Protest, Power, and Change: An Encyclopedia of Nonviolent Action from ACT-UP to Women's Suffrage (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, 1625) - Hardcover

Powers, Roger S.; Vogele, William B.; Bond, Douglas; Kruegler, Christopher

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0815309139 ISBN 13: 9780815309130

Publisher: Routledge, 1997

Synopsis

Covers tactics, leaders, and famous actions From Solidarity's passive/aggressive faceoff with communism to the courageous sit-ins and marches of the Civil Rights Movement, here is the first systematic survey of peaceful confrontations between the forces for the status quo and the forces for change. All the important events, tactics, and leaders are covered: Women's suffrage, blockades, IRA hunger strikes, monkey wrenching, Charter 77, the Clamshell Alliance, Rosa Parks, Leo Tolstoy, Martin Luther King, Lech Walesa, and many more. Focuses on critical issues Clear, comprehensive, and authoritative, the Encyclopedia examines such critical contemporary issues as violence, the nature of power, conflict resolution, the mechanisms of social movements, the application of moral authority, and defines and surveys the underlying assumptions and prevailing thinking of all activists for change. A practical blueprint for peaceful protest-the first and only work of its kind For this first systematic treatment of the subject, expert contributors from around the world have written essays on key persons, events, ideas, works, institutions , groups, and methods. The result is a primer and practical guide on all aspects of nonviolent action. There is an introduction, a listing of the entries by category, and a comprehensive index. Special features: First and only encyclopedia on the subject * Spotlights the most important peaceful struggles of the 20th century * Examines l04 nonviolent movements, campaigns, and events * Profiles 70 activists and scholars, including a dozen Nobel Peace Prize laureates * Surveys 42 organizations that have led nonviolent movements * Details 40 methods of peaceful protest

About this title

About the Author

Roger S. Powers is a researcher, writer, and lecturer on aspects of nonviolent struggle, peacemaking, and conflict resolution. He holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Cornell University and an M.A. in international politics from the University of Denver.
William B.Vogele is a research associate with the Program on Nonviolent Sanctions and Cultural Survival at Harvard University's Center for International Affairs. He is the author of numerous publications on nonviolent struggle and international affairs, including Stepping Back:Nuclear Arms Control and the End of the Cold War.

From the Back Cover

The central purpose of this Encyclopedia is to provide a standard reference work for an important domain of human behavior that has been well studied but incompletely identified.

Reviews

Although a variety of forms of nonviolent action have been in existence for centuries, this appears to be the first encyclopedia devoted to the subject. The editors believe that nonviolence is a "universal phenomenon, transcending cultures, political systems, and even historical periods," and they include numerous examples. The introduction states that the volume is not meant to be exhaustive but, rather, representative and has a bias toward the U.S. in the twentieth century.

The encyclopedia is arranged alphabetically. The main text is preceded by a list of entries by category--campaigns, events, locations, methods of action, organizations, people, and related topics. There are more than 125 contributors, with the majority of writers having U.S. college or university affiliations. Others have close connections to nonviolence. The entry for ahimsa, a Sanskrit word (which "conveys a comprehensive meaning of nonviolence") made prominent by Mohandas K. Gandhi, is written by M. K. Gandhi's grandson Arun Gandhi, director of the Gandhi Institute in Memphis. The entries for countries are lengthy--Australia is six pages, China is seven pages--while those for people or campaigns are less than a page. Methods of Nonviolent Action includes a comprehensive list of 198 methods of nonviolence, from making formal statements (public speeches, petitions) to political intervention (disclosing identities of secret agents, seeking imprisonment). There is also an excellent discussion of principled nonviolence. A few black-and-white photographs add to the text, including a photograph of Gandhi taken by Margaret Bourke-White. The index is comprehensive, and there are numerous bibliographic references and see references. A minor criticism is the lack of running headings on the top of each page.

This is a unique, well-written, informative encyclopedia that should be a part of any academic or large public library collection.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0815309139
• ISBN 13: 9780815309130
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 636
• Editor: Powers Roger S., Vogele William B.