Common Ground

“With a capacious heart, an unerring moral compass, and consummate evidence-based research, Eileen Flanagan shows that, together, we have the power to rescue the planet from a path of greed and self-destruction, and, in the process, come to know ourselves and each other. Flanagan has given us both a history of and a blueprint for our mutual liberation.”

– Sarah Willie-LeBreton, President of Smith College

“Eileen Flanagan puts into words what history reveals as a powerful truth. When people of faith and spirit get up and get organized, and go into the streets and halls of power calling for change, transformation becomes possible. There's no message more vital right now.”

– Rev. Fletcher Harper, Executive Director of GreenFaith

“If you like heartening books by positive, engaged people who act out of deep conviction, Eileen Flanagan’s book is for you. You’ll be encouraged by comrades whose work she describes—diverse movers and shakers elsewhere in the US and as far away as India.”

– George Lakey, author of How We Win: A Guide to Nonviolent Direct Action Campaigning

“In Common Ground, Eileen Flanagan guides us toward the longview, helping to illuminate our deep interconnectedness and the very real capacity that we have to harness people-power. She does so by reminding us that separation is an illusion and that we have the collective ability to actively co-create the future we most want to inhabit”

– Sherri Mitchell (Weh'na Ha'mu Kwasset), Executive Director of the Land Peace Foundation

“Eileen Flanagan has both the breadth of campaigning experience and the depth of heart required to be a reliable colleague, guide, and teacher—this is the right book for a moment when our government is trying to divide us, and when we must respond with real and meaningful unity.”

– Bill McKibben, author of Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization

“We are living through a time of gut-wrenching losses, when illusions are cracking open. As Eileen Flanagan journeys across continents, she offers us stories we need: tales of connection, where the fiercest resistance is stitched with spiritual insight and grounded in the steady craft of nonviolent strategy. Common Ground is a timely and compelling read—one that meets the moment with heart and vision.”

– Daniel Hunter, Director of Choose Democracy

“Flanagan, a Quaker and environmental activist, weighs in on the underlying causes of the climate crisis and offers nonviolent strategies to combat it in her strong debut guide. She argues that only by addressing social and economic divides can activists effectively unite against the fossil-fuel industry and disarm the “pillars of power” that support it, including proindustry politicians, judges, and banks. Flanagan reports on some successful direct actions, including those undertaken by Margie Richard, a woman from the oil refining corridor in Louisiana dubbed “Cancer Alley.” Richard began organizing picket lines and community meetings in the 1980s and eventually persuaded Shell to meet the community’s demand that they buy out homeowners in her town close to the refinery in 2002. Flanagan admits that small-group sing-outs or camp-ins are not enough to disarm industry Goliaths and that victories are often modest in comparison to corporations’ power. To that end, she calls for an activism built on love and touts the importance of “many, many groups pushing on the pillars that support the status quo, while inviting those with more power into our vision of a just and sustainable alternative.” Well researched and impassioned, this successfully mixes big ideas with frank advice.”

– Publishers Weekly