Book Review: How Change Happens by Leslie R. Crutchfield
This month, Nonprofit Leadership Toolbox is featuring Leslie R. Crutchfield’s book, How Change Happens: Why Some Social Movements Succeed While Others Don’t.
How Change Happens is the link that has been missing for many of us in the nonprofit world. Many other aspects of the nonprofit sector have been well-documented, discussed, and written about at length. But while social movements are a vital component of our field, it is not so commonly researched or discussed with the intent to provide practical, real-world applications. This reading provides a broad view of how social movements work and what it takes for them to succeed. It lifts the veil on the inner workings of social movements and provides concrete, actionable steps to take to empower your own social cause or movement.
What sets this book apart is the in-depth analysis and overall approach taken to uncover what components successful social movements share. Crutchfield outlines her approach for her readers- showing exactly what formulaic steps were taken.
Crutchfield gives the readers 6 components of successful social movements, and then breaks them down chapter by chapter to make them accessible and translatable- no matter what cause or social movement you are motivated by. She uses case studies from both conservative and liberal social movements, and remains unbiased and practical throughout to extract the most insight and useful knowledge possible.
This is the most thorough and scientific analysis of social movements that we have encountered. We highly recommend How Change Happens to social activists, grassroots movements, nonprofit professionals, and anyone else that wants to be part of a successful social movement. How Change Happens was published on May 1, 2018 and is available wherever books are sold.
