Resisting Reagan

A comprehensive analysis of the U.S. Central America peace movement,Resisting Reaganexplains why more than one hundred thousand U.S. citizens marched in the streets, illegally housed refugees, traveled to Central American war zones, committed civil disobedience, and hounded their political representatives to contest the Reagan administration's policy of sponsoring wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador. Focusing on the movement's three most important national campaigns--Witness for Peace, Sanctuary, and the Pledge of Resistance--this book demonstrates the centrality of morality as a political motivator, highlights the importance of political opportunities in movement outcomes, and examines the social structuring of insurgent consciousness. Based on extensive surveys, interviews, and research,Resisting Reaganmakes significant contributions to our understanding of the formation of individual activist identities, of national movement dynamics, and of religious resources for political activism.

Christian Smith is assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.