"Gabriel Thompson has produced a masterful and engaging book about a premier American organizer, Fred Ross Sr. . . . This fine book is many things – useful, moving, and sad. It highlights the creative innovations and the painful lessons of an organizer who spent his career behind the scenes, but who is getting, at long last, the attention he richly deserves."—Michael Gecan Labor's Edge
"An excellent biography . . . (4 out of 5 stars)"—Mal Warwick's Blog on Books
"America’s Social Arsonist is a compact synthetic history of the social justice movements in which [Fred] Ross played an important part. And Ross certainly deserves the credit Thompson gives him for pulling together key elements—especially putting house meetings at the center—during the early post-World War II fights to create an effective modern organizing playbook."—Fred Glass BOOM California
"...Ross is mostly forgotten today. This is why Gabriel Thompson's new book, which finally provides a rich and detailed history of Ross, is so important. [...] This book is a must read for anyone interested in the history of organizing in America."—Pacific Historical Review
"Gabriel Thompson’s useful, readable biography of this single-minded man reminds us of both the heroism and personal cost of the organizer."—Lawyers, Guns & Money
“Without Fred Ross, there would have been no Cesar Chavez. With careful research and deft prose, Gabriel Thompson has brought to life a seminal figure whose legacy continues to resonate in social movements across the country.
America’s Social Arsonist is the best kind of history—an engrossing, thought-provoking story with great relevance for anyone who cares about community organizing and social change.”—Miriam Pawel, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of
The Crusades of Cesar Chavez: A Biography “Fred Ross Sr. was one of America’s leading labor organizers and educators, dedicating his life to lifting the voices and earnings of the oppressed. Here’s a superb biography and introduction to Ross’s life, thoughts, teachings, and techniques—as applicable for America today as they were when he was alive and kicking.”—Robert B. Reich, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley, and former U.S. Secretary of Labor
“Fred Ross was a quiet leader who inspired greatness in those he met and worked with. He had real insight and knew how to move people to action. Cesar Chavez himself got his first organizing instructions from Fred Ross.”—Jerry Brown, thirty-ninth governor of California
“A compulsive read, full of keen social insights, sage historical judgments, and a telling narrative of a man who sacrificed family for the good fight. By rescuing Ross from obscurity, Thompson offers twenty-first-century social arsonists essential lessons that cannot be ignored even in an age of social media and capitalist hegemony.”—Nelson Lichtenstein, coeditor of
The Port Huron Statement: Sources and Legacies of the New Left’s Founding Manifesto “A superb, revelatory biography not only of the legendary Fred Ross but also of the rank-and-file activists in the barrios and fields whose heroic persistence made possible the rebellions of the 1960s.”—Mike Davis, author of
City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles “This compelling biography chronicles how previously powerless farmworkers were brilliantly organized by the charismatic Fred Ross. With painful honesty, it also documents Ross’s sacrifice, personal pain, and loss to himself and to his loved ones involved in this campaign across a lifetime of heroic effort.”—Kevin Starr, author of the Americans and the California Dream series