We’re used to the story of the parents who create an activist non-profit to deal with some situation or condition that ruined the life of their child. A huge number of charities start that way. Miranda Spivack now extends that to citizens coming up against local blockades that hide corruption, incompetence and fear of the law, in Backroom Deals in our Backyards. They are thrust into their new missions unprepared and unintentionally. Yet it becomes their greatest skill and life accomplishment. No previous experience required or expected.

In five overly detailed stories, Spivack finds people who are forced to learn how to fight city hall, and win, though it usually takes a large number of years to accomplish. We see these kinds of stories in the news all the time: a wife makes it her mission to get to the bottom of why her fit and trim fireman husband developed cancer. It turns out the makers of fire protective clothing use PFAS carcinogenic forever chemicals, leading to far higher rates of cancer among firefighters generally. A man researches murky drinking water, and comes up against city hall, which refuses to release public documents to him, causing him to seek workarounds, and eventually suing, breaking open a huge story of – surprise – corruption.

One of the more nefarious factors accidental activists come up against is trade secrets. Bad software that makes bad decisions and ruins lives is beyond reproach (or even research) because the makers claim trade secrets. If the public knew what was going on, competitors would too. It’s a risk every time a government entity goes outside for contractors and vendors: “When government employees enter into non-disclosure agreements with private companies, they increase the power of the companies, prevent the government from sharing information about agreements they have reached, and even keep from the public the fact that the non-disclosure agreements exist.” And there’s no expiry date on trade secrets.

Everything is secret – even traffic studies on a killer road in another of Spivack’s stories. The accidental activist in this case even ran for council and won, but was still denied the reports he wanted to see. Another story features a municipal water service where customers – the public – are not permitted to obtain raw samples for analysis. Everything everywhere is top secret, especially if someone is raking in cash from it.

What’s great about the book is that Spivack includes a how-to at the end, listing resources for accidental activists. This is great, because it’s just a big waste that everyone has to start from zero and learn everything the hard way. Learning how sunshine laws and freedom of information laws work can help accidental activist accelerate their research, if only to come up against their barriers earlier in the process.

What I didn’t like about the book is Spivack’s exhaustive style. She examines every nuance of every step event and statement, covering all conceivable angles, and leaving nothing to the imagination. It makes a simple narrative everyone can understand and many can relate to directly – into painfully long diaries of events, developments, setbacks, incremental steps, and stubborn barriers. The excessive granularity is wearying.

It makes the book an easier read, ironically, because readers can skim, knowing full well that what they’re missing is stuff they’ve already figured out.

David Wineberg

A very interesting deep dive and well written book! I found a lot of inspiration and incredibly interesting ways that individuals have gone up against the large corporations and the government that is supposed to not be corrupt. I found this book to be a call to action, an inspiration, and such a great read for people wanting to make changes in their communities.