The book
Can a handful of ordinary people armed with humor, persistence, and a newsletter actually challenge entrenched power—and win?
Satire and Resistance: Creating Successful Change Through Humor tells the unlikely story of two self-described pranksters who launched The Chautauqua News as a small parody newsletter and gradually transformed it into a potent instrument for community change.
Set against the quirky backdrop of the historic Chautauqua Institution, Branch and Swegan recount their fifteen-year journey from harmless mischief to organized resistance, using satire to expose secrecy, question authority, build alliances, engage a community, and ultimately help change its leadership.
Part memoir, part satire, and part practical guide for grassroots reformers, Satire and Resistance explores what worked, what failed, and what the authors learned along the way when you have little money, no formal authority, and very few conventional sources of power. Above all, it makes a provocative case that resistance does not always require anger or confrontation: sometimes the most effective weapon is simply getting people to laugh—and then getting them to think.