JAMES DeFILIPPIS is an associate professor in the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. He is the author of Unmaking Goliath, named Best Book in Urban Politics by the American Political Science Association.ROBERT FISHER is a professor at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work. He is the author of several books on community organizing.ERIC SHRAGGE teaches in the School of Community and Public Affairs, Concordia University, Montreal and is the author and editor of several works on community organizing and development.

"This book offers the most incisive, compelling treatment of community organizing that I have seen. As a study of the strategic challenges of community-based action, it is not only authoritative but also highly original in its combination of sure-handed historical grasp, careful intellectual critique, and practical engagement with important community efforts taking place on the ground." - William Sites (School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago) "This book could not be more timely. DeFilippis, Fisher, and Shragge give us a seriously analytical yet readable discussion of the possibilities and limits of locally based organizing. A major contribution to the ongoing debates about community and social movement organizing." - Frances Fox Piven (author of Challenging Authority: How Ordinary People Change America) "Contesting Community is a valuable asset for political radicals interested in examining the possibilities and pitfalls of local organizing. The authors manage an effective critique of actually existing community organizing, while also plotting out a path to build an alternative practice." (Counterpunch) "Contesting Community is an excellent historical analysis of the evolution of community practice. This book is valuable reading for scholars, graduate students and practitioners in sociology, social work, public administration, public health or political science."(Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare) "an engaging and provocative critique of the evolution of neoliberalism and its impact on communities and community organizing."(New Labor Forum) "Contesting Community is a refreshing and important book which looks at the current state of community organizing in America, Canada, and the United Kingdom from a critical perspective. It should be required reading for scholars and students interested in community work, community sociology and social change, and communitarianism as a theory." (Contemporary Sociology) "Contesting Community calls for a 'wider, larger-scale, and longer-term movement for social change'. Community organizing as a process of movement-building is a process of learning in struggle. This book is a contribution to that learning."(Shelterforce Magazine) "This is a timely and potentially significant book that goes a long way toward bringing up to date the literature on community organizing and community development."(Journal of Planning Education and Research) "This book offers the most incisive, compelling treatment of community organizing that I have seen. As a study of the strategic challenges of community-based action, it is not only authoritative but also highly original in its combination of sure-handed historical grasp, careful intellectual critique, and practical engagement with important community efforts taking place on the ground." - William Sites (School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago) "This book could not be more timely. DeFilippis, Fisher, and Shragge give us a seriously analytical yet readable discussion of the possibilities and limits of locally based organizing. A major contribution to the ongoing debates about community and social movement organizing." - Frances Fox Piven (author of Challenging Authority: How Ordinary People Change America) "Contesting Community is a valuable asset for political radicals interested in examining the possibilities and pitfalls of local organizing. The authors manage an effective critique of actually existing community organizing, while also plotting out a path to build an alternative practice." (Counterpunch) "Contesting Community is an excellent historical analysis of the evolution of community practice. This book is valuable reading for scholars, graduate students and practitioners in sociology, social work, public administration, public health or political science."(Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare) "an engaging and provocative critique of the evolution of neoliberalism and its impact on communities and community organizing."(New Labor Forum) "Contesting Community is a refreshing and important book which looks at the current state of community organizing in America, Canada, and the United Kingdom from a critical perspective. It should be required reading for scholars and students interested in community work, community sociology and social change, and communitarianism as a theory." (Contemporary Sociology) "Contesting Community calls for a 'wider, larger-scale, and longer-term movement for social change'. Community organizing as a process of movement-building is a process of learning in struggle. This book is a contribution to that learning."(Shelterforce Magazine) "This is a timely and potentially significant book that goes a long way toward bringing up to date the literature on community organizing and community development."(Journal of Planning Education and Research)

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Community and Its Discontents2. History Matters: Canons, Anti-canons, and Critical Lessons from the Past3. The Market, the State, and Community in the Contemporary Political Economy4. "It Takes a Village": Community as Contemporary Social Reform5. What's Left in the Community?6. Radicalizing CommunityBibliographyIndex