Stand Up!: How to Get Involved, Speak Out, and Win in a World on Fire

by Gordon Whitman

“Grassroots organizing is our best hope. If you’re serious about making change from the bottom up, read Stand Up! and pass it on.”
—Congressman Keith Ellison

Stand Up! is an antidote to the cynicism that keeps so many people on the sidelines. It's both an argument about how to solve the biggest problems facing our society, and a guide to engaging with others to change the world. People don't need more information about what's going wrong. They need to know that change is possible and that they have a meaningful role to play. They need to know that they can transform themselves from passive observers of politics and civic life to public leaders who can stare down bank presidents and politicians.

The book provides a coherent framework, a set of principles and practices for confronting global issues like climate change as well as local ones like making our schools better and our streets safer. Stand Up! uses stories to cover everything from helping readers find their purpose, building teams with focused goals, and envisioning a world that is truly guided by self-governance. Based on nearly 20 years of community organizing, and tapping into nonpartisan PICO's network of 1000 member institutions including churches, state and municipal organizations, and professional community organizers, Gordon Whitman provides a blueprint for every concerned individual to fight for social justice.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Activism

208 pages, Paperback

Published January 5, 2018

About the author

Gordon Whitman has worked as a community organizer and social change strategist and coach for the past twenty-five years. He first learned organizing in Santiago, Chile, and helped found successful grassroots organizing groups in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Flint, Michigan. As the deputy director of Faith in Action (formerly PICO National Network), the county’s largest faith-based community organizing network, he has coached hundreds of organizers, clergy, and grassroots leaders. He’s been responsible for PICO's expansion program, helping people of faith and clergy build some of the most effective new multi-racial community organizing groups in the United States over the past decade. Gordon has led national organizing campaigns on children’s health coverage, national health reform, and stopping of foreclosures. Before becoming an organizer, he worked as a legal services and civil rights lawyer in Philadelphia. He has also been the associate director of the Temple University Center for Public Policy. He’s written dozens of policy reports and articles on social change and regularly blogs on Huff Post. He has a law degree from Harvard Law School and an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania in history and urban studies.

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointingly vague. There almost seems to be as much outlining ("In section two I'll talk about this. In section three, this. In section four, …") as actual writing. I wanted more details, both in advice and in real-world anecdotes.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

adding to finish my reading goal! (read this for school - good for beginners)

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific book. Twenty plus years of organizing wisdom, with heart to go with head and hands. Engaging and direct writing style. Useful for activities beyond community organizing. Knowing how to engage the deepest aspirations of people is necessary for success in all kinds of fields. A book that looks at social dynamics often overlooked such as how to build and maintain momentum for a purpose, how to insist upon inclusiveness, how to draw from your own biography to speak to others and find common cause.

My only gripe was with the author’s almost knee-jerk tendency to blame “large corporations” for all our ills. I take a systems approach which sees many actors/factors contributing to systems that produce what none of us want. We all are to “blame” for bad results of our capitalist system, even though, for sure, some benefit far more than others.

Otherwise, I highly recommend this book!

[Esmé J · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really helpful guide for future activists. Whitman pulls a lot of concrete examples from his organizing career of the steps taken by various organizations and groups to spark positive change. I wish I had read this several years ago when I was part of an (unsuccessful) student response to my school administration's treatment of professors of color on my campus.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Competes with Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals for best organizing book!

[Drick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gordon Whitman is a staffer with Faith in ACtion a national community organizing organization that brings faith communities together to work for social change. POWER (of which I am a part) in Philadelphia is a Faith in ACtion affiliate. In this book Whitman very practically outlines the 5 conversations at the heart of social justice organizing. He illustrates these skills thru his personal experiences as an organizer and as a father advocating for his autistic child. the book is an easy read but filled with thought-provoking insights. Though Whiteman is Jewish he draws heavily on both Old and New Testament stories to help provide a faith basis for the work he calls all people of conscience and faith to engaged as we work for social justice.

[Arnie Kahn · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're interested in issues of social justice and want to do some good for society, this is a wonderful place to start. Whitman gives you all the conceptual tools plus lots of concrete examples of how to work with others to disrupt the power that keeps wages low, minorities in jail, lack of money for education, lack of homes for the homeless, etc. and make changes in society. He shows that it's not easy, takes a lot of coordination and effort and time, but that change is possible.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is so good I had to read it with a highlighter. Whitman is one of the most experienced community organizers in the country, and is perfecting the science and art of how social change happens. At *least* as practical as theoretical, this should become a classic textbook on organizing for social change.

[Alex Schearer · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a world on fire, Gordon shares his experience and wisdom from the frontlines. An inspirational, thought provoking, and timely book.

[Jane Harper · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for learning how to become involved and how to motivate others.