[Paul Loeb headshot]

Paul Loeb

"Paul Loeb brings hope for a better world in a time when we so urgently need it."
--Millard Fuller, founder, Habitat for Humanity

"The voices Loeb finds demonstrate that courage can be another name for love."
-- Alice Walker

"You are part of what's good about this world and I admire your work very much."

-- Bill Moyers

 

 

“When my daughter asked from college how to be an effective grassroots citizen, I gave her Paul's books.”
--Josette Sheeran, former Executive Director, United Nations World Food Program

"I stayed up half the night reading Soul of a Citizen, finding it a beautiful and morally transcendent work that speaks in gentle words directly to the heart. The new edition is magnificent."

-- Jonathan Kozol

"Paul Loeb has been doing wonderfully patient work, exploring the American conscience from the inside. I regard Loeb as something of a national treasure."
-- Susan Sontag

[Soul of a Citizen cover]

Soul of a Citizen

[The Impossible Will Take a Little While cover]

The Impossible Will Take a Little While

 

 

"A lot of smart people who have some influence on the course of history will read and admire you--and learn from you."

-- Kurt Vonnegut

Paul Rogat Loeb is the author of Soul Of a Citizen: Living With Conviction In Challenging Times. With over 175,000 copies in print through updated editions, Soul has become a classic handbook for budding social activists, veteran organizers, and anyone who wants to make a difference—large or small. An antidote to powerlessness and despair, it has inspired thousands of citizens to make their voices heard and actions count—and then stay involved for the long haul. Soul explores what leads some people to get involved in larger community issues while others feel overwhelmed or uncertain; what it takes to maintain commitment for the long haul; and how community involvement and citizen activism can give back a powerful sense of connection and purpose. It speaks particularly to how to keep engaged despite dashed hopes and disillusionment. Click here for Soul's description, sample sections, and wonderful reviews, as well as information on classroom use.

Loeb's global anthology of political hope, The Impossible Will Take a Little While: Perseverance and Hope in Troubled Times, has its own wholly updated edition released  with over 125,000 copies in print, The Impossible creates a conversation among some of the most visionary and eloquent voices of our time. Their essays, poems, and stories, along with Loeb's extended introductions, teach us how to keep on working for a more humane world, replenish the wellsprings of our commitment, and continue no matter how hard it sometimes seems. Loeb has included pieces that explore the historical, political, ecological and spiritual frameworks that help us to persist— with concrete examples of how people have faced despair and overcome it. They examine what it was like to confront South African apartheid, the Egyptian and Eastern European dictatorships, Mississippi's entrenched segregation, the corporations driving global climate change, or the Robber Barons of 100 years ago. The stories don't sugarcoat the obstacles. But they inspire hope by showing what keeps us keeping on--even when the odds seem overwhelming.  The Impossible was an independent bookstores bestseller and, like Soul, won the Nautilus Award for the best social change book of its year. Click here for a description, excerpts, rave reviews, and information on The Impossible's wonderful classroom responses .

In 2008 Paul founded the Campus Election Engagement Project, (CEEP), a national nonpartisan project that helped America's colleges and universities motivate their 20 million students to register, volunteer in campaigns, educate themselves, and turn out at the polls. CEEP focused on how administrators, faculty, staff, and student leaders can help engage students. Paul ran the project through 2020, at which point it worked with over 600 campuses enrolling 6.4 million students. In 2022 Paul then founded the national nonpartisan guides.vote project. The project takes the nonpartisan guides that CEEP first launched in 2012 (and which quickly became the favorite resource of the schools) and continues to distribute them on campuses. But they also distribute them through a broad array of non-campus partners, including Ben & Jerrys, Black Voters Matter, the Civics Center, MTV, the NAACP, Nonprofit Vote, Salesforce, Teen Vogue, the US Vote Foundation, Youth Service America, Vote.org and Vote Early Day. The goal of guides.vote is to provide clear, insightful, and well-sourced nonpartisan information on candidate positions to engage potential voters, especially young voters, so they can know what’s at stake in each election. They're on track to distribute 5 million guides in 2024.

Paul has also lectured at over 500 colleges and universities and numerous conferences. He's written articles for publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, AARP Bulletin, Los Angeles Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution,  Christian Science Monitor, Chronicle of Higher Education, InsideHigherEd, The Nation,  Huffington Post,  Redbook, and Parents Magazine, and been interviewed on NBC, CNN, PBS, Fox, and C-Span, National Public Radio, the BBC, the ABC, NBC, and CBS radio networks, American Urban Radio, Voice of America, and national German, Australian, and Canadian radio. Here's his more detailed bio.

If you're not already receiving Paul's monthly articles, sign up to receive them. Paul continues to lecture widely on both Soul and The ImpossibleClick here to see if he's coming to your community or to bring him in, and here to pass the word on his books.