This volume lays out a clear and dynamic case for civil disobedience and protest. The author challenges the dominant argument against forms of protest that challenge the status quo, exploring the politics of direct action, nonviolent civil disobedience and strikes, and draws lessons for today.

In this slim volume, historian Howard Zinn lays out a clear and dynamic case for civil disobedience and protest and challenges the dominant arguments against forms of protest that challenge the status quo. Zinn explores the politics of direct action, nonviolent civil disobedience and strikes, and draws lessons for today. "Civil disobedience is the deliberate, discriminate, violation of law for a vital social purpose. It becomes not only justifiable but necessary when a fundamental human right is at stake, and when legal channels are inadequate for securing that right. It may take the form of violating an obnoxious law, protesting an unjust condition, or symbolically enacting a desirable law or condition...In our reasoning about civil disobedience, we must never forget that we and the state are separate in our interests, and we must not be lured into forgetting this by the agents of the state. The state seeks power, influence, wealth, as ends in themselves. The individual seeks health, peace, creative activity, love." - Seven guidelines for civil disobedience, Howard Zinn

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