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At a moment when our democratic abilities seem to have eroded, and political, economic, and technological forces have weakened the capacity for collective action, People, Power, Change is a once-in-a-generation book for anyone who wants to create real and lasting change.

Marshall Ganz is one of the world’s leading authorities on democratic organizing, and this book is the culmination of his decades of teaching, research, and work. In People, Power, Change, Ganz distills for students, practitioners, and activists the principles he has gleaned over the last half-century of creating collective action.

Ganz explores the forces, craft, and learned skill of organizing and provides an actionable framework for how to actually do it. He focuses the book on the creation and substance of relationships, the fuel of values and narrative, the resources and power of strategy, the necessity of structure, and the accountability of action. Across these five organizing ideas, Ganz weaves in his personal experiences from a lifetime of organizing in iconic social movements and campaigns to illustrate how collective action actually works and to build the practices and skills that must be developed to do it with intention and with success.

Marshall Ganz is the Rita E. Hauser Senior Lecturer in Leadership, Organizing, and Civil Society at Harvard Kennedy School. His journey began in the 1960s when he left Harvard College to participate in the Mississippi Freedom Summer, working to register Black voters. He then spent 16 years with the United Farm Workers, serving as Director of Organizing and as a member of its national executive board. In the 1980s, Ganz contributed to various grassroots movements and political campaigns, including designing innovative voter mobilization strategies. He returned to Harvard to complete his undergraduate degree, later earning an MPA and a PhD in sociology. Ganz is renowned for developing the “p ublic narrative” framework, emphasizing the power of storytelling in leadership and organizing. His book, Why David Sometimes Wins, analyzes the strategies behind successful social movements. In 2008, he played a pivotal role in shaping the grassroots organization of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Through his teaching and mentorship, Ganz continues to influence leaders and organizers worldwide.

Marshall Ganz’s website