"A battle-hardened pastor calls for a faith-based, grass-roots movement for social justice...It's the religious component that makes his story particularly interesting. Fully aware of the suspicion Bible-speak arouses in modern progressive circles, the author still insists on viewing the justice struggle through a moral prism, one always backstopped by 'a Higher Power.'...A heartfelt dose of old-time religion mixed with modern-day activism."
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Kirkus Reviews "William Barber is the closest person we have to Martin Luther King, Jr. in our midst. His life and witness is shot through with spiritual maturity, subversive memory, and personal integrity. This book lays bare his prophetic vision, historical analysis, and courageous praxis."
--Cornel West, author of
Black Prophetic Fire "Reverend William Barber and his allies are at the forefront of a new movement for justice our nation's children and families desperately need. This book presents a blueprint for moving forward together."
--Marian Wright Edelman, Founder of the Children's Defense Fund and author of
The Measure of Our Success "
The Third Reconstruction could not have come at a more critical time. It is breathtakingly insightful and unapologetically honest. Rev. William Barber offers an irresistible invitation to explore history as a gateway to not just our future, but our present."
--Jennifer R. Farmer, Advancement Project
"History doesn't just happen. History is made. Right now in North Carolina there is a movement that's making history, and it is spreading across the land. This book is the memoir of that movement. On these pages, revival and revolution are friends, Jesus and justice kiss, evangelism and liberation are inseparable partners. Far more than a book, this is a daring call to get into the streets and be a part of the history-making, as we interrupt the patterns of injustice and build a better world."
--Shane Claiborne, activist and author of
The Irresistible Revolution "A remarkable story about a great justice movement, led by an American prophet. Everyone interested in justice should read this book."
--James H. Cone, Charles Augustus Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology, Union Theological Seminary
"William J. Barber II is both a pastor and a prophet.
The Third Reconstruction is a powerful account of a new movement in North Carolina that is teaching us four things: that ideological extremism which targets the most vulnerable is best countered by a moral movement and not a partisan one, that single issue agendas must flow into integrated visions for social justice and the common good, that multiracial movements are needed to build both racial and economic justice, and that the willingness to sacrifice outside of politics is the best way to change the inside of politics. Rev. Barber also shows us how "faith acts" can transform political actions. Barber's unquenchable fire for justice shines through every page of this remarkable book. I strongly recommend
The Third Reconstruction, which shows how a moral, multiracial, and sacrificial movement can change the future of our democracy."
--Jim Wallis, author of
The UnCommon Good, president of Sojourners, and editor-in-chief of
Sojourners magazine
"Powerful and compelling, this personal and political history of North Carolina's 21st century freedom movement will pull readers to their feet and send them to the streets. It's an awe-inspiring chronicle that calls us to be the country we dream of becoming."
--Dr. William H. Chafe, former president of the Organization of American Historians, and former Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Duke University
"The Reverend William Barber knows what ails us and--what is rare in this day and age--he knows what to do about it. When ordinary people see past their differences and come together, there is nothing on earth that can stop them, not even the power of organized money."
--Thomas Frank, author of
Pity the Billionaire and
What's the Matter With Kansas?
"In the summer of 2013, Moral Mondays gained national attention as tens of thousands of citizens protested the extreme makeover of North Carolina's state government and over a thousand people were arrested in the largest mass civil disobedience movement since the lunch counter sit-ins of 1960. Every Monday for 13 weeks, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber led a revival meeting on the state house lawn that brought together educators and the unemployed, civil rights and labor activists, young and old, documented and undocumented, gay and straight, black, white and brown. News reporters asked what had happened in state politics to elicit such a spontaneous outcry. But most coverage missed the seven years of coalition building and organizing work that led up to MoralMondays and held forth a vision for America that would sustain the movement far beyond a mass mobilization in one state. A New Reconstruction is Rev. Barber's memoir of the Forward Together Moral Movement, which began seven years before Moral Mondays andextends far beyond the mass mobilizations of 2013. Drawing on decades of experience in the Southern freedom struggle, Rev. Barber explains how Moral Mondays were not simply a reaction to corporately sponsored extremism that aims to re-make America through state legislatures. Moral Mondays were, instead, a tactical escalation in the Forward Together Moral Movement to draw attention to the anti-democratic forces bent on serving special interests to the detriment of the common good"--