing on shared experiences of sexism, classism, and racism, hooks and Mesa-Bains show how people from divergent cultural backgrounds can work together for radical social change.While the black/Latino divide and the increasing cross-community political collaboration has been addressed in progressive newspapers and magazines, Witness, an inclusive call to reflect and act, is the first of its kind to look at these issues in depth. And Amalia Mesa-Bains, a pioneer scholar and producer of Chicana art, with bell hooks, one of the most acclaimed of African American theorists—prove an unparalleled match for the job.bell hooks is one of the leading public intellectuals of her generation. She has written extensively on the emotional impact of racism and sexism, particularly on black women, as well as the importance of political engagement with art and the media. In her recent work on love, relationships, and community, she shows how emotional health is a necessary component to effective resistance and activism.Amalia Mesa-Bains is an artist, curator, and writer who has initiated comprehensive exhibitions of Latino art, including Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation and Mi Alma, Mi Tierra, Mi Gente: Contemporary Chicana Art. Her artwork incorporates various aspects of Chicano/a history, culture, and folk traditions, exploring religion, ritual, and female rites of passage. She won a MacArthur Fellowship in 1992.

Blessing the World: What Can Save Us Now


Rebecca Ann Parker - 2006
    Her life's work, so eloquently displayed on these pages, is to expose the lie that violence redeems and to direct us toward the forces that repair broken life. An important and timely contribution to post-September 11 theological reflection.

Sociology for Caribbean Students: Development and Social Change


Nasser Mustapha - 2006
    This book has been written specifically to satisfy the syllabus requirements of the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations and in particular the module Development and Social Change.The text is divided into three sections: Module 1: Population Studies Module 2: Social order, Social Control and Deviance Module 3: Social Development and Poverty

All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity


Robert W. Fuller - 2006
    Drawing on his experiences as a scientist, college president, and public diplomat, Fuller identifies rankism as the chief obstacle to achieving the American vision of liberty and justice for all -- and he spells out the steps required to eradicate it. Beginning with a call to action, the author exposes what is at stake by demonstrating rankism's poisonous presence in politics, business, and even personal relationships. By way of solutions, he offers alternative dignitarian models for several fundamental parts of society, including education, healthcare, politics, and religion. "All Rise illuminates the subtle, often dysfunctional workings of power in all our interactions, and shows why change is not only desirable but vital.

The Global Heart Awakens: Humanity's Rite of Passage from the Love of Power to the Power of Love


Anodea Judith - 2006
    It suggests that the world is facing a rite of passage into adulthood and that a time of cooperation, stabilization, and sharing is approaching. With an original theory of history based on developmental psychology, including an analysis of masculine and feminine archetypes, this thoughtful guide weaves the narratives of human history and individuals' experiences into a path of enlightenment and a way to catalyze social change.

Land of the Three Miamis: A Traditional Narrative of the Iroquois in Ohio


Barbara Alice Mann - 2006
    

Consensus Organizing: Building Communities of Mutual Self-Interest


Mike Eichler - 2006
    Written in a logical, teachable, and pragmatic style, Consensus Organizing: Building Communities of Mutual Self Interest is a model of social change for the 21st century. Through real examples, author Mike Eichler illustrates how anyone can practice consensus organizing and help the poor, forgotten, and disempowered.

Simply in Season Children's Cookbook: A World Community Cookbook


Mark Beach - 2006
    This colorful and chock-full-of-photos cookbook makes it easy and fun for children to think and cook in season and to center food around the table and give thanks for it.