{"product_id":"seeds-of-change-john-atlas-9780826517067","title":"Seeds of Change: The Story of ACORN, America's Most Controversial Antipoverty Community Organizing Group","description":"\"There is more value on a single page of \u003ci\u003eSeeds of Change\u003c\/i\u003e than in a year's worth of Rush Limbaugh screeds combined with a lifetime of Sarah Palin sneers at community organizers.\" --Todd Gitlin \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eSeeds of Change\u003c\/i\u003e goes beyond the headlines of the last Presidential campaign to describe what really happened in ACORN's massive voter registration drives, why it triggered an unrelenting attack by Fox News and the Republican Party, and how it confronted its internal divisions and scandals. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBased on Atlas's own eyewitness original reporting, as the only journalist to have access to ACORN's staff and board meetings, this book documents the critical transition from founder Wade Rathke, a white New Orleans radical to Bertha Lewis, a Brooklyn African American activist. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe story begins in the 1970s, when a small group of young men and women, led by a charismatic college dropout, began a quest to help the powerless help themselves. In a tale full of unusual characters and dramatic conflicts, the book follows the ups and downs of ACORN's organizers and members as they confront big corporations and unresponsive government officials in Albuquerque, Brooklyn, Chicago, Detroit, Little Rock, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and the Twin Cities. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe author follows the course of local and national campaigns to organize unions, fight the subprime mortgage crisis, promote living wages for working people, struggle for affordable housing and against gentrification, and help Hurricane Katrina's survivors return to New Orleans. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe book dispels the conservative myth that we can only help the poor through private soup kitchens and charity and the liberal myth that the solution rests simply with more government services. \u003ci\u003eSeeds of Change\u003c\/i\u003e, not only provides a gripping look at ACORN's four decades of effective organizing, but also offers a hopeful analysis of the potential for a revival of real American democracy.\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn offering of \u003cb\u003eThe Progressive Book Club.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e John Atlas\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0826517064\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780826517067\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Vanderbilt University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/28\/2010\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 284\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.65lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.90h x 6.90w x 1.10d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eReference and Research Bk News\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/01\/2010 pg. 127","brand":"John Atlas","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43926598516991,"sku":"9780826517067","price":39.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_dc8fbebc-5d04-4787-b093-4d8601f4f185.jpg?v=1681083973","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/seeds-of-change-john-atlas-9780826517067","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}