Customer Reviews

Why David Sometimes Wins: Leadership, Organization, and Strategy in the California Farm Worker Movement

5 star:		(5)
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Unfortunately, Ganz's book reads all too much like the Ph.D. dissertation from which it sprung. Lots of footnotes to theoretical works and a continuous effort to place the events of the early UFW days into analytical constructs. What is missing is the sort of inside tales of the early days of the farmworker movement that Ganz could share with readers. Unfortunately, there is precious little revealed regarding the strategic decisions of the UFW and the day-to-day challenges faced by the organizers. Heck, Ganz ran a number of the organizing sites himself but tells us next to nothing about the obstacles he and the other organizers faced. The first few chapters, summarizing California farm labor organizing efforts prior to the UFW are largely an effort by Ganz to place these efforts in his analytical framework - there is little original research and one feels that the historical presentation may have been molded to fit Ganz's theory. Frankly, there are plenty of books on organizing techniques and theories and Ganz offers nothing really new in this regard. Sadly, his book omits what could have been his unique contribution to the literature: an intimate portrait of the internal decision-making and strategic planning by Chavez and the other organizers during the UFW's heyday.

Marshal Ganz provided guidance to the Obama campaign and it would be worth reading just for that background. For me personally, having heard the author lecture, it is great to understand his ideas in more detail

Secondly, it takes some of Marshall's basic leadership teachings and expands on them using the Farm Worker struggle in CA as examples. In his lectures we could see how that was important in generating his thoughts on leadership and it is more clearly articulated in the book, There is a very good discussion on strategy that, as a leader of a nonprofit with limited resources, I have found particularly helpful for where we are today.

It's also a powerful introduction to the whole idea of community organizing, which for those of us who come to this idea late in life, is very informative.

And finally, and maybe of more interest to someone who lives in CA, it is a fascinating look at the whole ag business in our state, how it developed and a history of employer-labor relations over the last 100+ years. I have a better understanding of where I live thru the book besides (hopefully) improving my ability to get thru the economic challenges we're all facing.

Ganz's "Five Smooth Stones" is an insightful book. It is a must read for anyone interested in grassroots organizing, labor unions, or organizational decision-making. Ganz' book offers a worthwhile roadmap for leaders struggling to achieve social change. The examples he uses provide a detailed and revealing review of the challenges of the times. Given the issues confronting today's workers, this book offers valuable lessons for our future.

I haven't finished reading this book but what I have read so far is great. I am using it for a written report on social movement theory. It is a very in depth view of the farm workers movement of the early 1960s.

This book was required reading for a work conference of Community organizers. We were fortunate enought to have Marshall Ganz speak at our event. This is an important part of this country's history, but as we learned from Mr Ganz this issue is nowhere near being solved, by the book did ofer hope and showed the value of the "little" people working together to improve their quality of life

Dr. Ganz's book brings to the readers an insightful, sensitive and knowledgeable
analysis of one of the most important social/ labor movements in the US. I recommend. This book to anyone who wishes to understand o
our history or wishes to affect social change for the better in the world around them.

A very engaging and informative documenting of one of the most important unionizing and civil rights movements of our time. Ganz's personal history and involvement make this an extraordinary scholarly analysis of effective organizing. A must read for all grass roots organizers and activist. This book puts many human faces on organizing and civil rights.

I expected more insight and more of a personal account from Ganz about his relationship with Cesar Chavez and others in the movement. From someone who has basically cashed in on his proximity to Chavez to further his own career, I would expect more about what made Chavez unique, but instead the book focuses on Ganz's idea of "strategic capacity." I kept reading the book with hopes of being convinced by this idea of "strategic capacity," but it hever happened. I didn't learn anything I didn't already know from this book about organizing, strategy or even feel I had any deeper insight into Chavez's contribution to the Farm Workers Movement. There should have been a better explanation at the end of how Chavez or his movement failed to keep up the struggle for Farm Worker's Rights, or how this "strategic capacity" scheme Ganz seems to believe explains it all, failed. Could it be that everything is named after Cesar Chavez in latino communities today because there was no other public hero to represent the Chicano movement in the 60's? It doesn't sound like Chavez deserves all the honors he has been given when Ganz concludes his experience with the movement. Did anyone else ever try to continue to improve the rights of Chicanos in the fields or did America give them just one chance with Chavez? After I finished the book, I thought, how interesting, but this book has no soul, something is missing in this book. Perhaps it is watching the author objectify many years of his experience and try to give a "neutral" perspective to a story that he draws so much of his own professional identity from that makes it seem so forced. You cannot tell me Ganz dedicated a large portion of his life to this movement and had no attachment to any of the people involved. He yawns his way through the retelling without motivating the reader to even want to read the next chapter or fight for social justice. Notice how none of the key players who are still alive have anything to say about this book. How hard would it have been for Ganz to get a blurb for his book cover from at least one person he claims to have been so close to? The pictures in the book all include Ganz to prove he was actually there. Is this book really just about Ganz in the end? This story has the potential to be included in one of the major texts of Ethnic Studies, Chicano Studies, Civil Rights, but ultimately it will win no awards and end up in the Clearance bin.