On this page, you will find a list of books about activism. We have collected books that discuss tactics, grassroots strategies and organising for social change. If you would like to learn more about activism, these are the best books to start.

This list of articles about activism contains a wealth of information about how to get involved in activism and make a difference. Whether you're looking for ways to get involved in your community or ways to make a difference on a global scale, these articles have something for you. From books that provide historical perspectives to how to get started as an activist, this list has it all. So what are you waiting for? Start reading and get involved!

A frog reading a book about activism - Generated using OpenAI

List of books about activism #

Free to reuse #

These books are freely available for anyone to read, redistribute or make adaptations under creative commons licences. In other words, we should definitely integrate all knowledge contained in these books with Activist Handbook!

• Handbook for non-violent campaigns by War Resisters' International (2014)

• Official Channels by Brian Martin (2020)

• People Power: The Community Organizing Tradition of Saul Alinsky by Aaron Schutz and Mike Miller

Free to read #

The following books about activism are available to read for free (as PDFs or in other digital formats), but they are not available under a creative commons licence:

• Glossary of Civil Resistance: A Resource for Study and Translation of Key Terms by Hardy Merriman and Nicola Barrach-Yousef (2021)

Other books #

These books about activism are not freely available, but they are still a great read!

• Ambiguity is the Answer: Timeless Strategies for Creating Change by Kyle Crawford (2024)

• Doing Democracy: The MAP Model for Organizing Social Movements by Bill Moyer with Joann McAllister, Mary Lou Finley and Steven Soifer (2001)

• Climate Resistance Handbook by Daniel Hunter (2019)

• Deep Green Resistance by Aric McBay, Lierre Keith and Derrick Jensen (2011)

• The Activists' Handbook by Randy Shaw (2013)

• Rules for Revolutionaries by Becky Bond & Zack Exley (2016): Discusses grassroots organising based on the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign.

• This is an uprising by Mark Engler and Paul Engler (2016): A book that discusses non-violent revolts and the deep-lying processes behind sudden outbursts of protests.

• The Empowerment Manual by Starhawk (2011): A manual on effective group facilitation.

• Tools for Grassroots Activists by Nora Gallagher and Lisa Myers (2016)

• People Power Manual by Jason Macleod (2016)

• Towards Collective Liberation by Chris Crass (2013): Anti-Racist Organizing, Feminist Praxis, and Movement Building Strategy

• How Organizations Develop Activists by Hahrie Han (2004)

• Organizing for social change by Kimberley A. Bobo, Jackie Kendall, Steve Max (2010)

• Roots to Power: A Manual for Grassroots Organizing by Lee Staples (2004) | Archived

• How to Win Campaigns: Communications for Change by Chris Rose (2011)

• Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead by Cecile Richards (2018)

• No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age by Jane McAlevey (2016)

• Why Civil Resistance Works by Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan (2011)

• Organizing: People, Power, Change by Marshall Ganz (2014) [Creative Commons]

• Hegemony How-To by Jonathan Smucker (2017)

• How We Win by Farah Pandith (2018)

• Blueprint For a Revolution by Popovic (2015)

• Organizing Cools The Planet by Hilary Moore and Joshua Kahn Russell (2011)

• Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky (1971)

• Blueprint for Revolution by Srđa Popović (2015)

• The Protest Handbook by Tom Wainwright, Anna Morris, Owen Greenhall, Lochlinn Parker (2020)

• Deep Green Resistance by Aric McBay, Lierre Keith and Derrick Jensen (2011)

• A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara (2013)

• Merdeka and the Morning Star: Civil Resistance in West Papua by Jason Macleod

• Reveille for Radicals by Saul Alinksy

• Roots for radicals by Edward T. Chambers

• A theory of nonviolent action: How civil disobedience works by Stellan Vinthagen

• Learning activism: The intellectual life of contemporary social movements by Aziz Choudry

• Decolonizing Solidarity: Dilemmas and directions for supporters of Indigenous struggles by Clare Land

• Confronting Power: The practice of policy advocacy by Jeff Unsicker

• Learning and mobilising for community development: A radical tradition of community-based education and training by Peter Westoby and Lynda Sevellar

• Active hope: how to face the mess we’re in without going crazy by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone

• Climate action: a campaign manual for greenhouse solutions by Mark Diesendorf

• Soul of a citizen: living with conviction in challenging times by Paul Rogat Loeb

• Activist wisdom by Sarah Maddison & Sean Scalmer

• A History of the Australian Environment Movement by Drew Hutton, and Libby Connors

• Webs of power: notes from the global uprising by Starhawk

• Heart politics revisited by Fran Peavey

• Organizing While Undocumented by Kevin Escudero

• Pleasure activism by Adrienne Maree Brown

• Craftivism by Betsy Greer

• Organize for Social Change: Midwest Academy Manual for Activists by Kimberley A. Bobo, Jackie Kendall and Steve Max (2001)

• Civil Resistance, What Everyone Needs to Know by Erica Chenoweth (2021)

• Pranksters vs. Autocrats by Sophia A. McClennen (2020)

Book libraries #

If you are interested in reading more books, check out these websites, which also contain lists of interesting books about activism. We used these libraries to make the lists above:

• The Commons Library: "A social change library. We collect, curate and distribute the key lessons and resources of progressive movements around Australia and across the globe."

• Great Reads for Organizers by Social Movement Technologies (no date)

• Books by Gene Sharp

• Books about activism on Wikipedia (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0)

• The Change Agency Books (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License)

• Goodreads collection

• Social Movement Technologies, great reads

Q&A #

How can reading books help activists? #

Reading books about activism can help to educate and inspire people to become more involved in social and political causes. These books can provide valuable information about the history of activism, the challenges activists face, and the impact they can have on society. Additionally, reading about the experiences of other activists can help people to feel less alone in their own activism and can provide them with ideas and motivation for their own work.

What are the best books about activism? #

In the list above, we have collected a large number of books that discuss activism. All of them are interesting to read. We try to extract the most valuable information from all the books we read and add them to Activist Handbook. We recommend you do the same! We would like to give a special thanks to the authors that made their books available for free, especially those that are licenced under a creative commons licence.

Improve this page #

You can make this page better! Here are some suggestions how:

Add more books #

If you have read any good books on activism, do share them in the collection below. When adding a book, please remember that they have to be about activism in general! If you find a book that is about a specific topic, please add them to a more relevant article on our website instead.

Create separate pages #

For each book, create a separate page under the following path: activisthandbook.org/resources/my-book

Summarise the contents of the book and explain where people can read the book.

Categorize the books #

Propose a better way of organizing all these books. Add your suggestions in this section.

Right now, we have three categories:

• Free to reuse

• Free to read

• Other books

Alternative categories:

• Organizing: “Organizing Cools The Planet” , “Organizing for social change”

• Grassroots Strategies: “People Power” , “Tools for Grassroots Activists”

• Tactics: “Rules for Revolutionaries” , “This is an Uprising”

• Social Change: “Towards Collective Liberation” , “Why Civil Resistance Works”