John Gaventa

"Rebellion, to be successful, must both confront power and overcome the accumulated effects of powerlessness."

Yeah. That.

This book doesn't solve anything -- the quote above might be the closest you get to a "what next" payoff -- but that's not the point. The point is that people who are poor and uneducated are not stupid or weak. It really tried to set out what you know is true if you work in poverty realms at all -- that each aspect of poverty and powerlessness reinforces every other show more aspect. And that for the powerful to maintain power takes not a lot of effort.

It's not just the powerful setting the agenda. It's them writing the language the agenda's written in. show less

A fascinating study of the relationship between local values and political action in Kentucky coal country.