The People Shall Rule: ACORN, Community Organizing, and the Struggle for Economic Justice »

Robert Fisher, Professor of Community Organizing, School of Social Work, University of Connecticut, is author, co-author, or editor of five other books.

With the election of a community organizer as president of the United States, the time is right to evaluate the current state of community organizing and the effectiveness of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). Since 2002, ACORN has been dramatically expanding and raising its national profile; it has also been weathering controversy over its voter registration campaigns and an internal financial scandal.

The twelve chapters in this volume present the perspectives of insiders like founder Wade Rathke and leading outside practitioners and academics. The result is a thorough detailing of ACORN's founding and its changing strategies, including vivid accounts and analyses of its campaigns on the living wage, voter turnout, predatory lending, redlining, school reform, and community redevelopment, as well as a critical perspective on ACORN's place in the community organizing landscape.

Preface: Why Study Community Organizing and ACORN?
Part I: Contextualizing Community Organizing and ACORN: History, Theory, and Comparative Perspectives Chapter 1. Community Organizing, ACORN, and Progressive Politics in America Peter Dreier Chapter 2. Understanding ACORN: Sweat and Social Change Wade Rathke Chapter 3. Education as a Field for Community Organizing: A Comparative Perspective Elaine Simon and Eva Gold Chapter 4. From Redlining to Reinvestment: Economic Justice Advocacy, ACORN, and the Emergence of a Community Reinvestment Infrastructure Gregory D. Squires and Jan Chadwick Chapter 5. Community Organizing Theory and Practice: Conservative Trends, Oppositional Alternatives James DeFilippis, Robert Fisher, and Eric Shragge Part II: ACORN: Case Studies of Recent Work Chapter 6. ACORN and the Living Wage Movement Stephanie Luce

Chapter 7. The Battle of Brooklyn: ACORN's Modus Operandi John Atlas Chapter 8. Community Resistance to School Privatization: The Case of New York City Janelle Scott and Norm Fruchter Chapter 9. "Don't Be a Blockhead": ACORN, Protest Tactics, and Refund Anticipation Loans Robert Fisher, Fred Brooks and Daniel Russell Chapter 10. ACORN Experiments in Minority Voter Mobilization Donald Green and Melissa R. Michelson Part III: Reflections Chapter 11. Does ACORN's Work Contribute to Movement Building?
Gary Delgado Chapter 12. What Direction Community Organizing?
Robert Fisher Part I: Contextualizing Community Organizing and ACORN: History, Theory, and Comparative Perspectives Chapter 1. Community Organizing, ACORN, and Progressive Politics in America Peter Dreier Chapter 2. Understanding ACORN: Sweat and Social Change Wade Rathke Chapter 3. Education as a Field for Community Organizing: A Comparative Perspective Elaine Simon and Eva Gold Chapter 4. From Redlining to Reinvestment: Economic Justice Advocacy, ACORN, and the Emergence of a Community Reinvestment Infrastructure Gregory D. Squires and Jan Chadwick Chapter 5. Community Organizing Theory and Practice: Conservative Trends, Oppositional Alternatives James DeFilippis, Robert Fisher, and Eric Shragge Part II: ACORN: Case Studies of Recent Work Chapter 6. ACORN and the Living Wage Movement Stephanie Luce Chapter 7. The Battle of Brooklyn: ACORN's Modus Operandi John Atlas Chapter 8. Community Resistance to School Privatization: The Case of New York City Janelle Scott and Norm Fruchter Chapter 9. "Don't Be a Blockhead": ACORN, Protest Tactics, and Refund Anticipation Loans Robert Fisher, Fred Brooks and Daniel Russell Chapter 10. ACORN Experiments in Minority Voter Mobilization Donald Green and Melissa R. Michelson

Part III: Reflections Chapter 11. Does ACORN's Work Contribute to Movement Building?
Gary Delgado Chapter 12. What Direction Community Organizing?
Robert Fisher