Includes bibliographical references (pages 407-496) and index.

Creating free spaces : the Settlement House Movement and Two Janes
From Ku Klux Klan to American fascists, 1920s-1930s
Trustees of the nation : the campaign for old-age pensions
Shareholders in relief : the Unemployed Movement in the 1930s
Leadership and followership : the Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955-1956
Leadership and followership continued : the United Farm Workers Union
Consciousness-raising as activism : intersectionality in practice
Epilogue. The genius and mystery of social movements

"How do social movements arise, wield power, and decline? Renowned scholar Linda Gordon investigates these questions in a groundbreaking work, narrating the stories of many of America's most influential twentieth-century social movements. Beginning with the turn-of-the-century settlement house movement, Gordon then scrutinizes the 1920s Ku Klux Klan and its successors, the violent American fascist groups of the 1930s. Profiles of two Depression-era movements follow--the Townsend campaign that brought us Social Security and the creation of unemployment aid. Proceeding then to the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott, which inspired the civil rights movement and launched Martin Luther King Jr.'s career, the narrative barrels into the 1960s-70s with Cesar Chavez's farmworkers' union. The concluding chapter illumines the 1970s women's liberation movement through the dramatic story of the Boston-area organizations Bread and Roses and the Combahee River Collective. Separately and together, these seven chapters animate American history, reminding us of the power of collective activism."-- Publisher description