Review: Randolph Haluza-DeLay on Organizing Urban America

Heidi J Swarts. Organizing Urban America: Secular and Faith-based Progressive Movements. Social Movements, Protest, and Contention Series, volume 28. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008, 336 pp. $US 25.00 paper (978-0-8166-4839-9), $US 75.00 hardcover (978-0-8166-4838-2)

With the election of a former community organizer as President of the United States, the time is ripe for scholarly attention to local community organizing. Organizing Urban America is important for two reasons. First, it focuses on the local, whereas much social movement research has been at larger geographic scales. Second, Swarts highlights culture, with an expansive conception that shows how central it is to understanding movements’ dynamics, effectiveness, and links with political opportunities and the mobilization of resources. … Read more