Andrew Boyd (author)

Andrew Boyd (born 1962 in New York City) is a United States author, humorist and veteran of creative campaigns for social change. He led the decade-long satirical media campaign Billionaires for Bush. He co-founded Agit-Pop Communications, an award-winning “subvertising” agency, as well as the netroots social justice movement The Other 98%. He's the author of four books: Beautiful Trouble, Daily Afflictions, Life’s Little Deconstruction Book and the Activist Cookbook, and the forthcoming I Want a Better Catastrophe: Hope, Hopelessness and Climate Reality. He lives in New York City.

Andrew Boyd
Andrew Boyd speaking publicly
Born1962 (age 58–59)
New York City, United States
NationalityUnited States
EducationUniversity of Michigan
OccupationWriter and troublemaker
Known forBooks, pranks
Notable work
Beautiful Trouble, Daily Afflicitons, I Want a Better Catastrophe

Biography

Andrew grew up in Manhattan while his father taught at New York University. He attended University of Michigan and became radicalized around the global peace movement at 19. During a year-off from University he travelled to California where he attended his first nonviolence training in preparation for a big civil disobedience protest at the Lawrence Livermore nuclear weapons facility. This event began a lifelong passion for peace and justice.[1]

A pioneer of viral activism, Andrew was one of the driving forces behind Billionaires for Bush and the Million Billionaire March including events that pranked donors at elite fundraising events.[2][3] He founded, and for several years directed, the arts and action program at United for a Fair Economy. He has taught "creative activism" at New York University. His writing has appeared in The Nation, The Village Voice and several anthologies on social movements.

His first book: The Activist Cookbook: Creative Actions for a Fair Economy (United for a Fair Economy, 1997), a hands-on manual that showcased some of the best media stunts, street theater skits and creative direct actions from the labor and social justice movements.

His second book: Life's Little Deconstruction Book: Self-Help for the Post-Hip (W. W. Norton & Company, 1998), A tiny manual that provides an introduction to theoretical posturing, a commentary on postmodernism, a subversive satire, and a tribute to the love-hate relationship many of us have with fashionable ideas — all in a very few words.

His third book: Daily Afflictions: The Agony of Being Connected to Everything in the Universe, published in 2002 by W. W. Norton & Company is a dark, twisted, existential manifesto posing as a book of daily inspiration.[4]

His fourth book: Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution (OR Books, 2012), is an invaluable activist resource. It assembles the best ideas of 10 groundbreaking organizations and over 70 troublemakers into a set of interlocking design principles.[5] The complete work is available online under creative commons license in several languages, in a constantly growing and searchable database of stories, tactics, principles, theories and methodologies. In 2018, Andrew was co-editor of the follow-up toolkit, Beautiful Rising: Creative Resistance from the Global South (OR Books, 2018).[6]

His most recent work I Want a Better Catastrophe is set to be published in late 2019 / early 2020.[7] An excerpt of this was published in Dark Mount Issue 11 entitled 12 Characters in Search of an Apocalypse.[8][9] The collection of 12 short essays was turned into a travelling performance / conversation about the Climate Emergency 12 Characters in Search of an Apocalypse: On the Road that started in the UK and has spread to numerous other countries.

Books

As Author
  • Daily Afflictions: The Agony of Being Connected to Everything in the Universe (2002, W. W. Norton & Company) ISBN 978-0-393-32281-1
  • Life's Little Deconstruction Book: Self-Help for the Post-Hip (1998, W. W. Norton & Company) ISBN 0393318702}
  • The Activist Cookbook: Creative Actions for a Fair Economy (1997, United for a Fair Economy) ISBN 0965924904

As Editor
  • Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution (2012, OR Books) ISBN 1935928570
  • Beautiful Rising: Creative Resistance from the Global South (2018, OR Books) ISBN 1944869816

Essays

References
  1. Kavita Kulkarni (August 2004). "Interview with Andrew Boyd, Schmoozer-in-Chief of the Billionaires for Bush".
  2. MICHAEL SLACKMAN; COLIN MOYNIHAN (19 February 2004). "THE 2004 CAMPAIGN: PROTESTS; Now in Previews, Political Theater in the Street". The New York Times.
  3. Raphie Frank; Mindy Bond (29 October 2004). "Andrew Boyd, Cultural Activist and Founder, Billionaires for Bush". Archived from the original on 5 October 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  4. "Daily Afflictions". W. W. Norton & Company. 2002.
  5. "Beautiful Trouble". OR Books. 2012.
  6. Ungerleider, Neal (16 April 2012). "Beautiful Trouble: What Activists Can Teach Us About Leadership (And Crowdfunding)". Fast Company.
  7. Boyd, Andrew. "I Want a Better Catastrophe".
  8. Dark Mountain Issue 11. Dark Mountain Project. 19 April 2017. p. 94. ISBN 9780995540217.
  9. "12 Characters in Search of an Apocalypse". Andrew Boyd's Personal Website. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
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