Crazy for Democracy: Women in Grassroots Movements

At a time when we're depressed about democracy, pessimistic about race relations, and anxious about feminism, Crazy for Democracy vividly shows, through the lives of six women in the United States and South Africa, just what can be and is being accomplished to change our lives. In building real social movements to achieve a safe environment, win human rights, and safeguard their homes, these grassroots feminist leaders have been creating democratic institutions to achieve social justice for us all.

Through a narrative mosaic of personal accounts, newspaper articles, pamphlets, feminist theory, and critiques of social and legal philosophy, Temma Kaplan illustrates why certain poor and working-class women everywhere are struggling to save their neighborhoods, resist callous and oppressive governments, and create local citizens' organizations to achieve social justice and democracy. Kaplan brings these women to life to speak in their own voices, demonstrating that activism is alive, well, and growing despite what critics may believe.

Showing the resonance of feminism across racial, class, and ethnic divides; revealing what social movements are and why women have increasingly become central participants in them; and explaining about the transformations of law, Crazy for Democracy brings these women to life as they protect and enhance their communities by fighting for them and generating new democratic institutions in that fight.