Here are two highly recommended books on social action, both from the practical point of view. The first is from the Midwest Academy, a Chicago-based social change activist school that since the 1970s has been training organizers for communities, unions, women's groups and other social movements.
Organizing for Social Change: Midwest Academy: Manual for Activists by Kim Bobo, Jackie Kendall and Steve Max.
The Activist's Handbook: A Primer Updated Edition with a New Preface by Randy Shaw
The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization
Peter M. Senge / Hardcover / Published 1990 -- Audio Cassettes / Published 1994 -- Paperback / Published 1994
The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization
Peter M. Senge (Editor), et al / Paperback / Published 1994
Web site for more info on this series and concept: http://www.fieldbook.com
Also see: What is organizational learning?
Klan-Destine Relationships : A Black Man's Odyssey in the Ku Klux Klan
Daryl D. Davis / Hardcover / Published 1997
Mr. Davis spoke in March 1998 at the Northern Virginia Ethical Society. Not discounting the need for legal and other social change in working to end racism, he documents the power of one-on-one relationships, looking for common ground, in helping others to also find the common humanity across racial lines.
--JJL
 | The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World by Paul H., Ph.D. Ray, Sherry Ruth, Ph.D. Anderson, Ruth Anderson |
 | The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life by Richard Florida |
Democracy and Social Ethics
by Jane Addams
Introduction by Charlene Haddock Seigfried
"Illinois Edition" published 2002
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 | For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future Herman E. Daly, John B. Cobb (Contributor) Paperback / Published 1994 |
 | The Community of the Future
(Drucker Foundation Future Series)
by Frances Hesselbein (Editor), Marshall Goldsmith (Editor), Richard Beckhard, Richard Schubert (Editor)
An excellent collection of essays on practical ways to build community in today's world. Essayists range from Stephen Covey to Elie Wiesel. |
Following Kohlberg : Liberalism and the Practice of Democratic Community (Revisions)
Donald R. C. Reed / Hardcover / Published 1998
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Amitai Etzioni has been the leader in the movement for communitarianism -- moving towards affirmation of the individual as part of a community based on values. Here are some books on the topic of communitarianism:
Communitarianism: A New Agenda for Politics and Citizenship
Henry Benedict Tam
Paperback / Published 1998
 | The Essential Communitarian Reader Amitai Etzioni (Editor) Paperback / Published 1998 |
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An important 2001 book on community in America:
 | Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert D. Putnam / 2001 |
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