Best of
Social-Change
2018
That's What She Said: Wise Words from Influential Women
Kimothy Joy - 2018
With each creation, Joy found catharsis and hope. She shared her watercolors with her online community and encouraged everyone to raise their own voices and recharge for the battles ahead.Now, in this beautiful gift book, Joy has gathered her stunning illustrations and quotes and paired them with surprising, illuminating biographies of her subjects to inspire women of all ages, races, and backgrounds. That’s What She Said honors a powerful and diverse group of over fifty women—from Maya Angelou, Gloria Steinem, and Virginia Woolf to Sojourner Truth, Malala Yousafzai, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg—role models whose words and insights remind us that we must never give up the fight for a more just and equitable society.Reclaiming the derogatory cultural barb "that’s what she said," this stunning book celebrates strong female leadership throughout history and empowers current and future generations to find their voices and inspire change in their communities.
A Call for Revolution: A Vision for the Future
Dalai Lama XIV - 2018
It’s his rallying cry, full of solutions for our chaotic, aggressive, divided times: no less than A CALL FOR REVOLUTION.
Brand the Change: The Branding Guide for social entrepreneurs, disruptors, not-for-profits and corporate troublemakers
Anne Miltenburg - 2018
In the real world, we have to be creative and strategic about how we brand our initiatives and get the support we need to help them grow into effective, sustainable organisations. Creating a strong brand is crucial to increasing your impact and getting the audience you deserve. This toolkit opens up the methods of Anne Miltenburg for everyone looking to build or strengthen their brand for change: social entrepreneurs, activists, NGOs, creatives and disruptive businesses.With over twelve years of experience as a brand developer, Anne Miltenburg has worked with organisations and people as diverse as tech companies, artisans, women's rights activists and bankers, from Zambia to Tunisia and from the USA to Saudi Arabia. To help her clients and workshop participants think like brand strategists, Anne developed tools and exercises to make the branding process easy to comprehend and apply.
Toward What Justice?: Describing Diverse Dreams of Justice in Education
Eve Tuck - 2018
Leading scholars articulate new ideas and challenge entrenched views of what justice means when considered from the perspectives of diverse communities. Their chapters, written boldly and pressing directly into the difficult and even strained questions of justice, reflect on the contingencies and incongruences at work when considering what justice wants and requires. At its heart, Toward What Justice? is a book about justice projects, and the incommensurable investments that social justice projects can make. It is a must-have volume for scholars and students working at the intersection of education and Indigenous studies, critical disability studies, climate change research, queer studies, and more.
Feminisms in Motion: Voices for Justice, Liberation, and Transformation
Jessica Hoffmann - 2018
These writings contributed to the long and rich traditions of women-of-color-centered feminisms, which acknowledge all systems of power as connected, and understand that ending one form of violence demands the transformation of society on multiple fronts.Feminisms in Motion highlights ten years of intersectional feminist thought and action, featuring authors like Alexis Pauline Gumbs, adrienne maree brown, and Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, among many others.“Women of color have been at the center and forefront of some of the most urgent political struggles for freedom in the United States. They have pioneered, through practice and theory, models of collective, intersectional feminism that have demanded more radical and more just ways of living, being, and acting. Feminisms in Motion is a welcome and urgent anthology that foregrounds the exciting and compelling work of these activists and writers.” —Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize- winning author of The Sympathizer
Sustaining Spirit: Self-Care for Social Justice
Naomi Ortiz - 2018
Wind blowing so hard we can't catch our breath.Do not get blown away in this raging storm.
We need you.
You have so many gifts to give.�Y d�nde est� tu ombligo? Where are you rooted?How does one grow roots in the midst of this storm, you ask?Growing our roots is a leap of faith. We must trust ourselves that where our roots wander and how deep they grow is just right.In knowing where our roots grow, in tending to how and where they spread, we make a commitment to ourselves that we can survive here.Self-care is a practice of returning. Of remembering. Of noticing.Be gentle. When living in a way where many truths exist at once, it is easy to get overwhelmed by the possibilities and the complexity. Accept all of who you are because this is the place where you begin, the essential truth of your nature.You are precious, and it's up to you to carry this preciousness centered in your heart.I carry mine tenderly, wrapped up in an old piece of cloth my grandmother embroidered with the sun and stars.Sometimes, remembering I'm precious takes all the courage I have.Sometimes, it'll take all the courage you have too.""activists from every movement can gain strength from Sustaining Spirit" - Alice Wong, Founder, Disability Visibility Project(TM)Wow. Powerful words. Uplifting. Providing a light during challenging times.Sustaining Spirit includes wisdom from over 30 leaders representing different communities including:adrienne maree brown (author of Emergent Strategy)Erin Blanding (WE Movement)Cristy Chung (Move to End Violence)Debra Erenberg (Amnesty International)Adam Maltby (social worker)Adi Afek (reproductive justice activist)Emma Fialka-Feldman (inclusion educator)Hillary Jorgensen (Colorado Progressive Coalition)Janice Felka, (author, What Matters: Reflections on Disability, Community and Love)Jennifer Thomas (Institute for Educational Leadership)Kellie Haigh (MSW, disability activist)Kim Borowicz (Independent Living Research Utilization)Lisa Hoffman (international human rights activist)Melinda Haus (Justice Moves),Micah Fialka-Feldman (Through the Same Door)Rachel Scoggins (artist, educator)Rahnee Patrick (ADAPT and Access Living, Chicago)Rich Feldman (James and Grace Lee Boggs Center)Sarah Triano (disability rights activist)"A guide book for activists and leaders in social justice movements." - Erin Blanding, WE.org
The Courage to Love the World: Discovering Compassion, Strength, and Joy Through Tonglen Meditation
Pema Chödrön - 2018
The practice of tonglen offers us a way to transform our relationship with suffering—our own and that which is all around us. In The Courage to Love the World, beloved teacher Pema Chödrön shares insightful and heartfelt stories about tonglen, along with direct instruction and guided practice. Recorded on retreat with an intimate group of students, this four-part series presents:Pema’s step-by-step guidance in the formal practice of tonglen• The importance of becoming a "Modern-Day Bodhisattva"—awaken your heart and be of benefit to beings• The practice of "compassionate abiding" in everyday life• Q&A with retreat participants addressing the most common questions that arise with practice• Tonglen as a practical skill for survival in today’s world "The practice of tonglen is one of bravery," teaches Pema, "It takes courage to develop a new relationship with suffering." Now, each of us can immerse ourselves in this ancient Tibetan practice for cultivating kindness and compassion under the guidance of one of our most beloved teachers.
My Dearest Julia: The Wartime Letters of Ulysses S. Grant to His Wife A Library of America Special Publication
Ulysses S. Grant - 2018
Grant to his wife Julia, introduced by Ron ChernowUlysses S. Grant is justly celebrated as the author of one of the finest military autobiographies ever written, yet many readers of his Personal Memoirs are unaware that during his army years Grant wrote hundreds of intimate and revealing letters to his wife, Julia Dent Grant. Presented with an introduction by acclaimed biographer Ron Chernow, My Dearest Julia collects more than eighty of these letters, beginning with their engagement in 1844 and ending with the Union victory in 1865. They record Grant's first experience under fire in Mexico (“There is no great sport in having bullets flying about one in every direction but I find they have less horror when among them than when in anticipation”), the aching homesickness that led him to resign from the peacetime army, and his rapid rise to high command during the Civil War. Often written in haste, sometimes within the sound of gunfire, his wartime letters vividly capture the immediacy and uncertainty of the conflict. Grant initially hoped for an early conclusion to the fighting, but then came to accept that the war would have no easy end. “The world has never seen so bloody or so protracted a battle as the one being fought,” he wrote from Spotsylvania in 1864, “and I hope never will again.”
Keep Marching: How to Take Action and Change Our World
Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner - 2018
But the truth is, women's rights didn't start or end there. There's a lot more to do. In Keep Marching, CEO of MomsRising.org and one of the contributing authors of the Unity Principles Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner examines societal, institutional, and political barriers that women historically and currently face and what you can do to dismantle them. Filled with inspiring stories from women on the front lines, along with revealing facts and insights on key issues to arm you with the intel you need to debate anyone from a male chauvinist boss to a policymaker, Keep Marching is a groundbreaking, definitive work that will help move our country forward. With each chapter focusing on different issues, from gender and racial discriminating laws, mass incarceration, family economic security, glass ceilings, violence against women, reproductive rights and more; Rowe-Finkbeiner offers practical tips and to-do lists on organizing and effecting change in our own communities, advances policy solutions that will lift everyone, and shares high impact strategies that anyone can use to keep marching online and on the ground (and why it matters so much). This book is a roadmap for a continued movement toward equality. More and more people realize that democracy isn't about one election, one Oval Office, one march, or one day-but it is instead about making democracy a regular practice in our everyday lives. Keep Marching calls for a continued path to change-and it will be lifted by the platform of action and engagement of MomsRising.org, which has an audience of over a million women.100% of the proceeds of the book will be donated to MomsRising.
Catholic Modern: The Challenge of Totalitarianism and the Remaking of the Church
James Chappel - 2018
According to the Catholic view, modern concepts like these, unleashed by the French Revolution, had been a disaster. Yet by the 1960s, those positions were reversed. How did this happen? Why, and when, did the world’s largest religious organization become modern?James Chappel finds an answer in the shattering experiences of the 1930s. Faced with the rise of Nazism and Communism, European Catholics scrambled to rethink their Church and their faith. Simple opposition to modernity was no longer an option. The question was how to be modern. These were life and death questions, as Catholics struggled to keep Church doors open without compromising their core values. Although many Catholics collaborated with fascism, a few collaborated with Communists in the Resistance. Both strategies required novel approaches to race, sex, the family, the economy, and the state.Catholic Modern tells the story of how these radical ideas emerged in the 1930s and exercised enormous influence after World War II. Most remarkably, a group of modern Catholics planned and led a new political movement called Christian Democracy, which transformed European culture, social policy, and integration. Others emerged as left-wing dissidents, while yet others began to organize around issues of abortion and gay marriage. Catholics had come to accept modernity, but they still disagreed over its proper form. The debates on this question have shaped Europe’s recent past—and will shape its future.
Hope Rising: How the Science of Hope Can Change Your Life
Casey Gwinn - 2018
Hope is the most predictive indicator of well-being in a person’s life in all the research done on trauma, illness, and resiliency. Based on nearly 2,000 published studies about hope, including their own research, Casey Gwinn and Chan Hellman call for rising hope to be the focus not only in personal lives, but in public policy in education, business, social services, and every other part of society. Hope is measurable. Hope is malleable. Hope changes lives. Hope Rising provides a roadmap to measure hope in your life, assess what may have robbed you of the power of hope, and then provides strategies to increase hope. It challenges every reader to be transparent and honest about their own stories of struggle and adversity, calls for the end of shame and blame in addressing the struggles of those who have experienced trauma, illness, or abuse, and provides practical ways to increase your Hope score and thrive because of it.
Pan–African American Literature: Signifyin(g) Immigrants in the Twenty-First Century
Stephanie Li - 2018
and abroad. Literary writers of the new African diaspora are at the forefront of exploring these exciting approaches to what black subjectivity means. Pan-African American Literature is dedicated to charting the contours of literature by African born or identified authors centered around life in the United States. The texts examined here deliberately signify on the African American literary canon to encompass new experiences of immigration, assimilation and identification that challenge how blackness has been previously conceived. Though race often alienates and frustrates immigrants who are accustomed to living in all-black environments, Stephanie Li holds that it can also be a powerful form of community and political mobilization.
Conversations in Maine: A New Edition
Grace Lee Boggs - 2018
Pairing with trusted veteran activists Freddy and Lyman Paine, they ruminated on central questions emerging from their politics and activism, and they discussed the purpose and responsibilities human beings share for the future. The recorded dialogue among these four friends invites readers to consider the fundamentals of activism with tough, thought-provoking questions. Their conversations at the Paines’ home on Sutton Island, Maine, not only function as political act but also present unsettling truths and develop connections between philosophy, music, art, gender difference, family structure, Marxism, and more. Conversations in Maine is a call to all citizens to work together and think deeply about the kind of future we can create.
Excessive Force: Toronto's Fight to Reform City Policing
Alok Mukherjee - 2018
In this provocative and highly readable collaboration with Tim Harper, former Toronto Star national affairs columnist, Mukherjee reveals how Police Chief Bill Blair changed the channel after the police-killing of Sammy Yatim. He explains how society has given police tacit approval to cull people in mental health crisis and pulls the curtain back on a police culture which avoids accountability, puts officer safety above public safety, colludes on internal investigations and pushes for use of force over empathy and crisis resolution.The book takes the reader inside the G20 debacle; the police push for an ever-growing budget; the battle over carding, which disproportionately targeted blacks; the police treatment of its own members in mental health distress; and the battles with an entrenched union that pushed back on Mukherjee’s every move toward reform. In spite of, or as a result of all this, Mukherjee played a leading role in shaping the national conversation about policing, sketching a way forward for a new type of policing that brings law enforcement out of the nineteenth century and into the twenty-first century.There is no shortage of “inside” police books written by former cops. Here is a rare title—not only in Canada but the Western world—written from the community’s perspective.