Reviews and Comments

George Lakey has been involved on social and environmental struggles since the Civil Rights movement in the USA, so he has a lot of useful insights of how Non-violent campaigning works, how it doesn't and how escalating brings about victories and ultimately social change. This book is accessible and clear, it maintains a focus on intersectionality and the importance of making every campaign as inclusive and welcoming as possible so that the voices that usually get lost are able to add to the campaigns and enrich them. I liked it and will be returning to it in the future. There are plenty of references to other works and websites which will be useful to building a body of knowledge on campaigning and direct action.

Inspiring book about the ongoing struggles and their successes and difficulties against ecocide, colonisation, white supremacy and all the evils of capitalism. HIghly recommended reading, particularly the later chapters. I loved the imagining of an anarchist highly local future.

in the list for later

As other reviewers have already said: it is a truly gentle, hopeful, beautiful story about connection and self discovery and communication. It's got a post capitalist, solarpunk vibe of a world I'd love to inhabit, an appreciation for little pleasures and little deals, loveable characters, and it's also insightful and wise. Plus the main character rides a bicycle as their main form of transportation!

I now want to leave it all and become a wandering tea monk with a bike. That's how perfect this book is. Loved it.

Parts of it feel already a bit dated. Specially the assumption of the jump from hunter/gatherers to agricultural societies assumed as a given and linear progression (this idea is heavily disputed in The Dawn of Everything, Graeber and Wengrow).

But overall a good overview and questioning of the educational structures we have built and subject our kids to. It proposes some clear actionable strategies to reinvent education and centre the children's experience and interests. Personally I found it to be a great tool in my family's journey into unschooling.

Worth the hype. It's a short, enjoyable and quite fun read. Clever and well written. Would recommend. :)

Yes, I too succumbed to the hype. Let's see how it goes.

Loved it. Great historical view social struggles. Feeling a bit inspired.