Independent writer and researcher Al Sandine is the author of Plundertown, USA: Coos Bay Enters the Global Economy, which was published in 2003 by Hancock House and remains available at http://www.hancockhouse.com and other sites. Ariel Dorfman said of Plundertown, USA, that “By taking this heart-rending journey into his own luminous past and the more remote and somber past of the lumber town where he grew up, Al Sandine has masterfully laid bare some of the most crucial issues facing America and the world today. An important, accessible, daring book....” More recently, Al has written The Taming of the American Crowd: Stamp Riots to Shopping Sprees, published in November 2009 by Monthly Review Press. CHOICE’s Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, April 2010 (Vol. 47 No. 08) described Taming as “impassioned, with apt examples,” and predicted that it would become a standard reference that is “highly recommended” for all levels of libraries.  CHOICE then selected The Taming of the American Crowd as an outstanding academic title for 2010. 

Here is an overview of The Taming of the American Crowd.  Before the advent of peaceful demonstrations and disciplined picket lines, people massed in unruly crowds to obtain satisfaction of unmet basic needs, to defend themselves against the depredations of the powerful few, and to engage in uproarious celebrations. The typical American crowds of today bear little resemblance to those of the past--or the present of less affluent parts of the world. Most contemporary Americans experience crowds only as customers. Private entertainment has replaced collective celebration, and mass protest has become the specialty of “activists.” Yet we are all just a disaster away from becoming involuntary members of crowds of a more traditional kind. As momentous as this broad development is, it has not been the subject of previous books. If every age produces its own characteristic crowds, what is it about present-day America that has made the scary stereotype of the volatile crowd as anachronistic as the Hollywood crowd scene?

· The organization and technology of crowd control has been advancing for 150 years and more. But today’s American crowds are generally self-controlled: crowd control is reserved for celebrating non-consumers and massed political dissidents.

· American crowds have committed horrible crimes, best explained by situational factors which, for now, are no longer present.

· Traditional crowd spaces such as the downtown have given way to private zones of consumption and entertainment. Covert competition--for goods, for seats, etc.--is the norm within these spaces. Thus,

· The customer or traveler regards the crowd as an obstacle, not a vehicle for advancement of common objectives. A crowd today is usually someone’s market.

· The bland consumer spaces developed after World War II have inspired efforts to create residential and consumer spaces with a touch of the abandoned downtown and to transform those few centers that were never abandoned into downtowns for shoppers. The downtown crowd is being gentrified.

· From San Francisco in 1906 to New Orleans in 2005, an official attitude of crowd phobia has produced a militarized response to the kind of disaster that forces large numbers of people into the streets. But some disasters have given us models for collective action.

The goal of The Taming of the American Crowd is to call attention to a major development in American social history and its political implications.  Barbara Ehrenreich called this book “a unique blend of popular culture and working class history--written with great flair.  Sandine is one of the few scholars reckless and ambitious enough to take on a wide-ranging subject without sacrificing analytical rigor.  If you’ve ever participated in a demonstration, gone crazy in the bleachers, or danced all night, you’ll love this book."

Al is available to discuss the themes of his crowd study, at least in the San Francisco Bay Area where he resides with his longtime partner, Mary Bradford, a clinical psychologist. He can be contacted at alsandine@aol.com. See additional endorsements at the publisher's website: http://www.monthlyreview.org/books/tamingthecrowd.php.  Al’s article on the Tea-Bag Patriot demonstrations of 2009, published by MRzine, can be read by clicking here.  Al’s latest publication, an essay entitled “Cultural Impersonations and Appropriations: A Fashion Report,” can be read here.  Copies of The Taming of the American Crowd may be purchased at the publisher’s website (see above link).