Gene Sharp Books
How to Start a Revolution is the first biography of Gene Sharp the world’s most celebrated expert in nonviolent revolution. Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize four times, his guidebook for revolutionaries has been translated into more than 40 languages, slipped across borders and hidden from secret policemen all over the world. For decades, people who wanted to take down their dictatorship made a pilgrimage to Gene Sharp for help. With access to newly released files from Gene Sharp’s archive, How to Start a Revolution reveals the hidden forces behind the headlines - the strategies passed from the jungles of Burma, to the streets of Iran, the Arab Spring and the looming battle to defend democracy in the West. This is the story of the power of people to change their world, the modern revolution and the man behind it all.
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From Dictatorship to Democracy is a modern classic and has become Gene Sharp's most prolific work. Published in 1993 for the Burmese democratic opposition it contains the famous '198 methods' of nonviolent action. The book has been translated into nearly 40 languages and played a part in dozens of democratic movements active in the past 25 years, from OTPOR in Serbia to the Arab Spring.
The Book is available in several formats online, the classic is the 4th edition produced in house by the Albert Einstein Institution (pictured). You can purchase this on Amazon here or find it free for download on the Albert Einstein Institution webpage. Read a review of the 2012 imprint from The Independent.
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Waging Nonviolent Struggle concentrates on how to strategically plan a nonviolent campaigning using protest, noncooperation and intervention. The book draws parallels between nonviolent and military strategy and illustrates how the technique has been put into practice throughout the world with 23 case studies. Order it on Amazon here.
Civilian Based Defense might have become a relic of the Cold War, but now with Russia taking on a more aggressive posture in Eastern Europe and with a Trump presidency questioning its commitment to NATO, the book has developed a new cult following. How could civilians trained in nonviolent resistance deter an invasion and possibly defeat an occupation without a foreign state coming to their aid militarily? Civilian Based Defence by Gene Sharp hasn't been so relevant since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Get it on Amazon.