Taking on the System: Rules for Change in a Digital Era and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more



or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Start reading Taking on the System: Rules for Change in a Digital Era on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Color:
Image not available

To view this video download Flash Player

 

Taking On the System: Rules for Radical Change in a Digital Era [Hardcover]

Markos Moulitsas Zuniga
3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)

List Price: $23.95
Price: $4.45 & FREE Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $19.50 (81%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Only 18 left in stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Want it tomorrow, May 21? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition --  
Hardcover $4.45  
Paperback, Bargain Price $4.63  
Image
Save on Popular Books This Summer
Browse our Bookshelf Favorites store for big savings on popular fiction, nonfiction, children's books, and more.

Book Description

August 20, 2008
As founder of one of the most influential political blogs, DailyKos, Markos Moulitsas Zuniga establishes the fundamental laws that govern today's new era of digital activism.

The Sixties are over and the rules of power have been transformed. In order to change the world one needs to know how to manipulate the media, not just march in the streets. Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, otherwise known as "Kos," is today's symbol of digital activism, giving a voice to everyday people. In Taking on the System, Kos has taken a cue from his revolutionary predecessor's doctrine, Saul Alinksy's Alinsky's Rules for Radicals, and places this epic hand-book in today's digital era, empowering every American to make a difference in the 21st century.

As founder of the largest political blog in the nation, Kos knows how it's done, because he's done it with tremendous success. In Taking on the System, he shares practical guidelines on how grassroots movements can thrive in the age of global information, while referencing historical and present examples of the tragedy caused without those actions.

The walls between the people and the power the so-called rabble and the so-called elite are being torn down by technology, and a new army of amateurs are storming the barriers to effect political, cultural, and environmental transformation. Readers will come to understand how they too can change the world.

Frequently Bought Together

Taking On the System: Rules for Radical Change in a Digital Era + Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics
Price for both: $29.45

Buy the selected items together


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In this primer for activists in the digital age, Zúniga, founder of the influential lefty blog DailyKos, argues that if activists harness new technology such as blogs, podcasting and YouTube, they can bypass the old-world gatekeepers to communicate to the masses in order to bring about political change. Tidily organized into pithy directives, including mobilizing, reinventing the street protest and feeding the backlash, this informative and entertaining book—inspired by Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals—moves easily among the current campaign cycle, pop culture phenomena such as Stephen Colbert and the successes and failures of the progressive movement in America. Zúniga's pragmatic, inclusive tone takes the edge off his sometimes didactic insistence that there's no reason anyone should whine or complain that they are being shut out of the system. It should be noted, however, that the book is targeted directly to other liberals and wastes no time with conciliatory measures toward the right. Anyone in his camp, however, will be rewarded by the read. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Zúniga, popular political blogger (dailykos.com) and reluctant leader of the netroots—those technocratic raiders now seen as a catalyzing political-action force fomenting populist action—gives us a set of tools and strategies for finding and exposing cracks within the social political-media system. With deft narrative ability, he insightfully dissects the hows and whys of many blog-driven political upsets over the past three years, from the unfortunate circuslike atmosphere unfolding around Cindy Sheehan outside of President Bush's ranch in Texas to the senatorial upset of George Allen in Virginia. Zúniga unfolds the nature and extent of netroots persistence, which is indicative of a seemingly new digital citizenship in which those with access to blogs as platforms can potentially expose and open gates to the democratic process. Zúniga's latest is focused more on practical tools and techniques of political action than his earlier Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics (with Jerome Armstrong). This book will be in demand in libraries serving communities with a blogosphere readership.—Jim Hahn, Univ. of Illinois Lib., Urbana
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 275 pages
  • Publisher: Celebra; 1st edition (August 20, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0451225198
  • ISBN-13: 978-0451225191
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,197,676 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
55 of 69 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Grassroots Must-Read August 20, 2008
Format:Hardcover
For those of us who sometimes take the internet and blogging for granted, "Taking on the System" is a comprehensive reminder of just how influential ordinary people can become as they open a forum for political debate and spur a grassroots movement for participatory democracy. The Dailykos founder outlines the history of blog sites, their successes and failures, and provides advice and tools to help common citizens exert influence and promote societal change. The book is a clearly written, entertaining glimpse into a new and powerful medium, and one every person intending to vote should read.

Sarah McKerrigan, author
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
45 of 60 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book regarding real improvements to the system August 21, 2008
Format:Hardcover
Like most people, I don't want to be bothered by politics, but this election is a really big deal. It's time to lift the darkness, and this book has practical ideas for grass roots change that's good for all. It helps also to have a few cautionary tales, and to appreciate the heroic role of Stephen Colbert.

Craig
Was this review helpful to you?
27 of 37 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, but overlong September 16, 2008
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
... VERY overlong. Basically, this is a 5-10 page essay which has been ballooned to fill a book. The message is that using technology and a strong grassroots effort, we the people can take back the media from entrenched interests and affect change. The delivery is 288 pages of related anecdotes and self-congratulatory rhetoric.

My problem is when Zuniga used stories from the music business (I'm in the music business). He cites the last Radiohead album as having been free for download, and the average user paying from $5 - 7 for it as an example of the democratization of media, freed from oppressive corporatism... well, in fact the vast majority of people downloaded it for free, paying nothing. It's an important distinction, and if that's an example of 'power to the people', it bears noting that the people wanted something for nothing. What other stories might be likewise skewed? It made me wonder.

Still, it's a breezy, entertaining read, and there certainly is truth that we the people can bring about reform if (and when) we set our collective minds to it. I'm just not sure it takes so many pages to make that point, or that it can't be better made with better documented, more effective examples. Good blogs do not necessarily make good books, it seems.
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Markos expose's the hollow empty sophistry of conservative propaganda...
what is freedom? it's one thing to protect the rights of the minority in a republic
but that minority is usually something like the wiccans or the atheist. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Paul M. Tidwell
4.0 out of 5 stars Useful
I'm not the biggest Kos fan, but he has been very successful in creating and directing a Center-Left group of writers and activists. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Morgaine Swann, H.Ps.
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, Informative, Self Congratulatory
I decided to read up on some of the methods the left uses to gain position and favor in the country. Read more
Published 6 months ago by G. E. Kugler
3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty relevant after the egypt revolt
This book came back to mind after the revolt in Egypt. I read it about a year ago, at the time my attitude was basicly "so? Read more
Published 24 months ago by M. Pizzullo
3.0 out of 5 stars Kos is boring
I'm a conservative who reads all sorts of books from all sorts of views. I wanted to know how and why Kos did what he did with his blog. Read more
Published on September 23, 2010 by Marie Anne A.
2.0 out of 5 stars Too long and just not enough meat
I really wanted to like this book and was hoping to gain some insights into how to create and develop my own blog from the guy that actually did it. Read more
Published on November 12, 2009 by D. Moore
5.0 out of 5 stars Markos is an excellent Author and champion of ideals.
Markos Mulitsaz from the site [...] is an extraordinary writer and a bold Progressive. Through this book I've been personally inspired to register for fall classes in college,... Read more
Published on October 16, 2009 by Aaron M. Norcia
4.0 out of 5 stars A New Set of Gatekeepers
This is a somewhat entertaining and very illuminating book about social change. Its central thesis is that the old gatekeepers who controlled access to the media have lost their... Read more
Published on February 19, 2009 by Lynn Hoffman, author:The Short Course in Beer
4.0 out of 5 stars Timely re-examination of strategy
Aside from a little repetition, 'Taking on the System - Rules for Radical Change in a Digital Era' is a very good read and a timely re-examination of strategy for progressives... Read more
Published on December 28, 2008 by Leveller on the Liffey
5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Manual from the People Who Know
What can we do to exert change in our political and work environments outside of voting and complaining? The answer can be found in Taking On the System. Read more
Published on November 21, 2008 by Eric Gross
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews


Forums

There are no discussions about this product yet.
Be the first to discuss this product with the community.
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 



So You'd Like to...



Look for Similar Items by Category