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Seeds of Change: The Story of ACORN, America's Most Controversial Antipoverty Community Organizing Group
"There is more value on a single page of Seeds of Change than in a year's worth of Rush Limbaugh screeds combined with a lifetime of Sarah Palin sneers at community organizers." --Todd Gitlin
Seeds of Change 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.
Based 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.
The 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.
The 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.
The 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. Seeds of Change , 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.
An offering of The Progressive Book Club.
Seeds of Change 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.
Based 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.
The 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.
The 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.
The 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. Seeds of Change , 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.
An offering of The Progressive Book Club.
284 pages, Paperback
First published June 28, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 2, 2012
This is an outstanding history of ACORN and its grassroots success organizing poor and disenfranchised members of our communities in order to gain access and a slice of tax dollars that the middle class and rich take for granted. Confronting elected officials and others in groups IS power that worked many times for ACORN members. The inaccurate stories in all forms of media (online, print, TV, liberal, conservative, etc.) can dismantle a valuable organization while some of its counterparts for the already powerful march on committing ACTUAL criminal activity. I would say "amazing" except for the extreme partisan commentary (Democrat vs. Republican) that I don't think was necessary to tell the story.
October 25, 2012
Great read into a fascinating organisation. Could have done with more analysis/lessons learnt, especially from the demise of ACORN. Still a very insightful read though, highly recommended!
May 11, 2012
What a life to learn from. ACORN's conception, its highs and lows, its internal debates, its eventual demise. Not a precise writer, but an unbeatable portrait of such an important organization.
November 15, 2014
A great history of a noble organization taken down by lies
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews