Political Protest and Cultural Revolution - by Barbara Epstein (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

From her perspective as both participant and observer, Barbara Epstein examines the nonviolent direct action movement which, inspired by the civil rights movement, flourished in the United States from the mid-seventies to the mid-eighties. Disenchanted with the politics of both the mainstream and the organized left, and deeply committed to forging communities based on shared values, activists in this movement developed a fresh, philosophy and style of politics that shaped the thinking of a new generation of activists. Driven by a vision of an ecologically balanced, nonviolent, egalitarian society, they engaged in political action through affinity groups, made decisions by consensus, and practiced mass civil disobedience.

The nonviolent direct action movement galvanized originally in opposition to nuclear power, with the Clamshell Alliance in New England and then the Abalone Alliance in California leading the way. Its influence soon spread to other activist movements-for peace, non-intervention, ecological preservation, feminism, and gay and lesbian rights.

Epstein joined the San Francisco Bay Area's Livermore Action Group to protest the arms race and found herself in jail along with a thousand other activists for blocking the road in front of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. She argues that to gain a real understanding of the direct action movement it is necessary to view it from the inside. For with its aim to base society as a whole on principles of egalitarianism and nonviolence, the movement sought to turn political protest into cultural revolution.

From the Back Cover

This book is about nonviolent direct action, a movement or perhaps more accurately a node linking a number of movements in the United States in the late 1970s and the 1980s. In each of these movements there has been a radical wing made up of people who believe in nonviolence, engage in political action through affinity groups, practice decision making by consensus, and employ the tactic of mass civil disobedience.

Review Quotes

"Well written. . . . The use of oral history preserves individual stories about participation in the movement and adds conviction to the analysis. . . . Any political history of the Reagan era should rely on this book to counter the notion that Reaganism remained ideologically unchallenged throughout the 1980s."--Jonathan Soffer, "Oral History Review

About the Author

Barbara Epstein is Professor, History of Consciousness, University of California, Santa Cruz, and the author of The Politics of Domesticity: Women, Evangelism and Temperance in Nineteenth-CenturyAmerica (1981).