This nationally-acclaimed book shows how popular movements used nonviolent action to overthrow dictators, obstruct military invaders and secure human rights in country after country, over the past century. Peter Ackerman and Jack DuVall depict how nonviolent sanctions--such as protests, strikes and boycotts--separate brutal regimes from their means of control. They tell inside stories--how Danes outmaneuvered the Nazis, Solidarity defeated Polish communism, and mass action removed a Chilean dictator--and also how nonviolent power is changing the world today, from Burma to Serbia.

In this tour de force, Peter Ackerman, an authority on nonviolent strategy, and Jack DuVall, a veteran writer, show how popular movements used nonviolent action to overthrow dictators, obstruct military invaders and secure human rights in country after country, over the past century. A gripping cavalcade of far-flung locations and history-changing crises, the book depicts how nonviolent sanctions – such as protests, strikes and boycotts – separate brutal regimes from their means of control. It tells inside stories – how Danes outmanoeuvered the Nazis, Solidarity defeated Polish communism, and mass action removed a Chilean dictator – and also how nonviolent power is changing the world today, from Burma to Serbia. Studded with colorful characters – such as Leo Tolstoy and Mohandas Gandhi, Lech Walesa and the mothers of the disappeared in Argentina – the book is a companion to a new feature-length documentary now at film festivals worldwide.