{"product_id":"the-rainbow-challenge","title":"The Rainbow Challenge","description":"First  published in 1986, Sheila Collins’s eyewitness account of Jesse Jackson’s  Rainbow Coalition remains a crucial document on the future of multiracial  politics and ultimately of democracy in the United States. Collins, a field  organizer and national officer during the Jackson campaign, examined the  movement in detail, drawing on her own experiences and observations, as well  as interviews with people around the country who have worked in the Rainbow  Coalition. She pays particular attention to the class and ideological  struggles within it—struggles not only between party Democrats and grassroots  activists, but between alternative visions of black nationalism and  multiracial politics. In a new preface, Collins reflects on the lessons and  inspiration of her experience forty years later and on the continued  challenge to keep Jackson’s vision alive.   “A comprehensive study of Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign. This  concise and well-written work is a fine example of politically engaged  scholarship. A blueprint for future democratic struggles.”—Manning Marable  (1950–2011), author, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention        “Offers important insights into the need for effective coalition building  to transform the substance of American politics—politics that will deal with  the issues rather than personalities; politics that will broaden the  participatory process rather than restrict it.” —Congressman Ronald Dellums  (1935–2018)        “An insider’s view of the project, practice, and problems of the Rainbow  Coalition, in sharp contrast to the fashionable ivory-tower treatments of the  Jackson campaign far removed from the heat of battle.”—Cornel West","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57507702145397,"sku":"9781685901691","price":20.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/the-rainbow-challenge","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}