Liberation Stories: Building Narrative Power for 21st-Century Social Movements

Over the past twenty years, social movements from DREAMers and the Movement for Black Lives, to queer and trans resistance, and domestic worker organizing, have helped tell a new story of America--an inclusive vision of our society that has galvanized a new and newly empowered generation. This achievement was no accident: movement leaders have honed communications techniques, political messages, and storytelling strategies in a new struggle for narrative power. Until now, these efforts have largely been piecemeal and disconnected from one another. But in Liberation Stories, some of today's leading progressive and radical grassroots communicators, organizers, artists, visual storytellers, journalists, and academics combine their collective wisdom into a single volume.

Featuring in-depth case studies of contemporary social justice movements and historical examples for understanding and challenging the dominant narratives across the globe, Liberation Stories distills successful theories, strategies, and tactics for anyone wanting to understand--and participate in--the diverse initiatives currently shaping our society.

At a time when right-wing movements are on the rise globally--attacking our books, our bodies, and our systems of government--Liberation Stories offers a comprehensive tool for building the world we want.

Shanelle Matthews is the founder of Radical Communicators Network (RadComms), an organization working to build narrative power for social justice. Matthews is former communications director for the Movement for Black Lives and a Distinguished Lecturer at City College at the City University of New York. She lives in New York. Marzena Zukowska is co-director of the UK immigrants' rights organization POMOC, and co-chair and trustee of Migrants Organise. They live in Liverpool, England. Radical Communicators Network (RadComms) is an organization working to build narrative power for social justice.