A01=Gabriel Thompson
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american activism
american communities
american community organization
american history
american social movements
Author_Gabriel Thompson
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biography
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=HBJK
Category=HBLW
Category=NHK
community organization
COP=United States
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
dustbowl activism
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Format=BB
Format_Hardback
fred ross
grassroots organizing
history of community organization
japanese internment
labor
Language_English
latinx organizing in california
migrant workers
organizers
organizing in the american west
PA=Available
political activism
Price_€20 to €50
PS=Active
social activists
social arsonist
social organizing
softlaunch
working class
Product details
- ISBN 9780520280830
- Format: Hardback
- Weight: 499g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 29 Mar 2016
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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"A good organizer is a social arsonist who goes around setting people on fire." (Fred Ross). Raised by conservative parents who hoped he would "stay with his own kind," Fred Ross instead became one of the most influential community organizers in American history. His activism began alongside Dust Bowl migrants, where he managed the same labor camp that inspired John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. During World War II, Ross worked for the release of interned Japanese Americans, and after the war, he dedicated his life to building the political power of Latinos across California. Labor organizing in this country was forever changed when Ross knocked on the door of a young Cesar Chavez and encouraged him to become an organizer. Until now there has been no biography of Fred Ross, a man who believed a good organizer was supposed to fade into the crowd as others stepped forward. In America's Social Arsonist, Gabriel Thompson provides a full picture of this complicated and driven man, recovering a forgotten chapter of American history and providing vital lessons for organizers today.
Gabriel Thompson is a Steinbeck Fellow in Creative Writing at San Jose State University. He is the author of several books, including Working in the Shadows, and has written for Harper's, New York, Mother Jones, Virginia Quarterly Review, and The Nation.
