
Shut It Down
Stories from a Fierce, Loving Resistance
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $19.46
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Tia Rider
-
By:
-
Lisa Fithian
About this listen
A veteran activist's guide to direct action and strategic civil disobedience as the most radical and rapid means to social change.
For decades, Lisa Fithian’s work as an advocate for civil disobedience and nonviolent direct action has put her on the frontlines of change. Described by Mother Jones as “the nation’s best-known protest consultant”, Fithian has supported countless movements including the Battle of Seattle in 1999, rebuilding and defending communities following Hurricane Katrina, Occupy Wall Street, and the uprisings at Standing Rock and in Ferguson.
For anyone who wants to become more active in resistance or is just feeling overwhelmed or hopeless, Shut It Down offers strategies and actions you can take right now to promote justice and incite change in your own community. In Shut It Down Fithian shares historic, behind-the-scenes stories from some of the most important people-powered movements of the past several decades. She shows how movements that embrace direct action have always been, and continue to be, the most radical and rapid means for transforming the ills of our society. Shut It Down is filled with instructions and inspiration for how movements can evolve as the struggle for social justice continues in the Trump era and beyond.
While recognizing that electoral politics, legislation, and policy are all important pathways to change, Shut It Down argues that civil disobedience is not just one of the only actions that remains when all else fails, but a spiritual pursuit that protects our deepest selves, and allows us to reclaim our humanity. Change can come, but only if we’re open to creatively, lovingly, and strategically standing up, sometimes at great risk to ourselves, to protect what we love.
©2019 Lisa Fithian (P)2019 Chelsea Green PublishingListeners also enjoyed...
-
Steal This Book (50th Anniversary Edition)
- By: Abbie Hoffman, Lisa Fithian - foreword
- Narrated by: Stacy Carolan, Christine Marshall
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Throughout the 1960s and '70s, Abbie Hoffman crisscrossed the country, ferreting out alternative ways of getting by in America - some illegal and all radical. Causing scandals with its advice on how to Survive!, Fight!, and Liberate! in the “prison that is Amerika”, Steal This Book is a revolutionary's manual to running a guerilla movement, as well as getting free food, housing, transportation, medical care, and more.
-
-
A survival guide for your morality
- By Mason Greene on 12-17-21
By: Abbie Hoffman, and others
-
This Is an Uprising
- How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First Century
- By: Mark Engler, Paul Engler
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Strategic nonviolent action has reasserted itself as a potent force in shaping public debate and forcing political change. Whether it is an explosive surge of protest calling for racial justice in the United States or a demand for democratic reform in Hong Kong or Mexico, when mass movements erupt onto our television screens, the media portrays them as being as spontaneous and unpredictable.
-
-
Amazing. Essential. Aw inspiring.
- By Jacob K Alberga on 01-19-23
By: Mark Engler, and others
-
Let This Radicalize You
- Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care
- By: Kelly Hayes, Mariame Kaba
- Narrated by: Diana Blue
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What fuels and sustains activism and organizing when it feels like our worlds are collapsing? Let This Radicalize You is a practical and imaginative resource for activists and organizers building power in an era of destabilization and catastrophe. Longtime organizers and movement educators Mariame Kaba and Kelly Hayes examine some of the political lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic and consider what this confluence of power can teach us about a future that will require mass acts of care, rescue, and defense, in the face of both state violence and environmental disaster.
-
-
together, we fight back
- By Anonymous User on 05-10-24
By: Kelly Hayes, and others
-
Renegade
- Defending Democracy and Liberty in Our Divided Country
- By: Adam Kinzinger, Michael D'Antonio - contributor
- Narrated by: Adam Kinzinger
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump incited a violent mob to storm the US Capitol in attempts to overturn the presidential election. It was a betrayal of our Constitution, and one of the darkest days in recent history. Yet to former congressman Adam Kinzinger it was also the culmination of a cultural and political rupture he’d long seen coming. Constructive criticism from within the Republican Party was no longer enough. It was time to stand up, even if it meant betraying his own party.
-
-
Critical Work
- By Red P on 11-02-23
By: Adam Kinzinger, and others
-
Unmasked
- Inside Antifa's Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy
- By: Andy Ngo
- Narrated by: Cecil Harold
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Andy Ngo was attacked in the streets by antifa in the summer of 2019, most people assumed it was an isolated incident. But those who'd been following Ngo's reporting in outlets like the New York Post and Quillette knew that the attack was only the latest in a long line of crimes perpetrated by antifa.
-
-
Excellent
- By Colleen on 02-11-21
By: Andy Ngo
-
With All Due Respect
- Defending America with Grit and Grace
- By: Nikki R. Haley
- Narrated by: Nikki R. Haley
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nikki Haley is widely admired for her forthright manner (“with all due respect, I don’t get confused”), her sensitive approach to tragic events, and her confident representation of America’s interests as our ambassador to the United Nations during times of crisis and consequence. In this book, Haley offers a firsthand perspective on major national and international matters as well as a behind-the-scenes account of her tenure in the Trump administration.
-
-
'With all due respect, I don't get confused!'
- By Wayne on 11-13-19
By: Nikki R. Haley
-
Steal This Book (50th Anniversary Edition)
- By: Abbie Hoffman, Lisa Fithian - foreword
- Narrated by: Stacy Carolan, Christine Marshall
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Throughout the 1960s and '70s, Abbie Hoffman crisscrossed the country, ferreting out alternative ways of getting by in America - some illegal and all radical. Causing scandals with its advice on how to Survive!, Fight!, and Liberate! in the “prison that is Amerika”, Steal This Book is a revolutionary's manual to running a guerilla movement, as well as getting free food, housing, transportation, medical care, and more.
-
-
A survival guide for your morality
- By Mason Greene on 12-17-21
By: Abbie Hoffman, and others
-
This Is an Uprising
- How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First Century
- By: Mark Engler, Paul Engler
- Narrated by: Graham Halstead
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Strategic nonviolent action has reasserted itself as a potent force in shaping public debate and forcing political change. Whether it is an explosive surge of protest calling for racial justice in the United States or a demand for democratic reform in Hong Kong or Mexico, when mass movements erupt onto our television screens, the media portrays them as being as spontaneous and unpredictable.
-
-
Amazing. Essential. Aw inspiring.
- By Jacob K Alberga on 01-19-23
By: Mark Engler, and others
-
Let This Radicalize You
- Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care
- By: Kelly Hayes, Mariame Kaba
- Narrated by: Diana Blue
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What fuels and sustains activism and organizing when it feels like our worlds are collapsing? Let This Radicalize You is a practical and imaginative resource for activists and organizers building power in an era of destabilization and catastrophe. Longtime organizers and movement educators Mariame Kaba and Kelly Hayes examine some of the political lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic and consider what this confluence of power can teach us about a future that will require mass acts of care, rescue, and defense, in the face of both state violence and environmental disaster.
-
-
together, we fight back
- By Anonymous User on 05-10-24
By: Kelly Hayes, and others
-
Renegade
- Defending Democracy and Liberty in Our Divided Country
- By: Adam Kinzinger, Michael D'Antonio - contributor
- Narrated by: Adam Kinzinger
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump incited a violent mob to storm the US Capitol in attempts to overturn the presidential election. It was a betrayal of our Constitution, and one of the darkest days in recent history. Yet to former congressman Adam Kinzinger it was also the culmination of a cultural and political rupture he’d long seen coming. Constructive criticism from within the Republican Party was no longer enough. It was time to stand up, even if it meant betraying his own party.
-
-
Critical Work
- By Red P on 11-02-23
By: Adam Kinzinger, and others
-
Unmasked
- Inside Antifa's Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy
- By: Andy Ngo
- Narrated by: Cecil Harold
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Andy Ngo was attacked in the streets by antifa in the summer of 2019, most people assumed it was an isolated incident. But those who'd been following Ngo's reporting in outlets like the New York Post and Quillette knew that the attack was only the latest in a long line of crimes perpetrated by antifa.
-
-
Excellent
- By Colleen on 02-11-21
By: Andy Ngo
-
With All Due Respect
- Defending America with Grit and Grace
- By: Nikki R. Haley
- Narrated by: Nikki R. Haley
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nikki Haley is widely admired for her forthright manner (“with all due respect, I don’t get confused”), her sensitive approach to tragic events, and her confident representation of America’s interests as our ambassador to the United Nations during times of crisis and consequence. In this book, Haley offers a firsthand perspective on major national and international matters as well as a behind-the-scenes account of her tenure in the Trump administration.
-
-
'With all due respect, I don't get confused!'
- By Wayne on 11-13-19
By: Nikki R. Haley
-
The Purpose of Power
- How We Come Together When We Fall Apart
- By: Alicia Garza
- Narrated by: Alicia Garza
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2013, Alicia Garza wrote what she called “a love letter to Black people” on Facebook, in the aftermath of the acquittal of the man who murdered seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin. Garza wrote: Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter. With the speed and networking capacities of social media, #BlackLivesMatter became the hashtag heard ’round the world. But Garza knew even then that hashtags don’t start movements - people do.
-
-
Black Lives Matter is not about rioting: read this
- By Miracle on 10-21-20
By: Alicia Garza
-
If We Burn
- The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution
- By: Vincent Bevins
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From 2010 to 2020, more people participated in protests than at any other point in human history. Yet we are not living in more just and democratic societies as a result. IF WE BURN is a stirring work of history built around a single, vital question: How did so many mass protests lead to the opposite of what they asked for?
-
-
The final word on horizontalism on the left
- By Patrick Foote on 02-25-24
By: Vincent Bevins
-
Let the Trumpet Sound
- A Life of Martin Luther King Jr.
- By: Stephen B. Oates
- Narrated by: Cary Hite
- Length: 22 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the acclaimed biographer of Abraham Lincoln, Nat Turner, and John Brown, Stephen B. Oates' prizewinning Let the Trumpet Sound is the definitive one-volume life of Martin Luther King Jr. This brilliant examination of the great civil rights icon and the movement he led provides a lasting portrait of a man whose dream shaped American history.
-
-
Dated, but still worth reading.
- By Adam Shields on 11-03-21
By: Stephen B. Oates
-
After the Fall
- Being American in the World We've Made
- By: Ben Rhodes
- Narrated by: Ben Rhodes
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At a time when democracy in the United States is endangered as never before, Ben Rhodes spent years traveling the world to understand why. He visited dozens of countries, meeting with politicians and activists confronting the same nationalism and authoritarianism that are tearing America apart. Along the way, he discusses the growing authoritarianism of Vladimir Putin, and his aggression toward Ukraine, with the foremost opposition leader in Russia.
-
-
A must read, won’t regret it!!
- By Jerrold S. Gertzman on 06-03-21
By: Ben Rhodes
-
The Gumbo Coalition
- 10 Leadership Lessons That Help You Inspire, Unite, and Achieve
- By: Marc Morial, Sheryl Sandberg - foreword
- Narrated by: James Shippey
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To be a great leader, you must be able to unite people from all backgrounds with seemingly competing agendas to come together under a common cause. Marc Morial, former mayor of New Orleans and current president and CEO of the National Urban League, has been such a leader and shares the lessons he learned along a legendary journey of achievement.
-
-
Excellent book on leadership principles.
- By Craig W Douglass on 07-07-20
By: Marc Morial, and others
-
Waging a Good War
- A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968
- By: Thomas E. Ricks
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thomas E. Ricks offers an utterly new perspective on America’s greatest moral revolution—the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s—and its legacy today. While the Movement has become synonymous with Martin Luther King Jr.’s ethos of nonviolence, Ricks draws on his deep knowledge of tactics and strategy to advance a surprising but revelatory idea: the greatest victories for Black Americans of the past century were won not by idealism alone, but through recruiting, training, discipline, and organization—the hallmarks of any successful military campaign.
-
-
I was born and raised in Alabama. Jim Crow Era.
- By Moses Pitts on 10-06-22
By: Thomas E. Ricks
-
Viral Justice
- How We Grow the World We Want
- By: Ruha Benjamin
- Narrated by: Ruha Benjamin
- Length: 13 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Long before the pandemic, Ruha Benjamin was doing groundbreaking research on race, technology, and justice, focusing on big, structural changes. But the twin plagues of COVID-19 and anti-Black police violence inspired her to rethink the importance of small, individual actions. Part memoir, part manifesto, Viral Justice is a sweeping and deeply personal exploration of how we can transform society through the choices we make every day.
-
-
Fantastic book!
- By Avie Kearney on 05-21-23
By: Ruha Benjamin
-
Make Change
- How to Fight Injustice, Dismantle Systemic Oppression, and Own Our Future
- By: Shaun King
- Narrated by: Shaun King, Bernie Sanders
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a leader of the Black Lives Matter movement, Shaun King has become one of the most recognizable and powerful voices on the front lines of civil rights in our time. In Make Change, King offers an inspiring look at the moments that have shaped his life and considers the ways social movements can grow and evolve in this hyper-connected era. He shares stories from his efforts leading the Raise the Age campaign and his work fighting police brutality, while providing a road map for how to stay sane, safe, and motivated even in the worst of political climates.
-
-
Injustice is whatever you feel it should be
- By Nathan on 08-05-20
By: Shaun King
-
The Persuaders
- At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy
- By: Anand Giridharadas
- Narrated by: Anand Giridharadas
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The lifeblood of any free society is persuasion: changing other people’s minds in order to change things. But America is suffering a crisis of faith in persuasion that is putting its democracy and the planet itself at risk. Anand Giridharadas takes us inside these movements and battles, seeking out the dissenters who continue to champion persuasion in an age of polarization. As the book’s subjects grapple with how to call out injustices while calling in those who don’t agree with them but just might one day, they point a way to healing, and changing, a fracturing country.
-
-
Everyone should read this book
- By bluephoenix515 on 11-24-22
-
The Best of Enemies
- Race and Redemption in the New South
- By: Osha Gray Davidson
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
C. P. Ellis grew up in the poor white section of Durham, North Carolina, and as a young man joined the Ku Klux Klan. Ann Atwater, a single mother from the poor black part of town, quit her job as a household domestic to join the civil rights fight. During the 1960s, Atwater and Ellis met on opposite sides of the public school integration issue. Their encounters were charged with hatred and suspicion. In an amazing set of transformations, however, each of them came to see how the other had been exploited by the South's rigid power structure.
-
-
WOW!! NO other words are needed!!!!!!!!
- By M on 04-17-19
-
Fight Like a Mother
- How a Grassroots Movement Took on the Gun Lobby and Why Women Will Change the World
- By: Shannon Watts
- Narrated by: Shannon Watts
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fight Like a Mother is the incredible account how one mother’s cry for change became the driving force behind gun-safety progress. Along with stories of perseverance, courage, and compassion, Watts shines a light on the unique power of women - starting with what they have, leading with their maternal strengths, and doubling down instead of backing down.
-
-
Wow!
- By Joy McManus on 06-24-19
By: Shannon Watts
-
State of Emergency
- How We Win in the Country We Built
- By: Tamika D. Mallory
- Narrated by: Tamika D. Mallory
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From Minneapolis to Louisville, to Portland, Kenosha, and Washington, DC, America’s reckoning with its unmet promises on race and class is at a boiling point not seen since the 1960s. While conversations around pathways to progress take place on social media and cable TV, history tells us that meaningful change only comes with radical legislation and boots-on-the-ground activism. Here, Mallory shares her unique personal experience building coalitions, speaking truth to power, and winning over hearts and minds in the struggle for shared prosperity and safety.
-
-
A Must read for everyone!
- By Linda S on 05-15-21
What listeners say about Shut It Down
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Julia Kayser
- 10-16-19
Excellent primer on nonviolent direct action
This is a great listen that teaches the basics of nonviolent direct action through storytelling.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ted King
- 05-22-24
Take Action…
…against this book. Truly disappointed. Such a jaded and warped perspective from someone who believes they are a warrior for justice.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!