This is the best book about campaigns I've ever read, and goes way beyond 'standard practice' in both the political and public relations world. Written from an environmentalist point of view, but applicable for any campaigner from trying to get the roads gritted locally to trying to get the government changed, this book reveals the secrets which enabled Greenpeace to run rings around the BBC and other international news outlets during the 1990s. If you take these lessons to heart and actually apply them -- which takes considerably more effort than just sending out a press release and photocopying a newsletter -- then they will lift you into the top 5% of campaigners for any cause.
I title this review 'dangerously excellent', because the one thing this book won't teach you is a sense of proportion or responsibility. Like
Influence: How to Make The System Work for You - a handbook for the modern Machiavelli, which is another book I wouldn't recommend to everyone, Chris Rose is putting power in your hands, but not morality. Some of the techniques he suggests are ethically questionable. You may be of the belief, which many of the Greenpeace protesters clearly were, that your cause is so important that the end fully justifies the means (although Rose is not recommending anything illegal, I should add), and there's probably a good case to be made for this when rescuing the planet from destruction. Whether getting an extra delivery of road grit or getting a councillor elected is in the same category is something which you will have to decide for yourself.
Who is this book for, and who will enjoy it?
On one level, this is a manual of campaigns for people who intend to put the tactics into practice. These are real techniques, with a proven track record. On another level, if you were amazed by the coverage that one small ship was able to generate against the Brent Spar oil-rig being sunk, and want to know how it was done, this book will amaze and surprise you. Environmentalists, it turned out, did not 'get lucky' when it came to garnering international news coverage. Even the shape of the scenes they set up to be filmed and photographed was planned with a military precision. Nothing was left to chance.
Read it -- but remember, as far as campaigns is concerned, this is Pandora's Book.