Book Excerpts
Denmark, the Netherlands, and Rosenstrasse
On February 27, 1943, SS soldiers and local Gestapo
agents began seizing the Jews of Berlin in an operation called "the Final
Roundup." This excerpt details the vigils held by non-Jewish German wives
and mothers of those seized who gathered day and night, singing and
chanting, demanding that the Germans "Let our husbands go!"
Argentina
This excerpt chronicles
how a group of women, angered by the disappearance of their sons, marched
around Buenos Aires' Plaza de Mayo to focus attention on the regime's
repressive policies.
China
This excerpt shows how, after
weeks of organizing ever-growing demonstrations, the students' failure to
broaden their mobilizing and to negotiate prudently with the regime exposed
them to the crack-down that felled the movement.
India
This excerpt analyzes the great
1930-31 campaign against the British in India, and the subsequent campaign
in 1934. While the results were mixed, and the campaign did not result in
constitutional change, it demonstrated the power of ordinary Indians to
drive events.
Poland
This excerpt discusses the new
social action engaged by Polish dissidents in the early 1980s. It examines
the strike, led by Lech Walesa, in which workers challenged the Communist
Party and achieved the right to organize.
The Mythology of Violence
This
excerpt looks at the historical roots of the allure of violent revolution
as a method of delivering power to the people and why it has usually failed
to do so.