What do you think?
Rate this book
Reclaiming Our Democracy: Every Citizen's Guide to Transformational Advocacy, 2024 Edition
Almost everyone shies away from advocacy as a way to make a difference. We donate to climate change organizations, but we don’t meet with a member of Congress or write a letter to the editor. We donate to groups working to end gun violence, anti-hunger organizations, groups dedicated to racial justice, and many others, but we don’t become advocates on those issues beyond signing an online petition or going to an occasional rally.
Why? Because most of us see advocacy as too hard or too frustrating, too complicated, or too partisan, too dirty or too time-consuming, too ineffective or too costly.
But what if that’s all wrong? What if deep engagement dissolves discouragement and can actually bring joy? What if you can become an advocate for a cause you care about and feel fulfilled, not frustrated? And what if engaging as an advocate is essential to protecting our democracy?
President Jimmy Carter called the first edition of Reclaiming Our Democracy “A road map for global involvement in planning a better future.” In this completely revised and updated 2024 edition, Sam Daley-Harris uses his decades of experience leading and coaching citizens’ advocacy groups to expand that road map and create an indispensable guide to engaged citizenship, an inspiring master class in transformational advocacy.
Reclaiming Our Democracy provides a powerful way to make a difference and heal our democracy in the process. It’s not the only solution needed, but is one essential, missing citizens awakening to their power .
“Overall, [the author’s] analysis of effective action is as persuasive as it is accessible, and his call to democratic participation is inspiring. A handbook for aspiring activists that readers will find to be both inspiring and practical.”— Kirkus Reviews
“[A] rousing guide to advocacy, movement-building, and enacting change in cynical times.”— Publisher’s Weekly BookLife (Editor’s Pick)
“By documenting not just the promise of action, but its results, Daley-Harris cultivates a "can do" attitude that peppers the ideals with real-world examples of advocacy in action. . . . The book is highly recommended for any reader interested in advocacy specifics and democracy in action.”— Midwest Book Review
"The book makes a strong case for the kind of advocacy that could help good ideas rise on their merits, rather than sinking in a political morass. Certainly, Daley-Harris has the kind of track record that gives his ideas credibility.”—Jay Evensen, Deseret News
“Reclaiming Our Democracy is a powerful, encouraging book. Sam Daley-Harris has done something important and he talks helpfully and concretely, but with challenge; with kindness but not compromisingly—about what it takes to reclaim our seriously wobbly democracy and the best parts of ourselves. I salute him!”—Peter C. Goldmark, Jr., Former CEO, Rockefeller Foundation and International Herald Tribune
"American democracy is at a dangerous crossroads. People are worried and asking what they can do. Reclaiming Our Democracy answers that question powerfully, showing what’s possible and how we can join in."—Thom Hartmann, Author and Host of the Thom Hartmann Program
“We can all be builders of a better world; Reclaiming Our Democracy is p
Why? Because most of us see advocacy as too hard or too frustrating, too complicated, or too partisan, too dirty or too time-consuming, too ineffective or too costly.
But what if that’s all wrong? What if deep engagement dissolves discouragement and can actually bring joy? What if you can become an advocate for a cause you care about and feel fulfilled, not frustrated? And what if engaging as an advocate is essential to protecting our democracy?
President Jimmy Carter called the first edition of Reclaiming Our Democracy “A road map for global involvement in planning a better future.” In this completely revised and updated 2024 edition, Sam Daley-Harris uses his decades of experience leading and coaching citizens’ advocacy groups to expand that road map and create an indispensable guide to engaged citizenship, an inspiring master class in transformational advocacy.
Reclaiming Our Democracy provides a powerful way to make a difference and heal our democracy in the process. It’s not the only solution needed, but is one essential, missing citizens awakening to their power .
“Overall, [the author’s] analysis of effective action is as persuasive as it is accessible, and his call to democratic participation is inspiring. A handbook for aspiring activists that readers will find to be both inspiring and practical.”— Kirkus Reviews
“[A] rousing guide to advocacy, movement-building, and enacting change in cynical times.”— Publisher’s Weekly BookLife (Editor’s Pick)
“By documenting not just the promise of action, but its results, Daley-Harris cultivates a "can do" attitude that peppers the ideals with real-world examples of advocacy in action. . . . The book is highly recommended for any reader interested in advocacy specifics and democracy in action.”— Midwest Book Review
"The book makes a strong case for the kind of advocacy that could help good ideas rise on their merits, rather than sinking in a political morass. Certainly, Daley-Harris has the kind of track record that gives his ideas credibility.”—Jay Evensen, Deseret News
“Reclaiming Our Democracy is a powerful, encouraging book. Sam Daley-Harris has done something important and he talks helpfully and concretely, but with challenge; with kindness but not compromisingly—about what it takes to reclaim our seriously wobbly democracy and the best parts of ourselves. I salute him!”—Peter C. Goldmark, Jr., Former CEO, Rockefeller Foundation and International Herald Tribune
"American democracy is at a dangerous crossroads. People are worried and asking what they can do. Reclaiming Our Democracy answers that question powerfully, showing what’s possible and how we can join in."—Thom Hartmann, Author and Host of the Thom Hartmann Program
“We can all be builders of a better world; Reclaiming Our Democracy is p
- GenresNonfictionPolitics
321 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 9, 2024
17 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
Read
February 16, 2024Not Rated
I'm truly of two minds about this book. Part of me was inspired by the big changes brought about by a small group of passionate people and will be putting many of the tips for transformational advocacy to use. The other part of me was bored to distraction by the tedious repetition - "I made a bunch of phone calls, got on a plane, was so nervous about meeting w/ ______, slept in the airport/on a friend's sofa" - which went on for years. Literally and figuratively.
I'm truly of two minds about this book. Part of me was inspired by the big changes brought about by a small group of passionate people and will be putting many of the tips for transformational advocacy to use. The other part of me was bored to distraction by the tedious repetition - "I made a bunch of phone calls, got on a plane, was so nervous about meeting w/ ______, slept in the airport/on a friend's sofa" - which went on for years. Literally and figuratively.
April 9, 2024
The author has been an activist leader for many decades and has started several national groups and consulted to many others. Most of the book is stories from member activists, focusing on how to win a campaign—and how empowering it is to participate meaningfully. The final 80 or so pages are Daley-Harris’s practical advice on the nitty-gritty of carrying out these campaigns.
Daley-Harris is a great advocate for “transformational advocacy”: empowering volunteers to go deeper into the process, get out of their comfort zone, make an actual difference, and feel really great about themselves and the difference they’ve chosen to make. In other words, these are ordinary people who’ve come into their power through active participation.
Much of the book comes out of Daley-Harris’s first group, RESULTS, formed in 1980; the first edition of this book was published in 1994, when those efforts were recent/ongoing and the activists’ memories were fresh. His activists from around the country and around the world share their own empowering journeys of learning not just to contact elected officials and media editorialists but to do so in ways that create victories—not just from those already predisposed to support an effort, but also from those who started on the other side. The relationships may take a long time to build, but when activists are both well-prepared and respectful, progress can be made.
Daley-Harris has little use for “checkbook activism” organizations (my term, not his) that don’t want to train and supervise an active core of dedicated volunteers but simply want to raise money and collect petitions or form e-mail submissions:
"When someone deeply cares about an issue and they are offered the opportunity to add their
name to an online petition, they feel that they’ve done what they can and move on…But they
have been robbed of an opportunity to make a difference, and the issue has been robbed of a
voice." (p. 277)
He wants activists to actually be active—to take action and get out in the trenches: write letters, meet with influencers and lawmakers, train others, etc. And he’s worked really hard to create infrastructure that trains and supports these activists, including ongoing conference calls, democratized trainings that allow people to quickly get up to speed on an issue and learn how to effectively speak publicly about it, and more.
Even Daley-Harris didn’t start as an activist. He was a symphony percussionist! But he attended a meeting organized by The Hunger Project and saw that he could make a difference—and oh, what a difference he made! He organized chapters, formed coalitions, recruited celebrity spokespeople, and learned how the system worked and how to work within that system to make real change. And these actions, done properly, can dramatically shift national policies over time. The book chronicles several major victories, among them:
- Making Oral Rehydration Therapy—a simple mix of common ingredients that costs pennies per dose and has saved tens of thousands of lives in developing countries—an integral part of US foreign aid policy as part of a new emphasis on child survival (pp. 86-105)
- Saving the International Fund for Agricultural Development (pp. 106-121)
- Passing the Universal Child Immunization Act and tripling the original budget for life-saving immunizations from $25 mm to $75 mm (pp. 122-142)
- Revolutionizing foreign aid to incorporate microlending and address the very bottom of the economic pyramid through the Self-Sufficiency for the Poor Act (pp. 143-166)
- Co-organizing and publicizing—and pressuring world leaders to participate meaningfully in—annual World Summits for Children (pp. 188-210)
- Rescuing funding cut by President Clinton for global child survival programs (pp. 211-218)
Daley-Harris loves to share the methodology and works hard to train activists from other organizations. Several groups have adopted the RESULTS tool kit, most notably Citizens’ Climate Lobby. And groups in countries with parliamentary governments such as the UK, Canada, and Australia have adapted these methods (pp. 219-230).
The book makes frequent reference to 18 activist commitments, but oddly enough, there’s no list of all 18 together and they are not spelled out in a group until pages 256-271, which lists them all but interrupts the list with commentary. You won’t have to work so hard to find them because I’ve gathered them for you:
1. Provide a Powerful Structure of Support
2. Know Your Why and Share It
3. Overcome the Fear of Making Big Asks of Volunteers
4. Create a Focused, Inspiring Agenda
5. Embrace an Expansive View of Who People Are
6. Cultivate Inspiration and Idealism
7. Enroll Others
8. Select the Right Staff
9. Increase Your Skills Through Practice and Learning
10. Embody Integrity
11. Overcome Fear and Catalyze Breakthroughs
12. Nurture Authentic Relationships
13. Be Vulnerable
14. Practice Partnership, Not Partisanship
15. Move People Up the Champion Scale (from opponent to neutral to supporter to advocate to leader to champion, p. 269)
16. Be Unreasonable
17. Make Time for Humor, Joy, and Celebration
18. Engage a Great Coach
Daley-Harris is a great advocate for “transformational advocacy”: empowering volunteers to go deeper into the process, get out of their comfort zone, make an actual difference, and feel really great about themselves and the difference they’ve chosen to make. In other words, these are ordinary people who’ve come into their power through active participation.
Much of the book comes out of Daley-Harris’s first group, RESULTS, formed in 1980; the first edition of this book was published in 1994, when those efforts were recent/ongoing and the activists’ memories were fresh. His activists from around the country and around the world share their own empowering journeys of learning not just to contact elected officials and media editorialists but to do so in ways that create victories—not just from those already predisposed to support an effort, but also from those who started on the other side. The relationships may take a long time to build, but when activists are both well-prepared and respectful, progress can be made.
Daley-Harris has little use for “checkbook activism” organizations (my term, not his) that don’t want to train and supervise an active core of dedicated volunteers but simply want to raise money and collect petitions or form e-mail submissions:
"When someone deeply cares about an issue and they are offered the opportunity to add their
name to an online petition, they feel that they’ve done what they can and move on…But they
have been robbed of an opportunity to make a difference, and the issue has been robbed of a
voice." (p. 277)
He wants activists to actually be active—to take action and get out in the trenches: write letters, meet with influencers and lawmakers, train others, etc. And he’s worked really hard to create infrastructure that trains and supports these activists, including ongoing conference calls, democratized trainings that allow people to quickly get up to speed on an issue and learn how to effectively speak publicly about it, and more.
Even Daley-Harris didn’t start as an activist. He was a symphony percussionist! But he attended a meeting organized by The Hunger Project and saw that he could make a difference—and oh, what a difference he made! He organized chapters, formed coalitions, recruited celebrity spokespeople, and learned how the system worked and how to work within that system to make real change. And these actions, done properly, can dramatically shift national policies over time. The book chronicles several major victories, among them:
- Making Oral Rehydration Therapy—a simple mix of common ingredients that costs pennies per dose and has saved tens of thousands of lives in developing countries—an integral part of US foreign aid policy as part of a new emphasis on child survival (pp. 86-105)
- Saving the International Fund for Agricultural Development (pp. 106-121)
- Passing the Universal Child Immunization Act and tripling the original budget for life-saving immunizations from $25 mm to $75 mm (pp. 122-142)
- Revolutionizing foreign aid to incorporate microlending and address the very bottom of the economic pyramid through the Self-Sufficiency for the Poor Act (pp. 143-166)
- Co-organizing and publicizing—and pressuring world leaders to participate meaningfully in—annual World Summits for Children (pp. 188-210)
- Rescuing funding cut by President Clinton for global child survival programs (pp. 211-218)
Daley-Harris loves to share the methodology and works hard to train activists from other organizations. Several groups have adopted the RESULTS tool kit, most notably Citizens’ Climate Lobby. And groups in countries with parliamentary governments such as the UK, Canada, and Australia have adapted these methods (pp. 219-230).
The book makes frequent reference to 18 activist commitments, but oddly enough, there’s no list of all 18 together and they are not spelled out in a group until pages 256-271, which lists them all but interrupts the list with commentary. You won’t have to work so hard to find them because I’ve gathered them for you:
1. Provide a Powerful Structure of Support
2. Know Your Why and Share It
3. Overcome the Fear of Making Big Asks of Volunteers
4. Create a Focused, Inspiring Agenda
5. Embrace an Expansive View of Who People Are
6. Cultivate Inspiration and Idealism
7. Enroll Others
8. Select the Right Staff
9. Increase Your Skills Through Practice and Learning
10. Embody Integrity
11. Overcome Fear and Catalyze Breakthroughs
12. Nurture Authentic Relationships
13. Be Vulnerable
14. Practice Partnership, Not Partisanship
15. Move People Up the Champion Scale (from opponent to neutral to supporter to advocate to leader to champion, p. 269)
16. Be Unreasonable
17. Make Time for Humor, Joy, and Celebration
18. Engage a Great Coach
May 16, 2025
Ya know those online recipes where you have to wade through someone’s entire family history plus the science of brewing olive oil or some such thing before you finally get to the actual recipe? That’s what this book is like. It’s made up of four sections, the first three containing seventeen chapters. The actual advice on how to “reclaim our democracy” through “transformational advocacy” doesn’t show up until Part Four—chapter eighteen. What comes in Parts 1-3 is a LOT of narrative about the various advocacy groups founded or guided by the book’s author Sam Daley-Harris.
I get the principle, which is that to inspire people to be successful advocates, they need to hear other people’s stories, including their “story of self”—what inspired them to become activists in the first place—and accounts of how they were “scared shitless” when they first attempted activism outside their comfort zones, because potential activists need to understand that everyone lacks confidence at first. All very well, but nearly 250 pages? And I swear, although I started skimming and skipping after the first few chapters, I’m pretty sure I read Harris’s “story of self” at least three times. Yes, repetition is another of the principles he recommends as a training strategy. All the same, if readers never make it to the main course recipe, all the narrative appetizers in the world aren’t going to help people reclaim democracy. I read the book for a book club, made up of people interested in “reclaiming our democracy.” There are eight of us, and I was the only one who made it as far as chapter 18. Daley-Harris may be an effective activist—he certainly claims to be, at length—but his approach to writing a book for other activists could use some work.
Once you get to those final three chapters, there’s some genuinely useful material—though in THAT part of the book I’d have appreciated a bit more detail, especially about how to recruit more people to help. I like what Daley-Harris says about dealing with elected officials, how to talk with those who oppose your positions (ask questions), and his point that it’s not a good strategy to assume that just because your elected official is one of the “good ones,” that they can’t be made an even better ally; there are good strategies in there for how to kick them up to better and better advocates. I confess to not having thought of that at all. There is also good advice about training people in one’s organization. In the organization I lead, I’m going to try to do more training and may use or adapt some of the strategies. The concept of "transformational advocacy" is pretty cool: the idea is that it's not just about transforming the world but about transforming volunteers to more confident, skilled, effective people, which is a genuinely admirable goal.
In short, once I got past the very, very great number of wasted pages, I found some good things in the book, and I’d recommend them to anyone who is involved with activism of any sort. I also recommend skipping nearly everything before Part 4 of the book.
I get the principle, which is that to inspire people to be successful advocates, they need to hear other people’s stories, including their “story of self”—what inspired them to become activists in the first place—and accounts of how they were “scared shitless” when they first attempted activism outside their comfort zones, because potential activists need to understand that everyone lacks confidence at first. All very well, but nearly 250 pages? And I swear, although I started skimming and skipping after the first few chapters, I’m pretty sure I read Harris’s “story of self” at least three times. Yes, repetition is another of the principles he recommends as a training strategy. All the same, if readers never make it to the main course recipe, all the narrative appetizers in the world aren’t going to help people reclaim democracy. I read the book for a book club, made up of people interested in “reclaiming our democracy.” There are eight of us, and I was the only one who made it as far as chapter 18. Daley-Harris may be an effective activist—he certainly claims to be, at length—but his approach to writing a book for other activists could use some work.
Once you get to those final three chapters, there’s some genuinely useful material—though in THAT part of the book I’d have appreciated a bit more detail, especially about how to recruit more people to help. I like what Daley-Harris says about dealing with elected officials, how to talk with those who oppose your positions (ask questions), and his point that it’s not a good strategy to assume that just because your elected official is one of the “good ones,” that they can’t be made an even better ally; there are good strategies in there for how to kick them up to better and better advocates. I confess to not having thought of that at all. There is also good advice about training people in one’s organization. In the organization I lead, I’m going to try to do more training and may use or adapt some of the strategies. The concept of "transformational advocacy" is pretty cool: the idea is that it's not just about transforming the world but about transforming volunteers to more confident, skilled, effective people, which is a genuinely admirable goal.
In short, once I got past the very, very great number of wasted pages, I found some good things in the book, and I’d recommend them to anyone who is involved with activism of any sort. I also recommend skipping nearly everything before Part 4 of the book.
June 14, 2024
I listened to the unabridged 11-hour audio version of this title (read by author, Rivertowns Books, revised & updated edition, 2024).
This is a detailed account of citizen activism by Sam Daley-Harris, who founded RESULTS (originally an acronym for Responsibility for Ending Starvation Using Legislation, Trimtabbing, and Support) in 1980 to facilitate citizen advocacy by training the participants in methods of influencing politicians and journalists, editorial writers, in particular. Trimtabbing is a reference to trim tabs, the small surfaces that allow boat or aircraft pilots to control larger control surfaces like rudders or elevators and which were popularized as a metaphor for individual empowerment by Buckminster Fuller in a 1972 interview.
This 20th-anniversary edition has a new chapter on Citizens Climate Lobby, a powerful new advocacy group following the RESULTS model, and another new chapter on Center for Citizen Empowerment and Transformation, which is focused on spreading the original concepts developed by RESULTS to help reduce malnutrition and preventable disease with what Daley-Harris calls "transformational advocacy" based on three pillars: An organizational structure supporting volunteers with a clarity of purpose and high expectations; A disciplined outreach plan that produces letters to elected officials & editorials to newspapers, while also cultivating close personal relationships with politicians & journalists; The empowering value of idealism.
The account is a bit too drawn out and, at times, repetitive, but the message is something that every American should hear. The ideas described are universal and useful to world citizens, but much of the specific suggestions and action strategies may not apply outside the US.
A conversation with Sam Daley-Harris in this 26-minute video provides a good overview of the book's key ideas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulpL5...
This is a detailed account of citizen activism by Sam Daley-Harris, who founded RESULTS (originally an acronym for Responsibility for Ending Starvation Using Legislation, Trimtabbing, and Support) in 1980 to facilitate citizen advocacy by training the participants in methods of influencing politicians and journalists, editorial writers, in particular. Trimtabbing is a reference to trim tabs, the small surfaces that allow boat or aircraft pilots to control larger control surfaces like rudders or elevators and which were popularized as a metaphor for individual empowerment by Buckminster Fuller in a 1972 interview.
This 20th-anniversary edition has a new chapter on Citizens Climate Lobby, a powerful new advocacy group following the RESULTS model, and another new chapter on Center for Citizen Empowerment and Transformation, which is focused on spreading the original concepts developed by RESULTS to help reduce malnutrition and preventable disease with what Daley-Harris calls "transformational advocacy" based on three pillars: An organizational structure supporting volunteers with a clarity of purpose and high expectations; A disciplined outreach plan that produces letters to elected officials & editorials to newspapers, while also cultivating close personal relationships with politicians & journalists; The empowering value of idealism.
The account is a bit too drawn out and, at times, repetitive, but the message is something that every American should hear. The ideas described are universal and useful to world citizens, but much of the specific suggestions and action strategies may not apply outside the US.
A conversation with Sam Daley-Harris in this 26-minute video provides a good overview of the book's key ideas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulpL5...
August 19, 2025
I found this book to be a surprisingly valuable resource for how my actions as a political advocate can become more impactful - even as it feels like the world around us is crashing and burning. Daley-Harris is a thorough narrator of the strategies and tasks required to achieve his process of ‘transformational advocacy.’ From individual to large scale action, he takes the reader through the steps he has taken in his organization Results, and how they have been replicated by other advocacy groups like the Citizen’s Climate Lobby. Although the majority of the stories he references are somewhat dated, in the 2024 edition he takes the time to make relevant remarks regarding how technology, media and politics have evolved, which goes a long way to keep the book useful and compelling to a modern audience dealing with the modern political landscape.
Although I didn’t necessarily think every element was personally applicable, and it could get pretty dry at times, the element of this book I appreciated the most was the consistent emphasis on authenticity, kindness, patience and especially the courage required to be an effective advocate for any cause. If we give up on the possibility of making change, then it will certainly never happen.
Although I didn’t necessarily think every element was personally applicable, and it could get pretty dry at times, the element of this book I appreciated the most was the consistent emphasis on authenticity, kindness, patience and especially the courage required to be an effective advocate for any cause. If we give up on the possibility of making change, then it will certainly never happen.
July 14, 2025
Anyone who cares about our democracy and wants to make a difference for the better in this world, please read this book! It is full of hope and success, and logical paths leading to success where before one might have felt powerless and stymied by not knowing how to begin. Sam Daley-Harris lights a path and encourages that their are others on those paths who are eager to support others, whether hesitant or eager, to join in the journey of the vital call to save what must be saved by learning to do what must be done.
July 21, 2025
Sad that this is so needed right now, but that's reality. The author provides many actionable steps for pushing back against democracy. This was recommended by MWEG.
December 3, 2025
Incredibly helpful and energizing guide with step-by-step instructions and so many fantastic examples of how to become an advocate and actually do something to change the world for the better. I started it thinking I just wanted to learn and finished believing I could actually make a difference. Transformation, indeed.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews