The Civil Disobedience Handbook: A Brief History and Practical Advice for the Politically Disenchanted

I found the book to be well edited and concise, however things have changed quite a bit since Thoreau's times ;-) some of his thoughts have been semantically inverted and some others are as fresh and noble as they ever were ~ Pg. 12 "Government is the best that governs the least"; has been repurposed as "let the rich and powerful rule ..." ~ Pg. 13 "Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it." ~ Pg. 16 "Even voting for the right is doing nothing for it." ~ Don't these statements sound like what this very gov needs? ~ The kind of surveillance pathetically (and ironically so may I add) described in "1984" (including the "thought police") and monitoring jokingly showed in "Modern Times" are happening right here and now and apparently will be with us for good ~ The US gov/police is not only monitoring, but doing stuff like GPS-like following people around and harassing them even though they are not criminals just for doing things like questioning US gov's policies and supposed higher moral ground ~ They have been using, in addition to police (regular and plain clothed) and "volunteers", gov. workers like those from the MTA in NYC and USPS, who use their cell phones to receive your picture from them and stage silly clowning operations or harass you for no reason ~ During the Republican convention in NYC it was the police that artificially created the chaos conducing to the arrest of lots of people and they have been also monitoring bike riders ~ We should explore the technological means they use and be aware of their down-right cheap and common tools ~ Why not taking picture of and cross comparing these faces that do not definitely appear to be bike riders or social justice people (and please, as you do that don't let them know about the big red clown nose they wear. they like to think of themselves as smart people exerting the arm of God) ~ RL

This book gave me hope. Well thought out and logical. Great little histories.A simple but subversive book. Americans need to wake up and smell the coffee and do something about the state of things. I never considered myself to be a radical until this year when it became apparent that Bush and Company were taking away everything that makes this country great piece by piece. Hopefully readers will understand that we actually have to take action to secure our rights and that action doesn't have much to do with bombing the rest of the world into submission.

Cool inspiring mix-n-match minihistories show the history of American civil disobedience in the book's first half. Some of the stories are personal like the Act-Up activist who becomes a cop, and the college gal who goes undercover to spy on anti-abortion groups; some of them are basic like the Boston Tea Party, labor unions, and civil rights movement.The second half is a really thorough How-To manual outlining how to organize a direct action and what to expect... getting arrested for political reasons is different than getting busted for something stupid. This book is really an essential tool for new activists. It also contains the entire USA-Patriot Act which is really something to think about...Altogether a great, cheap resource for people who are interested in getting involved and want to learn more.