"Grocery Activism fills a gaping hole in the literature on food activism, and it’s one that my students often ask about: the radical origins of food cooperatives. Readers shocked by Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods may well feel nostalgic for the cramped spaces and dusty bins of the 1970s food cooperatives that are the focus of this book."—Julie Guthman, author of Agrarian Dreams: The Paradox of Organic Farming in California*
"In the 1970s, the organic food movement needed to reach consumers, and food co-ops needed a reason to exist. Grasping the relationship between a social movement and an organizational form is not easy, but Grocery Activism achieves its aims in a clear, informative way. This book will interest anyone who wants to understand how local action can produce new and unexpected forms of market structure."—Kieran Healy, Duke University
"While his work hits the current social landscape at just a time and in just a place that may draw readers’ attention to the voices that are omitted, the text is rich in detail and insight and may serve as a springboard into further research and discussion."—Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
"In an era defined by middle-class food obsessions, there is much to appreciate about this focused and thoughtful book."—Minnesota History
"A valuable resource for readers interested in the origins of today’s co-op stores and in the connections of organic food advocacy with other progressive political movements in the late-twentieth century."— Mobilization: An International Quarterly
"Upright’s work provides valuable insight into the contested nature of ‘natural’ food. "—The Annals of Iowa
"Upright has given us a refreshing, insightful, and highly readable account of how one movement exercised such a constitutive influence."—Political Science Quarterly
"[Upright’s] close case study of Minnesota’s radicalism and food politics adds a layer of analysis to our understanding of how countercultural ideas were put into practice that will be of interest to scholars of the Midwest."—H-Net
"A detailed study of what co-operatives actually are, not a fantasy of one kind or another."—May Day Books
"Grocery Activism is a fascinating look at how parallel movements gave rise to two big and important ideas—cooperatives and organics—as well as a subtle guide to how proponents of both might move forward in the era of Amazon."—Civil Eats
"Grocery Activism: The Radical History of Food Cooperatives in Minnesota dives back into the 1970s to paint a vivid image of the subversive world of organic groceries and food co-ops before the era of Whole Foods."—Agriculture and Human Values
"The book is a robust consideration of both the cooperative spirit and the cooperative economic form and how these propelled local-level collective action that altered the national food-related institutions that sustain us."—American Journal of Sociology
