Annotated list of popular movement literature

This is an enumeration of approximately two hundred and fifty basic books on popular movements. The list is not complete at all. In the list there is little of the movements’ self-understanding and internal polemics; here we have collected only the best of the research on what the movements did.

Most of the books mentioned are published ca 1975-2010; the reason is that most of them are sources for my book Carriers of democracy, published in Swedish in 2010. After that I had simply had less time to look for new books. I will be happy for your suggestions.

Many of the books may be found at the illegal digital library z-lib, otherwise I suggest Abebooks or the nearest university library.
A list in Swedish, with books in Scandinavian languages included, can be read here.

Complaint over missing literature

Despite the bibliography on these pages, it is noticeable that popular movements are a subject that is far from thoroughly researched. Some important events seem totally undescribed. Some examples that, despite searching, we have not been able to find much sense about are:

- Early Christianity from a social historical point of view. So with a focus on who, how and why rather than on idea development.

- Early Chinese peace movements

- The Chinese Revolution of the 1360s with a focus on mobilization itself, not on military battles.

- Other popular movements outside Europe before the Europeans began to show a predatory interest – China before about 1800, India before about 1750, Africa and Southeast Asia before about 1850, the Islamic countries before about 1800…

- Indian bhakti movements, preferably with the most successful - the Sikhs - as an example, focussing on mobilization rather than thoughts

- Early resistance to the intrusion of the world market system outside of Europe, preferably compared to each other. So from South America during the 15th-17th centuries, India during the 18th and early 19th centuries, Africa during the 19th century, etc.

- The motley environment of popular movements between 1820 and 1848, when bourgeois and artisans had not yet been separated because both were outside power.

- The Danish agrarian & co-operative movement (some reasonably modern book), the most successful agrarian movement ever.

- Labor movement culture, preferably a comparison between e.g. Northern and Southern Europe, and also with non-European examples, over time.

- Women’s movements before 1914 in which the rank and file play a role; almost everything we’ve found so far has focused on the “big names”, the mouthpieces.

- The Indian anti-colonial movement from a different perspective than the orthodox Gandhian one. There are books about particulars like the peasant movement in the 40s or the Telengana Uprising but is there anything about the whole?

- Something about non-European peace movement. For example, about the movements that eventually put an end to the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

- Environmental movements, whatever. What exists is woefully myopic and petty. For example, someone should describe the triple mobilization - Indian dam resistance, Brazilian jungle defense and European highway resistance - that forced the global powers to convene the Rio 92 summit.

If you who are reading this know anything about this, we would be grateful if you would get in touch. Otherwise, it can be seen as a tip for doctoral students in search for subjects.