Marching on Washington The Forging of an American Political Tradition, With a New Preface by the Author

Reviews

“Barber should be commended for the elegance and provocative nature of the volume, which adds tremendous depth to our understanding of public opinion communication in the U.S.”—Susan Herbst American Historical Review

“Barber reconstructs [the tradition of marching on Washington] through a series of engaging, well-researched and well-crafted chapters. . . . A careful storyteller, Barber impressively combines a keen eye for fascinating narrative detail with informed historical analysis in her mini-case studies to how that the path toward acceptance of this kind of protest was not easy. She shows that protest was not simply about exercising a constitutional right or the forceful presentation of demands. It also evolved as a kind of theater whose performance -- that is, dramatic timeing, message and script, and acting -- greatly influenced its reception by the public and the powers that be.”—Chicago Tribune Book Review

“This is a beautifully written book and a pleasure to read.”—Elizabeth (Betsy) Reid Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Qtly

"Beautifully written. Lucy G. Barber has taken different stories and woven them together so that each builds into a larger narrative about the history of political protest. By looking across a series of marches, Barber explores issues that escape more focused studies, such as the development of marching on Washington as a political strategy, and the changing conception of Washington as a public space. The scope of the research and the author's craft in telling these stories sheds new light on important moments in American history."—Mary L. Dudziak, author of Cold War Civil Rights