How We Rise - by Manuel Pastor (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

In a plainspoken and savvy guide, renowned sociologist Manuel Pastor provides an analysis of what is required of progressives to move forward toward the future we deserve. Drawing from his vast experience, insights from movement leaders around the country, and full of clear, explicit examples of local success stories, Pastor outlines critical key mandates for the future, fundamentally answering the questions about what kind of world we are trying to create and what kind of people we want to be.

The book focuses on building broad progressive fronts, the importance of organization beyond elections, building local communities that support each other, how incorporating class politics with identity politics can create a durable, pro-democracy base, the outlines of a more coherent economic program, why there is no going back to a pre-Trump era, and where we can and should move the fight from here.

For fans of The Purpose of Power by Alicia Garza and Practical Radicals by Deepak Bhargava and Stephanie Luce, Pastor provides a groundbreaking guide on how to resist the rise of authoritarianism and rare insights from the people and organizations working to renew America. This book will appeal to those who are ready for a deeper commitment to civic action and prepared to prevent authoritarian consolidation.

About the Author

Manuel Pastor is the director of the Equity Research Institute at the University of Southern California and the author of State of Resistance: What California's Dizzying Descent and Remarkable Resurgence Mean for America's Future and (with Chris Benner) of Charging Forward: Lithium Valley, Electric Vehicles, and a Just Future (both from The New Press). He lives in Los Angeles.