Direct Action: Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism
A twenty-five-year history of disruptive protest in America, tracing the evolution of tactics from ACT UP to Occupy to Black Lives Matter through hundreds of candid interviews with movement insiders. Covers the operational mechanics of blockades, occupations, and mass campaigns.
Key Takeaways
- 25-year tactical history from ACT UP to Occupy to BLM
- Hundreds of candid interviews with movement insiders
- Operational mechanics of blockades, occupations, and campaigns
- Evolution of American radical protest tactics since 1990s
- Analysis of horizontal organizing vs hierarchical structures
Kauffman interviewed hundreds of people who actually planned and executed the major protest actions of the last quarter century. This isn't theory — it's the operational history of how direct action tactics evolved, what worked, what failed, and why movements shifted from one approach to another.
L.A. Kauffman is a longtime grassroots organizer and journalist whose reporting on American protest movements spans over 25 years. She has organized and participated in major demonstrations and has unique access to movement insiders across the political spectrum.
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