Radical

Nicholas von Hoffman
June 2010     ISBN: 1568584393

The tactics and strategy of Alinsky, who died in 1972, have been studied by people as diverse as Barack Obama, César Chavez, Hilary Clinton, Dick Armey, the Tea Partiers and activists and organizers of every persuasion. Thousands of organizations around the country owe their inspiration and origins to Alinsky, who is to community organizing what Freud is to psychoanalysis.

As told by his friend and protégé Nicholas von Hoffman, whom Alinsky dubbed "in all the world my favorite drinking, talking, and thinking companion," Radical is an intimate look at the man who made a career of arming the powerless and enraging the powerful. From Alinsky's smuggling guinea pigs into the Joilet state penitentiary to the famous Buffalo fart-in, von Hoffman's book reveals the humor as well as the ideals and anger that drove Alinsky to become a major figure in a democratic tradition dating back to Tom Paine.

Many of the stories about politicians, bishops, gangsters, millionaires and labor leaders, which Alinsky did not want made public in his lifetime, are told here for the first time in Radical. Von Hoffman captures Alinsky's brilliant critique of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s organizational tactics and where and why they succeeded or failed. Alinsky's career began in the politics and violence of the Great Depression and worked its way through the Communist threat, the racial struggles and the Vietnam War protests of the second half of the twentieth century.

The first book to explain why so many have co-opted Alinsky's ideas, and why so many contemporary politicians misunderstand his message, Radical will become essential reading for anyone interested in American politics, past and present.

"[Von Hoffman] cautions that some of the quoted material represents his best memory of 'things said a very long time ago.' The result is literature, a charmingly picaresque, if over-indulgent, tale of a man whose job description was first, last and always Disturber of the Peace. The book's chief delights are its sense of place—Chicago from the 1930s through the 1960s—and the cast of characters who share the stage with the main player as he struts and frets so colorfully."
—The Wall Street Journal

“In his artful portrait, Von Hoffman aims to reclaim the godfather of grassroots activism for the left.”—Mother Jones

“Von Hoffman’s intimate, illuminating homage celebrates an American original and meaningful activism.”—Booklist, starred

“Radical is a rare gem, the brilliantly-told tale of one of the enduring characters of modern American history:  Saul Alinsky, the savvy and cerebral Chicago ‘community organizer’ who continues to influence our epoch.  How remarkable that Alinsky came to profoundly touch the lives of three young citizens seeking their own identity in that city between the 1950s and the 1980s – Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Nicholas von Hoffman, who has crafted an important story that is part history, part memoir and altogether wonderful entertainment.”—Carl Bernstein

Nicholas von Hoffman wrote a syndicated column for the Washington Post for four years. He is the best-selling author of Citizen Cohn and a columnist for the New York Observer.