Rating: 
Summary: A handbook for positive change
Review: I'm disturbed that so many of the reviewers chose to trash this book. Did they even bother to read it?
50 Ways to Love Your Country is a handbook for making a positive contribution to your community and to the world around you. With step-by-step strategies and voices from real people, you read this book with hope and a yellow highlighter. I'm reading it again.
To be fair, there are a few biased comments, but everyone is entitled to their personal passions and ideologies. The book shows anyone (regardless of political affiliation) how to channel their frustrations and redirect them towards a positive dialogue. With this book and some elbow grease, you'll have the ingredients to a successful campaign and creating change that lasts a lifetime.
I'll be recommending this book to my creative marketing students too. Another winner is Joe Trippi's "The Revolution will not be Televised"; a powerhouse of energy and insight in social reform.
We can all make a difference. We all have the power to improve those things we care about.
Positively Passionate,
Brian Norris
http://www.BrianNorris.com
Rating: 
Summary: Inspirational, yes. Useful... maybe.
Review: Let's start with the bad, and get that out of the way.
In hindsight I had higher expectation of this book than were reasonable. As someone who works professionally in politics I thought that maybe these tales of grassroots activism would open my eyes to things I'd never thought of doing, or of getting people who work on campaigns with which I'm associated to do. They don't. If you've ever been associated with even a slightly savvy campaign there's nothing new here in terms of strategy or tactics.
And if you read the book going "Well duhhh...!" at the end of every chapter, you'll miss what makes this book a worthwhile read, even for the most cynical of seasoned activists.
So let's get to what's good. Great, even. I started reading "50 Ways..." when I was looking for a "silver bullet" - a new grassroots campaign method (or at least a variation on an old one) that I could apply to a moribund campaign on which I was working. I became frustrated, put the book down about half way through.
Coming back to it after that campaign was over, tired and more than a little demoralised, I noticed the book laying face-down and open on the coffee table one dull Saturday and picked it up. I read the second half. Then I re-read the first half. And by the time I'd finished I was burning to check my emails and see if any new campaigns were seeking help.
Few of the contributors to this book offer startling insight. But boy can they inspire and motivate. Many start with a brief description of their own, often bleak, situation at the time they started helping a particular campaign. Then they list what they did - mostly the "usual" politic stuff - and how it made a difference.
Yes, writing letters to the editor *can* make a difference. So can delivering flyers. So can web-based activism. So can all the things we do during campaigns because we feel we have to do them, often forgetting that we are helping to bring about change.
Read this book not at the beginning of a campaign but at the end - especially if you didn't do as well as you'd hoped. It will make you want to climb back in the saddle and go looking for the next windmill at which to have a good tilt. And in achieving that, it does more of a service to poltical activism that a dozen dry "how to" books.
Rating:
Summary: Audiobook: 50 Ways and 50 Voices!
Review: MoveOn managed to corral nearly all the contributors to "50 Ways..." to make an original recording of their essays for the audiobook. There's the familiar sound of Al Gore's voice right alongside the less familiar voice of MoveOn's Eli Pariser....backed by the grassroots chorus of the dozens of ordinary extraordinary US citizens who contributed. A great project and a great audiobook. The production quality is good, the introductions and segues are well done, and there is a complete index of speakers/tracks etc. You won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: It's Not Just the Internet Anymore
Review: MoveOn's 50 Ways to Love Your Country is based on the model that MoveOn.org uses: connect people with similar values and let them do the rest.The book isn't dogmatic, negative, or preachy. It's a collection of stories written by folks just like you. Some are big, some are small. But all of them invite you to take what you want from the experiences of progressives all over the nation. This collection is especially valuable to that population which shares progressive values but doesn't identify with the term "activist." The stories included demonstrate that even the most politically inactive can do their part to support issues that they care about. Critics of the left would do well to garner some advice from this book before condemning it. But then again, maybe they shouldn't. Way to go, MoveOn!
Rating: 
Summary: as American as it gets
Review: MoveOn.org has compiled an awesome book! This is such an enjoyable and easy read, and can basically be read in one sitting. The collection of submissions and categorization of such are well done. This is one of those kinds of books where I'll ensure easy access to, since I have no doubt that I will refer to it quite often. I also would encourage just about any individual, regardless of age, to read this book - you will be inspired to partake in the democratic processes of governing. Way to go MoveOn.org!! Please keep publishing these kinds of books, for they are in dire need of being made available to the public.
Rating:
Summary: Great ideas for individual action
Review: This is an inspiring book full of suggestions for big and little actions that individuals can take to get involved in the democratic process. The suggestions range from registering voters at your office to running for office yourself. The chapters are personal stories with a sidebar that features specific suggestions. It's interesting to see so many hate-comments posted by conservatives in other reviews merely because MoveOn.org published the book. In fact, citizens of any political persuasion could use the ideas in this book to help spread their ideas. I suspect that the reason conservatives are so afraid of grassroots citizen activism is because they fear that if the public generally knew the truth about what Republicans are up to these days the Republican Party would lose more support than it would gain.
Rating:
Summary: Right Wing Remember We Were NOT Divided on 9 11
Review: This Review is dedicated to the Right Wing, in respect for your individual freedom and preferences. It is VITAL that you remember that on 9-11 we were UNTIED as One Nation to protect our freedom, rights, liberty, and justice for ALL.
What MoveOn's 50 Ways to Love Your Country is all about is to empower ALL people with the many ways in which we can make changes, and become more involved in our democracy. It is high time that we become united again. This Right vs. Left is a nursery school game. "United We Stand, Divided We Fall" Remember this, and use this book to make the changes that YOU want to make. This book brings valuable and brilliant contributions for every American citizen to make a difference. It is time that we Unite for the common good of all, personally and collectively. If you want to create a change, this book will show you how. As a US citizen, I am asking you to look for ways to unite. As a reviewer, I am sharing that this book does not preach, or pit one side against another. It brings every American that wants to make a difference extensive tools and resources to do so. I hope that you will find it in your heart to remember 9-11, and how we all united. I hope that you will buy this book to make any changes that you would like to see made.
It is time we all make a difference, and MOVE ON from division to a United people.
This Book is an Outstanding Contribution to our Democracy. Highly Recommended!
Barbara Rose, author of 'Individual Power' and 'If God Was Like Man'
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