George Lakey has led over 1,500 social change workshops on five continents. He recently retired from Swarthmore College, where he was the Eugene M. Lang Visiting Professor for Issues in Social Change. He has also taught sociology at Haverford College and the University of Pennsylvania. He was a trainer for the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer, revised the worker education program for the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, and led education programs for LGBTQ people, Mohawks, clergy including Buddhist monks, anarchists, psychologists, prisoners, social workers, African National Congress peacekeepers, and many kinds of community advocacy groups. He was smuggled across the border from Thailand to a Burmese guerrilla encampment to teach young freedom fighters in the so-called Jungle University. He cofounded the organization Training for Change and directed it for fifteen years. In 2010 he was named Peace Educator of the Year by the Peace and Justice Studies Association. His ten books have all been about change, including How We Win (2018). He lives in Philadelphia.
Fire and Flames: A History of the German Autonomist Movement
SKU: 9781629638263
Author: George Lakey • Foreword by Mark Leier
Series: PM Press/ Reach and Teach
ISBN: 978-1-62963-826-3
Published: 09/2020
Format: Paperback
Size: 6×9
Pages: 320
Subjects: Education
Praise
“If you want to be a soldier, you can go to West Point. If you want
to be a nonviolent change-maker—well, this is an awfully good place to
start. George Lakey has been near the center of American resistance for
decades, and so he has both remarkable stories and remarkable
insights—not to mention some remarkable colleagues who add their
perspective to this necessary manual!”
—Bill McKibben, cofounder of 350.org
“I’ve been working with forms of direct education for many decades,
and I found new ideas and inspirations in every chapter. For anyone
involved in teaching, training, sharing skills, or leading groups, this
book is an invaluable resource!”
—Starhawk, author of The Earth Path, Dreaming the Dark, and Webs of Power
“Lakey doesn’t make it sound easy, but he employs a reasoned,
seasoned perspective to clearly convey principles of organization that
have proved their value to activists worldwide.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Hard-won advice for community organizers . . . Clear, encouraging, and potentially empowering.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“This book is a must-read for people who teach adults of any age, no
matter what the subject, and care about doing it in ways that yield deep
and abiding learning. Wonderfully well-written and rich with
psychological and spiritual insights as well as practical strategies, it
represents the fruits of a lifetime of transformational teaching and
learning by one of the foremost adult educators of our time.”
—Parker J. Palmer, author of The Courage to Teach and Let Your Life Speak
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