Reveille for Radicals / Rules for Radicals

It's time for a new update to include the internet, but this is THE book for today's politics of social change. I've read this book quite a number of times, and it is truly a nuts and bolts manual for grassroots organization, and has been utilized by political parties of all sides, in particular republicaniks, with great success. It works best, however, for people who have REAL ideas and are forward looking, rather than those who are blandly satisfied with the status quo.

With the vision of an idealist but the experience of a seasoned organizer, Alinsky presents a clear picture of both the unequal America he saw in 1946 and the democracy he believed America could be. He does not stop there, however. He also provides a blueprint for moving from the society of inequalilty and injustice into a land where the poor, powerless and disadvantaged are empowered and our democracy enriched. That blueprint is this manual for building community-wide power in the form of People's Organizations. It was meant as an inspirational guide to community organizers interested in replicating what Alinksy had done initially in the Back of Yards neighborhood of Chicago and later in other cities across the United States including Buffalo and Kansas City. It has become a timeless text explaining both why and how to organize. Alinsky draws on his experience as a community organizer to explain the role an organizer can play in the process of building neighborhood power. He also explains with insightful anecdotes what obstacles the organizer and the nacent organization he attempts to construct are likely to face as they take on the powers that be. He is a spellbinding storyteller. Reveille for Radicals differs from the better known and more popular book that was to follow in the 70s, Rules for Radicals. It is more urgent, less cynical, and less humorous. In that sense it has a purer and more naive tone. But the simpler picture of America he presents is, if anything, clearer and more powerful. It strikes an especially loud chord today -- as the inequalities he addressed in 1946 have grown increasingly stark and apparent. There are many books about social change and injustice that are more current, but none are more useful today than this one.

This book was Alinsky's first and most impassioned writing. In it, he shows in detail the techniques he employed in putting together much of his activism, which ended up being called the Alinsky doctrine later on. Overall, I thought this book was great to impassion a reader new to the subject, yet as a guidebook for a new "radical", I thought his later (and less impassioned, though more passionate than 99% of other books) "Rules for Radicals" was much more clear minded. As he writes in the later book, much of Reveille was written during his time in prison, which shows.Personally, I recommend reading Rules first, and then proceeding to Reveille. The reader will benefit from his clear minded analysis in Rules, to then better understand his arguments and passion in Reveille.

Alinsky's book is filled with detail so extensive that it is easily understood by the beginning radical. All of this stuff makes a lot of sense and I can safely say that this book has changed the direction of my life.