Urban activism can manifest in many guises, from community gardening to mass naked bike rides. But how might we theorize the evidence of the collisions between social forces that take place in our streets and public commons? Cities are formed through these collective collisions in time.This book draws on the author’s own vast experience as an activist to make links between a theory of practice with rich discussion of the histories of conflicts over public space. Each chapter examin...

Conflict and resolution are the lifeblood of social movements. How, and with whom, do we find lasting friendship, support, and joy in a world in need of so much repair?In On Activism, Friendships, and Fighting veteran organizer and social worker Benjamin Heim Shepard traces a pressing dynamic of social movements: friendship and conflict. The project builds on oral histories with more than thirty movement organizers—from AIDS, queer, trade union, community, Occupy, ...

Examines New York City as a paradigmatic example of the tensions between privatization and public uses of space in the contemporary U.S.Focusing on the liberating promise of public space, The Beach Beneath the Streets examines the activist struggles of communities in New York City-queer youth of color, gardeners, cyclists, and anti-gentrification activists-as they transform streets, piers, and vacant lots into everyday sites for autonomy, imagination, iden...

Black feminists remind us "that America's destiny is inseparable from how it treats [black women] and the nation ignores this truth at its peril" ( The New York Review of Books).Winner of the 2018 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Nonfiction"If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free." —Combahee River Collective StatementThe Combahee River Collective, a path-breaking grou...

One of the headlines of the 2012 Presidential campaign was the demise of the white American male voter as a dominant force in the political landscape. On election night four years later, when Donald Trump was announced the winner, it became clear that the white American male voter is alive and well and angry as hell. Sociologist Michael Kimmel, one of the leading writers on men and masculinity in the world today, has spent hundreds of hours in the company of America's angry white men - fro...

An eye-opening exploration of race in AmericaIn this deeply inspiring book, Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi recount their experiences talking to people from all walks of life about race and identity on a cross-country tour of America. Spurred by the realization that they had nearly completed high school without hearing any substantive discussion about racism in school, the two young women deferred college admission for a year to collect first-person accounts of how rac...

**FINALIST FOR THE 2021 ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN NONFICTIONClaudia Rankine’s Citizen changed the conversation—Just Us urges all of us into it**As everyday white supremacy becomes increasingly vocalized with no clear answers at hand, how best might we approach one another? Claudia Rankine, without telling us what to do, urges us to begin the discussions that might open pathways through this divisive and stuck moment in American history.

A cultural autobiography tracing the evolution of America's queer community in the three decades following the Stonewall Riots."A fascinating behind-the-scenes look at a new culture in a formation. A valuable and thoughtful account of a foundational moment in American cultural history."—David K. Johnson, author of The Lavender ScareThe Stonewall Riots of 1969 and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s have been captured in minute detail, and...

Why do Internet, financial service, and beer commercials dominate Super Bowl advertising? How do political ceremonies establish authority? Why does repetition characterize anthems and ritual speech? Why were circular forms favored for public festivals during the French Revolution? This book answers these questions using a single concept: common knowledge.Game theory shows that in order to coordinate its actions, a group of people must form "common knowledge." Each person wants to p...

“Simply the best book I’ve read on how to have those conversations. Unflinchingly honest, exceptionally well-reasoned and researched, there is so much to admire about Speaking of Race.”—Angela Duckworth, founder and CEO of Character Lab and New York Times bestselling author of GritA Boston Globe Most Anticipated Fall BookIn this urgently needed guide, the PBS host, award-winning journalist, and author of We Need to Talk teaches us h...

Surviving the Future is a collection of the most current ideas in radical queer movement work and revolutionary queer theory. Beset by a new pandemic, fanning the flames of global uprising, these queers cast off progressive narratives of liberal hope while building mutual networks of rebellion and care. These essays propose a militant strategy of queer survival in an ever precarious future. Starting from a position of abolition - of prisons, police, the State, identity, and racist cisheter...

"A prescient critique . . . showing how talk of privilege distract[s] from genuine injustices." — Tablet"Privilege"—the word, the idea, the accusation that is nearly impossible to disprove—is the new rhetorical power play. From social media to academia, public speech to casual conversation, the word is utilized to brand people of all kinds with a term once reserved exclusively for those who came from wealth and old money—inherited advantage.Today "pr...