RECOMMENDATION
Books for Bike Advocates
Whether you’re looking for a bedtime story for your baby activist or a guide to community organizing to sway your local community board, Transportation Alternatives has a book to recommend. This spring, TransAlt advocates have been reading about political power, racial equity, and, of course, Jane Jacobs.
Walking in the City with Jane
By Susan Hughes
City kids tend to innately understand the Jane Jacobs gospel that walking people deserve space and cars can make people into jerks. In this fictionalized children’s book, Hughes illustrates Jacobs’ vision of a healthy urban ecosystem and the protests it took to defend her neighborhood. It’s never too early to learn that Robert Moses is the bad guy. Recommended by Development Director (and new mom) Vicky Bisogno
Bike Lanes Are White Lanes
By Melody L. Hoffman
Bicycling is on the rise across the U.S., especially for people of color and the working class. In this urban planning manifesto, Hoffman looks at communities united by cycling, and others where bike lanes are inextricable from race, class, and gentrification. For better or for worse, she finds that the stories we tell about urban transformation can predict their future. This book is a primer on listening to your community, and a must-read for anyone fighting for streets that are as equitable as they are safe. Recommended by Brooklyn Organizer Dulcie Canton
How We Win
By George Lakey
In this approachable guide to activism, Lakey shares lessons from his time as a nonviolent civil disobedience instructor in the Civil Rights movement, and from organizers of social justice movements across the past 50 years. With guidance on everything from movement building to avoiding burnout, this is an important how-to for every generation of activists. Recommended by Senior Organizer Erwin Figueroa
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