Alinsky, Saul, Reveille for Radicals (New York: Vintage Books, 1980).

Saul Alinsky was the initiator of the modern community organizing movement in the 1930s through the 1960s. He led poor communities throughout urban America to organize and engage the political and economic powers of their cities in order to significantly improve their lives. "Reveille for Radicals," first published in 1946, is considered the primer of community organizing. Order from How To Order or from amazon.com

Chambers, Edward, Roots for Radicals: Organizing for Power, Action, and Justice (NY: Continuum, 2003).

Mentored by Alinsky for more than a decade, Ed Chambers succeeded Alinksy as director of the Industrial Areas Foundation. Roots for Radicals, Studs Terkel writes, "is a how-to book in the best sense, designed for community organizers and clergy to know, to feel, and mostly to think creatively about how to incite the powerless to find the power and to speak for themselves." Order from How To Order or from amazon.com.

Gecan, Michael, Going Public: An Organizer's Guide to Citizen Action (New York: Anchor Books, 2002).

Urban decay can sap the soul of anyone who experiences it. But there are forces that can and do reverse it. They are groups of citizens, encouraged and trained to take power with dignity and creativity and unrelenting determination, and to make it work for them, day by day, month by month, year to year. Going Public is the heartwarming story of those who "succeed in unexpected ways and in unexpected places, thus giving us hope for our nation's future." Order from amazon.com

Linthicum, Richard, The Person of the Messiah and The Messiah and the Law (website).

Whereas his brother Robert has concentrated upon a theology of power, Richard Linthicum has specialized his biblical studies on the person and work of the Messiah as presented in the Hebrew Bible. His two Bible studies, as listed above, make up a definitive examination of the older testament's message of Messiah and the significant ways that message fits the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Both studies are available free, in PDF format, from messiahbible.net.

A thorough and academic examination of a biblical theology and practice of power, this book explores shalom as the organizing principle of both the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, and presents how God's people can change the world. Dr. Linthicum contends that God never intended the church to be an institution, but rather a people of relational power, seeking the transformation of the world into a shalom community of justice. Available from How To Order, from amazon.com.

Christians have often been wary of power, thinking of it as something inherently evil or oppressive. In this book meant for a popular (as opposed to academic) audience, Dr. Linthicum presents both a biblical understanding of power and practical strategies for using power in ways that are relational, healing and transforming for the city. Available from How To Order.

To say that this book is excellent is to trivialize it. A Community Organizer's Tale is engaging, exciting - but most of all, its use of the "tale"of the Mission Coalition Organization (MCO) as a vehicle for presenting and examining the primary principles and strategies of organizing is a touch of genius! Interweaving strategic community organizing content with a real story makes the content come alive and accessible to any ready concerned about committing one's self to work of justice. Available from organizetrainingcenter.org.