What would New York City look like without the hard-won victories of social movements? From the Young Lords campaigns to prevent lead poisoning and tuberculosis in the late 1960s to ACT UP’s fight for people affected by AIDS in the early 1990s through Housing Justice for All’s recent advocacy for tenants, generations of activists have struggled to make the city a healthier and more equal place for all.

Fighting for New York is a pragmatic account of health-focused social movements over the past several decades. Nicholas Freudenberg—a longtime public health professional, researcher, and activist—examines a variety of cases, from campaigns for reproductive rights, environmental justice, and free school lunch to the Close Rikers Island and Fight for $15 movements. He analyzes how activist leaders, members, and organizations approach injustices, build coalitions, frame their messages, and define success, considering which strategies worked and which failed to achieve their goals.

Fighting for New York synthesizes the lessons of these campaigns into practical guidance for the activists, health professionals, and policy makers of today and tomorrow, suggesting specific strategies gleaned from decades of experience. Highlighting the voices of activists, this book is a riveting account of struggles to improve living conditions and uphold human dignity.

Nicholas Freudenberg is distinguished professor emeritus of public health at the City University of New York School of Public Health. His expertise includes childhood lead poisoning, AIDS prevention, urban food policy, and mass incarceration. Freudenberg is the author of several books, most recently At What Cost: Modern Capitalism and the Future of Health (2021).