The Noble Art of Book Reviewing
Video on the Noble Art of Book Reviewing with insights and tips for writing effective and engaging book reviews. This was part of a Commons Library Skills Session.
Collection
Movements at the Station
Movements at the Station gathers the writing of Joel Dignam from the blog of the same name, his earlier blog Scit Necessitas, Medium, and other sites including the Change Agency, Australian Progress and Plan to Win.
Joel is an organiser and campaigner with broad experience in non-profits, unions, and electoral politics in Australia and the UK. He is currently the Director of ‘Better Renting’, a renters rights charity that he founded in 2018.
The collection includes book reviews and articles on campaign strategy, the craft of organising, organisational structure and leadership.
Prisms of the People: Power and Organizing in Twenty First Century America – A Book Review
A book review of Prisms of the People: Power & Organizing in Twenty-First-Century America by Hahrie Han, Elizabeth McKenna & Michelle Oyakawa.
Frame the Debate: Insights from Don’t Think of an Elephant!
An introduction to the concept of framing, drawing on George Lakoff’s book Don’t Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate.
Economic Messaging for Progressives: A review of Don’t Buy it by Anat Shenker-Osorio
Don’t Buy It by Anat Shenker-Osorio is a guide to progressive messaging on the economy and economics – A book review by Joel Dignam.
The Role of Stories in Organising
Joel Dignam reviews Marshall Ganz’ approach to story as fundamental to organising. Through story we understand happenings, communicate our values, and make sense of our choices.
Ground Wars Electoral field campaigning
Joel Dignam reviews Ground Wars, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen’s hands-on ethnographic study of two competitive congressional campaigns in the 2008 US election. The book is a richly-detailed portrait of contemporary field campaigning.
Work less: You’ll get more done
Overwork has heavy costs. Working longer hours is dangerous and ineffective. But poor management, the subconscious, workplace culture, and work volume, can each be a barrier to better workplace practices. Thankfully though, these barriers can be overcome.
The Tyranny of Structurelessness
Joel Dignam reviews Jo Freeman’s “The Tyranny of Structurelessness” which explores some of the key structural problems facing groups. Recognising that power dynamics are present in all groups Freeman proposes formal structures, transparency and accountability.
Retain volunteers with intrinsically motivating work
Civic associations depend upon volunteers to get their work done. Joel Dignam distils insights from Ruth Wageman and Richard Hackman’s “Designing work for individuals and for groups” from Perspectives on Behavior in Organizations.
How to Structure Teams for Organising
Joel Dignam reviews Marshall Ganz’ treatment of structure as a craft of organising. As Ganz notes “Developing leadership requires structuring the work of the organization so it affords as many people as possible the opportunity to learn to lead.”
Hahrie Han on How Relationships Improve Mobilisation
Insights from The Organizational Roots of Political Activism: Field Experiments on Creating a Relational Context. In her paper, Han demonstrates that a relational context affects civic engagement, arguing that decisions like voting or other forms of activism aren’t based upon a simple cost-benefit analysis.
Book review of This is an Uprising: How nonviolent revolt is shaping the twenty first century
Joel Dignam reviews Paul and Mark Engler’s 2016 book This is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First Century. TIAU is an analysis of social change, how it has occurred, and how contemporary campaigners may make it occur again.
Relationships are the Glue of Organising
This post reviews Marshall Ganz’ approach to craft of relationships in organising. Relationships foster the commitment that is needed for success and allow us to understand the interests, values and motivations of others.
Is personalised political communication manipulative?
“Personalized political communication” refers to when the medium for a message is a person, not media such as television, pamphlets, or billboards. The electoral arms race is seeing a renaissance of PPC and greater engagement of voters in campaigns and the political process.
Launching a Leadership Revolution: A book review
Joel Dignam reviews Launching a Leadership Revolution by Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward. Joel distills the key lessons that are relevant to social change organisations.
How Organizations Develop Activists: A book review
Joel Dignam reviews Hahrie Han’s How Organizations Develop Activists. A key finding of Han’s research is that high-engagement chapters practise both organizing and mobilizing. The Voice for Indi campaign is considered as an Australian example of combining these two approaches.
Lessons from the Greensboro Student Sit-ins
The Greensboro student sit-ins had nonviolence at their heart and succeeded, not only in their immediate goal, but also in building a lasting organisation in the SNCC. It stands now as yet another example of the successful use of nonviolence to stand against oppression.
Book Review of In the Tiger’s Mouth Empowerment Guide
A review of Katrina Shield’s ‘In The Tiger’s Mouth: An Empowerment Guide for Social Action’. What most distinguishes this books is its emphasis on three elements not often considered in other campaigning texts: self-awareness, collaboration, and self-care.
Lessons from Hahrie Han’s ‘Moved to Action’
Joel Dignam reviews Hahrie Han’s Moved to Action. Han tackles the question of what motivates political participation by people who face significant barriers. Han provides a toolkit for those seeking to empower and work with, or within, marginalised communities.
Decentralisation: The Starfish and the Spider
Joel Dignam reviews Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom’s ‘The Starfish and the Spider’. The book delves into ideas and language around decentralisation with useful examples from history, social movements and commerce. It also includes practical tips for putting decentralisation into practice.