This books brings to light the incredible individuals who have used nonviolent activism to change the world, and explores questions such as what is nonviolent resistance and how does it work? In an age when armies are stronger than ever before, when guns seem to be everywhere, how can people confront their adversaries without resorting to violence themselves? Through key international movements -- from the freedom of India from British rule, to American labor unions and civil rights, to actions taken by high school and college students around the world -- this book discusses the components of nonviolent resistance. It answers the question "Why nonviolence?" by showing how nonviolent movements have succeeded again and again in a variety of ways, in all sorts of places, and always in the face of overwhelming odds.

Includes endnotes.

Gandhi and Indian independence --Alice Paul and votes for women -- Martin Luther King Jr. and Project C -- Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Movement -- Vaclav Havel and the Velvet Revolution -- Greta Thunberg and the climate change movement.