We Are Power: How Nonviolent Activism Changes the World
About the Book
We Are Power brings to light the incredible individuals who have used nonviolent activism to change the world. The book explores questions such as what is nonviolent resistance and how does it work? In an age when armies are stronger than ever before, when guns seem to be everywhere, how can people confront their adversaries without resorting to violence themselves? Through key international movements as well as people such as Gandhi, Alice Paul, Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez, and Václav Havel, this book discusses the components of nonviolent resistance. It answers the question “Why nonviolence?” by showing how nonviolent movements have succeeded again and again in a variety of ways, in all sorts of places, and always in the face of overwhelming odds.
What is power? Who has it? How can people who appear powerless claim power? Watch this short video to find out.
RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS, STUDENTS, AND PARENTS
In response to Covid and the latest protests, I will regularly post materials for teachers, students, and parents. Teachers, if you would like to schedule me for a discussion with your students, please email me directly (hasaklowy@gmail.com). Follow me on social media to get updates whenever I post new materials.
Click here to watch children’s librarian Yapha Mason interview me about writing We Are Power and the basic features of nonviolent activism.
Current events through the lens of WE ARE POWER:
NEW: Video of my August 6th conversation with writer Deborah Heiligman on writing the book, rethinking how we teach history to our young people, and understanding the present through the lens of the past.
Click here to watch my interview with children’s librarian Betsy Bird and here to listen to my interview with The Inclusive Education Podcast. In both of these, I discuss not just the book, but how the history of nonviolent activism can help us understand this latest wave of inspiring and inspired nationwide activism.
Click on these links to watch videos of myself reading aloud the Introduction, as well as Chapter 1 (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) and Chapter 2 (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).
Praise for We Are Power
“Highly recommended for its outstanding treatment of the history of social justice. A good resource for student activists.”
- School Library Journal (starred review)
"Hasak-Lowy's writing gives life to both the people and issues involved, taking time to explain historical backgrounds and the ways the lessons from one movement affected future ones … A thoughtful and inspiring book.”
- Booklist (starred review)
“We Are Power . . . is a book that grants that kids have brains, that they can understand complexity, and that in a world where everything seems very gloom and doom, it is possible to make things better. And to be frank, that’s the kind of message we’re all in dire need of right this very second.”
- Elizabeth Bird, School Library Journal
A “cogent appeal to young fighters of injustice.”
“Nonviolence may have been the greatest invention of the twentieth century, more important than nuclear fission or genetic coding. It offers us the chance to build a working twenty-first century, and since young people will have to lead that fight, this book is a crucial gift!”
- Bill McKibben, climate activist and author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?
“An excellent resource for helping young readers understand nonviolent activism and its importance in bringing about societal change . . . The inspirational nature of the book encourages young readers to step up and participate as they see fit in making the world a better place . . . A valuable and needed book that covers a topic that is as relevant as ever.”
“We Are Power would well serve as a curriculum textbook and is unreservedly recommended for elementary school, middle school, high school, and community library Contemporary Political Science collections . . . Exceptionally well written, organized and presented.”
“This excellent, timely overview will open eyes and deserves a wide readership.”
- Kirkus
“I'm so glad this book exists! From the opening pages where we meet Gandhi, to the closing with Greta Thunberg, and in between with Alice Paul, Martin Luther King, Vaclav Havel, Ceasar Chavez, and others, it is beautifully written, informative, and so moving. Readers young and older will be inspired to rise up peacefully, to act, to change the world--to save the world.”
- Deborah Heiligman, author of Torpedoed: The True Story of the World War II Sinking of “The Children’s Ship”
“There has never been a time when a book is more relevant than this one . . . It is the hope that all who read this text come away inspired to think globally and act locally.”
- School Library Connection (starred review)