View source for Mark Satin

{{Short description|American political theorist, writer, and newsletter publisher}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2012}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Mark Satin
| image              = Mark Satin in 2011.jpg
| image_size         = 240px
| caption            = Satin talking about "life and political ideologies" in 2011
| birth_name         = Mark Ivor Satin
| birth_date         = {{birth date and age|1946|11|16}}
| death_date         = 
| nationality        = American
| education          = [[University of British Columbia]] (BA)<br />[[New York University]] (JD)
| occupation         = Political theorist<br />Writer<br />Newsletter publisher
| years_active       = 1967–present
| notable_works      = ''Radical Middle''<br />''New Age Politics''<br />''Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada''
| website            = {{url|http://www.radicalmiddle.com}}
}}
'''Mark Ivor Satin''' (born November 16, 1946) is an American political theorist, writer, and newsletter publisher.  He is best known for contributing to the development and dissemination of three political perspectives&nbsp;– [[Nonviolence|neopacifism]] in the 1960s, [[New Age#Politics|New Age politics]] in the 1970s and 1980s, and [[radical centrism]] in the 1990s and 2000s.  Satin's work is sometimes seen as building toward a new political ideology, and then it is often labeled "transformational",<ref name=Slaton>Christa Daryl Slaton, "An Overview of the Emerging Political Paradigm: A Web of Transformational Theories", in Stephen Woolpert, Christa Daryl Slaton, and Edward W. Schwerin, eds., ''Transformational Politics: Theory, Study, and Practice'', State University of New York Press, 1998, p.&nbsp;11.  {{ISBN|978-0-7914-3945-6}}.</ref> "post-liberal",<ref name=Rosenberg>Jeff Rosenberg, "Mark's Ism: New Options's Editor Builds a New Body Politic", ''[[Washington City Paper]]'', March 17, 1989, pp.&nbsp;6–8.</ref> or "post-Marxist".<ref name=Billig>Dana L. Cloud, "'Socialism of the Mind': The New Age of Post-Marxism," in Herbert W. Simons and [[Michael Billig]], eds., ''After Postmodernism: Reconstructing Ideology Critique'', Sage Publications, 1994, p.&nbsp;235.  {{ISBN|978-0-8039-8878-1}}.</ref>  One historian calls Satin's writing "post-hip".<ref>[[Timothy Miller]], ''The Hippies and American Values'', University of Tennessee Press, 1991, p.&nbsp;139.  {{ISBN|978-0-87049-693-6}}.</ref>

After emigrating to Canada at the age of 20 to avoid serving in the [[Vietnam War]], Satin co-founded the Toronto Anti-Draft Programme, which helped bring American war resisters to Canada.  He also wrote the ''Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada'' (1968), which sold nearly 100,000 copies.<ref name=Adams />  After a period that author [[Marilyn Ferguson]] describes as Satin's "anti-ambition experiment",<ref name=Ferguson>Marilyn Ferguson, "Foreword", in Mark Satin, ''New Options for America: The Second American Experiment Has Begun'', The Press at California State University&nbsp;/ Southern Illinois University Press, 1991, pp.&nbsp;xi–xiii.  {{ISBN|978-0-8093-1794-3}}.</ref> Satin wrote ''New Age Politics'' (1978), which identifies an emergent "third force" in North America pursuing such goals as [[simple living]], decentralism, and global responsibility.  Satin spread his ideas by co-founding an American political organization, the [[New World Alliance]], and by publishing an international political newsletter, ''New Options''.  He also co-drafted the foundational statement of the [[Green Party of the United States|U.S. Green Party]], "Ten Key Values".

Following a period of political disillusion, spent mainly in law school and practicing business law,<ref name=Radical /> Satin launched a new political newsletter and wrote a book, ''Radical Middle'' (2004).  Both projects criticized political partisanship and sought to promote mutual learning and innovative policy syntheses across social and cultural divides.  In an interview, Satin contrasts the old radical slogan "Dare to struggle, dare to win"{{refn|This slogan first appeared in ''[[Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung]]'', and was later taken up by factions of the New Left.<ref>[[Paul Berman]], ''A Tale of Two Utopias: The Political Journey of the Generation of 1968'', [[W. W. Norton & Company]], 1997, p.&nbsp;175.  {{ISBN|978-0-393-31675-9}}.</ref>|group=nb}} with his radical-middle version, "Dare to synthesize, dare to take it all in".<ref name=Phipps>Carter Phipps, "Politics Gets Inclusive", ''What Is Enlightenment?'', June–August 2005, p.&nbsp;29.</ref>

Satin has been described as "colorful"<ref name=Hagan>John Hagan, ''Northern Passage: American Vietnam War Resisters in Canada'', Harvard University Press, 2001, pp.&nbsp;74–78.  {{ISBN|978-0-674-00471-9}}.</ref> and "intense",<ref name=NYU>The Editors, "New Students, Seasoned Pros", ''The Law School: The Magazine of the New York University School of Law'', spring 1993, p.&nbsp;9.</ref> and all his initiatives have been controversial.  Bringing war resisters to Canada was opposed by many in the anti-Vietnam War movement.  ''New Age Politics'' was not welcomed by many on the traditional left or right, and ''Radical Middle'' dismayed an even broader segment of the American political community.  Even Satin's personal life has generated controversy.  At age 76, Satin wrote a book seeking to draw lessons from his political and personal journey, ''Up From Socialism: My 60-Year Search for a Healing New Radical Politics'' (2023).

== Early years ==
Many mid-1960s American [[Left-wing politics|radicals]]  came from small cities in the Midwest and Southwest,<ref>Kirkpatrick Sale, ''SDS'', Vintage Books&nbsp;/ Random House, 1973, pp.&nbsp;204–07. {{ISBN|978-0-394-71965-8}}.</ref> as did Satin: he grew up in [[Moorhead, Minnesota]],<ref name=Clausen /> and [[Wichita Falls, Texas]].<ref name=Burns />  His father, who saw combat in [[World War&nbsp;II]],<ref name=Hurst>Lynda Hurst, "A Picture and a Thousand Words", ''Toronto Star'', August 24, 2008, "Ideas" section, p.&nbsp;8.</ref> was a college professor and author of a Cold War-era textbook on Western civilization.<ref name=Joseph>Joseph Satin, ''The Humanities Handbook'', Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969.  {{ISBN|978-0-03-071140-4}}.</ref>  His mother was a homemaker.<ref name=Confessions>Mark Satin, ''Confessions of a Young Exile'', Gage Publishing Co. / Macmillan of Canada, 1976, pp.&nbsp;6–8.  {{ISBN|978-0-7715-9954-5}}.</ref>

As a youth, Satin was restless and rebellious,<ref name=Wakefield /><ref>Satin, ''Confessions'', Chap.&nbsp;1.</ref> and his behavior did not change after leaving for university.<ref name=Williams /><ref>Satin, ''Confessions'', Chap.&nbsp;2.</ref>  In early 1965, at age 18, he dropped out of the [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign|University of Illinois]]<ref>Satin, ''Confessions'', pp.&nbsp;49–50.</ref> to work for African American [[civil and political rights]] with the [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]] in [[Holly Springs, Mississippi]].<ref name=Radical>Mark Satin, ''Radical Middle: The Politics We Need Now'', Basic Books, 2004, orig. Westview Press, 2004, pp.&nbsp;28–30.  {{ISBN|978-0-8133-4190-3}}.</ref><ref>Mark Satin, ''Up From Socialism: My 60-Year Search for a Healing New Radical Politics'', Bombardier Books&nbsp;/ Post Hill Press, distributed by Simon & Schuster, 2023, Chap.&nbsp;1.  {{ISBN|978-1-63758-663-1}}.</ref>  Later that year, he was told to leave [[Midwestern State University]], in Texas, for refusing to sign a loyalty oath to the United States Constitution.{{refn|Satin mentions this incident in his ''Radical Middle'' book, but omits the name of the university.<ref name=Radical />  An article from September 1967 also mentions the incident without naming the university, but adds that Satin's father taught there at the time.<ref name=Erland />  An article from May 1967 tells where the father taught.<ref name=Clausen /> |group=nb}}{{refn|From the late 1940s to the late 1960s, some U.S. state legislatures required students and professors at public universities to sign oaths of national loyalty.<ref>Doug Rossinow, ''The Politics of Authenticity: Liberalism, Christianity, and the New Left in America'', Columbia University Press, 1998, pp&nbsp;43–45.  Discusses the establishment of loyalty oath requirements at public universities, particularly in Texas.  {{ISBN|978-0-231-11056-3}}.</ref><ref>M. J. Heale, ''McCarthy's Americans: Red Scare Politics in State and Nation, 1935–1965'', University of Georgia Press, 1998, pp&nbsp;51–53.  Discusses the gradual abolition of loyalty oath requirements.  {{ISBN|978-0-8203-2026-7}}.</ref>|group=nb}} In 1966 he became president of a [[Students for a Democratic Society]] chapter at the [[Binghamton University|State University of New York at Binghamton]], and helped recruit nearly 20% of the student body to join.<ref name=Radical />  One term later he dropped out,<ref>Satin, ''Confessions'', pp.&nbsp;187–88.</ref> then emigrated to Canada to avoid serving in the Vietnam War.<ref name=Erland>Anastasia Erland, "Faces of Conscience I: Mark Satin, Draft Dodger", ''[[Saturday Night (magazine)|Saturday Night]]'', September 1967, pp.&nbsp;21–23.  Cover story.</ref>

Just before Satin left for Canada, his father told him he was trying to destroy himself.<ref name=Hurst />  His mother told the ''[[Ladies' Home Journal]]'' she could not condone her son's actions.<ref name=Williams>Roger Neville Williams, ''The New Exiles: American War Resisters in Canada'', Liveright Publishers, 1971, pp.&nbsp;62–65.  {{ISBN|978-0-87140-533-3}}.</ref>  Satin says he arrived in Canada feeling bewildered and unsupported.<ref>Satin, ''Confessions'', pp.&nbsp;1 and&nbsp;203–07.</ref>  According to press accounts, many Vietnam War resisters arrived feeling much the same way.<ref name=McRae /><ref>Williams, ''New Exiles'', pp.&nbsp;45–48.</ref>

== Neopacifism, 1960s ==
{{See also|Draft evasion|Nonviolent resistance|War resister}}

=== Toronto Anti-Draft Programme ===
As 1967 began, many American [[Pacifism|pacifists]] and radicals did not look favorably on emigration to Canada as a means of resisting the [[Vietnam War]].<ref name=Foley>Michael S. Foley, ''Confronting the War Machine: Draft Resistance During the Vietnam War'', University of North Carolina Press, 2003, p.&nbsp;78.  {{ISBN|978-0-8078-2767-3}}.</ref>  For some this reflected a core conviction that effective war resistance requires self-sacrifice.<ref>Charles DeBenedetti, ''An American Ordeal: The Antiwar Movement of the Vietnam Era'', Syracuse University Press, 1990, pp.&nbsp;129–30.  {{ISBN|978-0-8156-0245-3}}.</ref><ref>Anne Morrison Welsh, ''Held in the Light: Norman Morrison's Sacrifice for Peace and His Family's Journey of Healing'', Orbis Books, 2008, pp.&nbsp;3–6.  {{ISBN|978-1-57075-802-7}}.</ref>  For others it was a matter of strategy&nbsp;– emigration was said to be less useful than going to jail<ref name=Berton>Pierre Berton, ''[[1967: The Last Good Year]]'', Doubleday Canada, 1997, pp.&nbsp;198–203.  {{ISBN|978-0-385-25662-9}}.</ref>
or deserting the military,<ref>Sale, ''SDS'', pp.&nbsp;364–65.</ref> or was said to abet the war by siphoning off the opposition.<ref name=Foley />  At first, Students for a Democratic Society and many [[Quakers|Quaker]] draft counselors opposed promoting the Canadian alternative,<ref name=Schreiber>[[Jan Schreiber]], "Canada's Haven for Draft Dodgers", ''[[The Progressive]]'', January 1968, pp.&nbsp;34–36.</ref> and Canada's largest counseling group, the Anti-Draft Programme of the Student Union for Peace Action (SUPA)<ref name=Churchill>David S. Churchill, "[https://hssh.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/hssh/article/view/4372/3570 An Ambiguous Welcome: Vietnam Draft Resistance, the Canadian State, and Cold War Containment]", ''Histoire Sociale&nbsp;/ Social History'', vol.&nbsp;37, no.&nbsp;73 (2004), pp.&nbsp;6–9.  Retrieved October 24, 2025.</ref>&nbsp;– whose board consisted largely of Quakers and radicals<ref name=Churchill />{{refn|Notable people on the Anti-Draft Programme board included [[Chandler Davis]], [[Daniel Drache]], [[Nancy Meek Pocock|Nancy Pocock]], and [[Clayton Ruby]].<ref>Satin, ''Up From Socialism'', pp.&nbsp;60–61, 72–73, 82 (describing board meetings).</ref>|group=nb}}&nbsp;– was sympathetic to such calls for prudence.<ref>Renée G. Kasinsky, ''Refugees from Militarism: Draft-Age Americans in Canada'', Transaction Books, 1976, p.&nbsp;98.  {{ISBN|978-0-87855-113-2}}.</ref><ref name=After>Mark Satin, "Afterword. Bringing Draft Dodgers to Canada in the 1960s: The Reality Behind the Romance", in Mark Satin, ''Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada'', The A List / House of Anansi Press, 2017, pp.&nbsp;127–29.  {{ISBN|978-1-4870-0289-3}}.</ref>  In January 1967 its spokesman warned an American audience that immigration was difficult and that the Programme was not willing to act as "baby sitters" for Americans after they arrived.  He added that he was tired of talking to the press.<ref name=Maffre>John Maffre, "Draft Dodgers Conduct Own Anti-U.S. Underground War from Canadian Sanctuary", ''The Washington Post'', January 22, 1967, p.&nbsp;E1.</ref>

[[File:Draft dodger counseling office.jpg|thumb |left |upright |alt=Door painted with peace dove carrying maple leaf |The "sunny yellow"<ref name=Erland /> street door to Satin's office on busy [[Spadina Avenue]] in Toronto, August 1967.  (Photo by John F. Phillips.)]]

When Mark Satin was hired as director of the Programme in April 1967, he attempted to change its culture.<ref name=After /><ref>Satin, ''Up From Socialism'', Chap.&nbsp;3.</ref>  He also tried to change the attitude of the war resistance movement toward emigration.<ref>Satin, "Afterword", p.&nbsp;132, items #n and t.</ref>  His efforts continued after SUPA collapsed and he co-founded the Toronto Anti-Draft Programme, with largely the same board of directors, in October 1967.<ref name=Jones>Joseph Jones, "The House of Anansi's Singular Bestseller", ''Canadian Notes & Queries'', issue no.&nbsp;61, spring–summer 2002, pp.&nbsp;19–21.</ref>  Instead of praising self-sacrifice, he emphasized the importance of self-preservation and self-development to social change.<ref name=Manual>Mark Satin, ed., ''Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada'', House of Anansi Press, 2nd ed., 1968, Chap.&nbsp;1.  {{No ISBN}}. {{OCLC|467238}}.  Retrieved December 13, 2013.</ref>  Rather than sympathizing with pacifists' and radicals' strategic concerns, he rebutted them, telling ''[[The New York Times]]'' that massive emigration of draft-age Americans could help end the war,<ref name=Cowan>Edward Cowan, "Expatriate Draft Evaders Prepare Manual on How to Immigrate to Canada", ''The New York Times'', February 11, 1968, p.&nbsp;7.</ref> and telling another reporter that going to jail was bad public relations.<ref name=Williams />

Where the Programme once publicized the difficulties of immigration, Satin emphasized the competence of his draft counseling operation,<ref name=Burns>[[John F. Burns|John Burns]], "Deaf to the Draft: Called in US, but Asleep in Toronto", ''The Globe and Mail'' (Toronto), October 11, 1967, pp.&nbsp;1–2.  A large head shot of Satin is on p.&nbsp;1.</ref><ref name=Erland />  and even told of giving cash to immigrants who were without funds.<ref name=Cowan />{{refn|Applicants for immigrant status were expected to show that they had enough money to live on until they found work or otherwise established themselves.<ref>Satin, ed., ''Manual'', 2nd ed., p.&nbsp;17.</ref>|group=nb}}
Instead of refusing to "baby sit" Americans after they arrived, Satin made post-emigration assistance a top priority.  The office soon sported comfortable furniture, a hot plate, and free food;<ref name=Erland /> within a few months, 200 Torontonians had opened their homes to war resisters<ref name=Cowan /> and a job-finding service had been established.<ref name=Cowan /><ref>Helen Worthington, "She Gives Tea, Sympathy&nbsp;– and Jobs&nbsp;– to Draft Dodgers", ''Toronto Star'', October 21, 1967, p.&nbsp;65.</ref>  Finally, rather than expressing indifference to reporters, Satin courted them, and many responded,<ref name=Schreiber /> beginning with a May 1967 article in ''[[The New York Times Magazine]]'' that included a large picture of Satin counseling Vietnam War resisters in the refurbished office.<ref name=Clausen>Oliver Clausen, "Boys Without a Country", ''The New York Times Magazine'', May 21, 1967, pp.&nbsp;25 and&nbsp;96–98.</ref>  Some of the publicity focused on Satin as much as on his cause.<ref name=Burns /><ref name=Erland />  According to historian [[Pierre Berton]], Satin was so visible that he became the unofficial spokesman for war resisters in Canada.<ref name=Berton />

Satin defined himself as a neopacifist or quasi-pacifist{{refn|Satin later contributed to neopacifist ''theory'' by presenting a model for a largely nonviolent "evolutionary" movement in the United States.<ref>Mark Satin, ''New Age Politics: Healing Self and Society'', Delta Books / Dell Publishing Co., 1979, Part VII.  {{ISBN|978-0-440-55700-5}}.</ref>|group=nb}}&nbsp;– flexible, media-savvy, and entrepreneurial.<ref name=After /><ref>For more on neopacifist activism in the 1960s, see:
* [[Clayborne Carson]], ''In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s'', Harvard University Press, 1981, Chaps.&nbsp;6–12.  {{ISBN|978-0-674-44726-4}}.
* [[Martin Jezer|Marty Jezer]], ''Abbie Hoffman: American Rebel'', Rutgers University Press, 1992, Chaps.&nbsp;3–5.  {{ISBN|978-0-8135-1850-3}}.</ref>  He told one journalist he might have fought against Hitler.<ref name=Clausen />  He was not necessarily opposed to the draft, telling reporters he would support it for a defensive army<ref name=McRae /><ref name=Dunford>Gary Dunford, "Toronto's Anti-Draft Office Jammed; Korea, New Viet Attacks Said Cause", ''Toronto Star'', February 3, 1968, p.&nbsp;25.</ref> or to help eliminate poverty, illiteracy, and racial discrimination.<ref name=McRae>[[Earl McRae]], "US Draft Dodgers in Toronto: Safe – and Lonely", ''Toronto Star'', August 5, 1967, p.&nbsp;8.</ref><ref name=McCurdy>Glenn McCurdy, "The American Draft Resisters in Canada", ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', March 10, 1968, pp.&nbsp;F26, F70.</ref>  He avoided the intellectual framework of traditional pacifism and socialism.  Sometimes he spoke with emotion, as when he described the United States to ''The New York Times Magazine'' as "[t]hat godawful sick, foul country; could anything be worse?"<ref name=Clausen /> {{refn|In a subsequent letter to the editor, Satin denied saying anything like that: "I simply don't talk that way".<ref>Mark Satin, "Letter from Canada", ''The New York Times Magazine'', July 2, 1967, p.&nbsp;2.</ref>|group=nb}}  Sometimes he spoke poetically, as when he told author [[Jules Witcover]], "It's colder here, but you feel warm because you know you're not trying to kill people."<ref>Jules Witcover, ''The Year the Dream Died: Revisiting 1968 in America'', Warner Books, 1997, p.&nbsp;6.  {{ISBN|978-0-446-67471-3}}.</ref>  Instead of identifying with older pacifists, he identified with a 17-year-old character from the pen of [[J. D. Salinger]]: "I was [[Holden Caulfield]]", he said in 2008, "just standing and catching in the rye."<ref name=Hurst />

The results of Satin's approach were noticeable: the Programme went from averaging fewer than three visitors, letters, and phone calls per day just before he arrived,<ref name=Maffre /> to averaging 50 per day nine months later.<ref name=Hurst />{{refn|According to one author, every American who applied for Canadian immigrant status under Satin's direction eventually obtained it.<ref name=Williams />|group=nb}}  In addition, the American anti-war movement became more accepting of emigration to Canada&nbsp;– for example, author [[Myra MacPherson]] reports that Satin's ''Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada'' could be obtained at every draft counseling office in the U.S.<ref name=MacPherson />  However, Satin's approach was distressing to the traditional pacifists and socialists on the Programme's board.  The board clashed with Satin over at least 10 political, strategic, and performance issues.<ref name=Jones />  The most intractable may have been over the extent of the publicity.<ref name=Hurst />  There were also concerns about Satin's personal issues; for example, one war resister claims to have heard him say, "Anonymity would kill me".<ref name=Fetherling />  In May 1968, the board finally fired him.<ref name=Jones /><ref name=Word>Satin, "Afterword", pp.&nbsp;134–35.</ref>

=== ''Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada'' ===
[[File:Draft dodgers being counseled 1967.jpg|thumb|right |alt=Five young people sitting and talking intently |Satin (far left) counseling draft-age Americans in Toronto, August 1967. Until the ''Manual'' was published, counseling sessions could take hours.<ref name=Burns /> (Photo by Laura Jones.)]]

Before Satin was fired, he conceived and wrote, and edited guest chapters for, the ''Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada'', published in January 1968<ref name=Roger /> by the House of Anansi Press in partnership with the Toronto Anti-Draft Programme.<ref name=Jones />  The Programme had issued brochures on emigration before<ref name=Churchill />&nbsp;– including a 12-page version under Satin's watch<ref name=Williams />&nbsp;– but the ''Manual'' was different, a comprehensive, 45,000-word book, and it quickly turned into an "underground bestseller".<ref name=MacPherson>[[Myra MacPherson]], ''Long Time Passing: Vietnam and the Haunted Generation'', Doubleday and Company, 1984, p.&nbsp;357.  {{ISBN|978-0-385-15842-8}}.</ref>  Many years later, Toronto newspapers reported that nearly 100,000 copies of the ''Manual'' had been sold.<ref name=Adams>James Adams, "[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/the-big-guys-keep-being-surprised-by-us/article696023 'The Big Guys Keep Being Surprised By Us']", ''The Globe and Mail'' (Toronto), October 20, 2007, p.&nbsp;R6.  Retrieved December 7, 2012.</ref><ref name=Hluchy>Patricia Hluchy, "1968 Was a Tumultuous Year of Protest in Cities Around the World", ''Toronto Star'', June 1, 2008, p.&nbsp;6.</ref>{{refn|In 2017, Canadian publishing historian [[Roy MacSkimming]] provided more detail, stating that 65,00 copies of the ''Manual'' had been sold by Canadian publishers, and another 30,000 had been reproduced in whole or in part by U.S. anti-war entities.<ref name=Roy />  A Canadian literary magazine subsequently attributed to the ''Manual'' "the distinction of being one of this country's most pirated books".<ref>Unidentified author, "What's Old", ''[[Canadian Notes & Queries|CNQ: Canadian Notes & Queries]]'', issue no. 100, fall 2017, p.&nbsp;7.</ref>|group=nb}}  One journalist calls it the "first entirely Canadian-published bestseller in the United States".<ref name=Roger>Williams, ''New Exiles'', pp.&nbsp;66–67.</ref>

The Programme was initially hesitant about producing the ''Manual'',<ref name=Jones /> which promised to draw even more war resisters and publicity to it.  "The [board] didn't even want me to write it", Satin says. "I wrote it at night, in the SUPA office, three or four nights a week after counseling guys and gals 8 to 10 hours a day&nbsp;– pounded it out in several drafts over several months on SUPA's ancient Underwood typewriter."<ref name=Jones />  When it finally appeared, some leading periodicals helped put it on the map.<ref name=Roger />  For example, ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'' called it "useful",<ref>Paul Lauter and [[Florence Howe]], "[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1968/jun/20/the-draft-and-its-opposition The Draft and Its Opposition]", ''The New York Review of Books'', June 20, 1968, p.&nbsp;30.  Retrieved April 17, 2011.</ref> and ''The New York Times'' said it contains advice about everything from how to qualify as an immigrant to jobs, housing, schools, politics, culture, and even the snow.<ref name=Cowan />  After the war, sociologist John Hagan found that more than a third of young American emigrants to Canada had read the ''Manual'' while still in the United States, and nearly another quarter obtained it after they arrived.<ref name=Hagan />

The ''Manual'' reflected Satin's neopacifist politics.  Commentators routinely characterized it as caustic,<ref name=Gary /> responsible,<ref name=Berton /> and supportive.<ref name=Roger />  The first part of the ''Manual'', on emigration, suggests that self-preservation is more important than sacrifice to a dubious cause.<ref name=Manual />  The second half, on Canada, spotlights opportunities for self-development and social innovation.<ref>Satin, ed., ''Manual'', 2nd ed., Chaps.&nbsp;26–40.</ref>  According to Canadian social historian David Churchill, the ''Manual'' helped some Canadians begin to see Toronto as socially inclusive, politically progressive, and counter-cultural.<ref name=Churchill />

{{quote box|width=35%|quote="Draft resisters have had and should continue to have only normal difficulties immigrating [to Canada].  Probably any young American can get in if he is really determined, though all will need adequate information.&nbsp;... The toughest problem a draft resister faces is not how to immigrate but whether he really wants to.  And only you can answer that.  For yourself.  That's what [[Superior orders|Nuremberg]] was all about."|source=– Mark Satin in 1968, on military service and the individual conscience.<ref>Satin, ed., ''Manual'', 2nd ed., p.&nbsp;6.</ref>|style=padding:8px}}

Inevitably, the ''Manual'' became a lightning rod for controversy.<ref>John Burns, "Canadians Don't Live in Igloos, Draft Dodgers' Manual Advises", ''The Globe and Mail'' (Toronto), February 15, 1968, pp.&nbsp;1,&nbsp;2.</ref>  Some observers took issue with its perspective on Canada;<ref name=Gary>Gary Dunford, "'Forgettable' Toronto – Where There's NO Draft", ''Toronto Star'', February 14, 1968, pp.&nbsp;1,&nbsp;4.</ref> most notably, ''The Cambridge Companion to Canadian Literature'' criticizes its "condescending tone" in describing Canada's resources.<ref>Eva-Marie Kroller, "Introduction", in Eva-Marie Kroller, ed., ''The Cambridge Companion to Canadian Literature'', Cambridge University Press, 2004, p.&nbsp;18.  {{ISBN|978-0-521-81441-6}}.</ref>  Elements in the U.S. and Canadian governments may have been upset by the ''Manual''.  According to journalist [[Lynn Coady]], the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] and the [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] (RCMP) attempted to wiretap the House of Anansi Press's offices.<ref name=Coady>Lynn Coady, "Introduction", in Lynn Coady, ed., ''The Anansi Reader: Forty Years of Very Good Books'', House of Anansi Press, 2007, p.&nbsp;5.  {{ISBN|978-0-88784-775-2}}.</ref>  In addition, Anansi co-founder [[Dave Godfrey]] is convinced a 10-day government audit of the press was generated by FBI–RCMP concerns.<ref name=Jones />  Many people did not want the Programme to encourage draft-eligible Americans to emigrate to Canada,<ref name=Roger /><ref>Editorial, "Don't Incite U.S. Draft Dodgers", ''Toronto Star'', January 30, 1968, p.&nbsp;6.</ref> and Satin routinely denied that the ''Manual'' encouraged emigration.<ref>Barry Craig, "5,000 Manuals Published Here for U.S. Draft Dodgers", ''The Globe and Mail'' (Toronto), February 12, 1968, p.&nbsp;5.</ref><ref>Harry F. Rosenthal, "Canada Increasingly Draft Dodgers' Haven", ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', June 2, 1968, p.&nbsp;H19.</ref>  But few observers believed him, then or later.  The first sentence of an article in ''The New York Times'' from 1968 describes the ''Manual'' as "a major bid to encourage Americans to evade military conscription".<ref name=Cowan />  Canadian essayist [[Robert Fulford (journalist)|Robert Fulford]] remembers the ''Manual'' as offering an enthusiastic welcome to draft dodgers.<ref name=Fulford>Robert Fulford, "[http://www.robertfulford.com/2008-03-29-1968.html 1968 – The Bogus Revolution]", ''[[National Post]]'' (Toronto), March 29, 2008, p.&nbsp;27.  Retrieved April 17, 2011.</ref>  Even a House of Anansi Press anthology from 2007 concedes that the ''Manual'' is "coyly titled".<ref name=Coady />

Satin was fired from the Programme soon after the appearance of the second edition of the ''Manual'', which had a print run of 20,000.<ref name=Jones />  His name was removed from the title page of most subsequent editions.<ref>Satin, "Afterword", p.&nbsp;135.</ref>  According to a study of the ''Manual'' by critic Joseph Jones in ''[[Canadian Notes & Queries]]'', a literary journal, some later editions experienced a falloff in quality.<ref name=Jones />  Nevertheless, Jones says the ''Manual'' stands as an icon of its age.<ref name=Jones />  It made significant appearances in at least five 20th-century novels, including [[John Irving]]'s ''A Prayer for Owen Meany'',<ref name=Jones /> and it continues to be pored over by journalists,<ref>James Folta, "[https://lithub.com/so-you-want-to-flee-to-canada-revisiting-a-classic-guide-to-leaving-america  So You Want to Flee to Canada: Revisiting a Classic Guide to Leaving America]", ''[[Literary Hub]]'' website, March 28, 2025.  Retrieved May 24, 2025.</ref><ref>Elizabeth Renzetti, "[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/welcome-to-canada-our-news-is-dull-crime-is-low-and-were-very-polite-sorry/article30713482  Welcome to Canada, Americans! We Put the You in Neighbour]", ''The Globe and Mail'' (Toronto), July 1, 2016 (Internet edition), July 2, 2016, p.&nbsp;2 (print edition).  Retrieved July 26, 2016.</ref>
historians,<ref>John Boyko, ''The Devil’s Trick: How Canada Fought the Vietnam War'', Knopf Canada, 2021, pp.&nbsp;113–114.  {{ISBN|9780735278004}}.</ref><ref>Jessica Squires, ''Building Sanctuary: The Movement to Support Vietnam War Resisters in Canada, 1965-73'', University of British Columbia Press, 2013, pp.&nbsp;34–37.  {{ISBN|978-0-7748-2524-5}}.</ref> social scientists,<ref name=Hagan /> creative writers,<ref>Amiel Gladstone, ''Hippies and Bolsheviks and Other Plays'', Coach House Books, 2007, pp.&nbsp;90–92 (title play).  {{ISBN|978-1-55245-183-0}}.</ref> [[social movement]] strategists,<ref>David Kieran, "[http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2017/02/what_anti_trump_protesters_can_learn_from_the_anti_vietnam_war_movement.html  Hell No, He Must Go!]", ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'' online magazine, February 7, 2017, para.&nbsp;#6.  Retrieved September 10, 2017.</ref><ref name=Stewart>Luke Stewart, "[https://www.academia.edu/37718241/Review_Essay_Mark_Satin_ed._Manual_for_Draft-Age_Immigrants_to_Canada_Toronto_House_of_Anansi_2018_1968_%C3%89tudes_canadiennes_Canadian_Studies_N_85_December_2018_219-223  Review Essay: Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada]", ''Études canadiennes / Canadian Studies'', no. 85, December 2018, pp. 219–223.  Published in French and English by Association Française d'Études Canadiennes, [[Institut des Amériques]], France.  Retrieved May 20, 2019.</ref> and graduate students.<ref>Matthew McKenzie Bryant Roth, ''[https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/items/fddabf73-5590-4e5f-b04f-7a973f6680b7/full Crossing Borders: The Toronto Anti-Draft Programme and the Canadian Anti-Vietnam War Movement]'', M.A. Thesis in History, [[University of Waterloo]], 2008, pp.&nbsp;18–33.  Retrieved October 25, 2025.</ref>  In 2017 the ''Manual'' was re-issued as a Canadian "classic" by the original publisher, with an introduction by Canadian historian [[James Laxer]] and a politically charged afterword by Satin, then in his 70th year.<ref name=Roy>[[Roy MacSkimming]], "[https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/review-mark-satins-manual-for-draft-age-immigrants-to-canada-is-just-as-timely-as-ever/article36087618/ Review: Mark Satin's Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada Is Just as Timely as Ever]", ''The Globe and Mail'' (Toronto), August 26, 2017, p.&nbsp;R12.  Online dated one day earlier.  Retrieved August 28, 2017.</ref><ref>[[Robert Fulford (journalist)|Robert Fulford]], "[https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/books/how-vietnam-war-draft-dodgers-became-a-lively-and-memorable-part-of-canadian-history  How Vietnam War Draft Dodgers Became a Lively and Memorable Part of Canadian History]", ''[[National Post]]'' (Canada), national edition, September 6, 2017, p.&nbsp;B5.  Retrieved September 13, 2017.</ref>

=== "The Last Resort" ===
In the fall of 1968, Satin opened "The Last Resort", a large army-green-colored hostel for draft evaders and military deserters in Vancouver, British Columbia.<ref>Annushka Agarwal, "[https://nationalpost.com/feature/resisterville-50000-evaders-fled-the-u-s-and-changed-canada  Resisterville: 50,000 Evaders Fled the U.S. Across the Northern Border and Changed Canada]", ''National Post'', July 8, 2025, see under "The Last Resort" (second heading from end).  Retrieved July 31, 2025.</ref> According to the ''[[National Post]]'', a Canadian newspaper:
{{Blockquote|text=For seven months, Satin cooked, cleaned and washed bed sheets for The Last Resort's guests. He served dinner every night at 6:30 p.m. — spaghetti three nights a week, chicken livers with rice or beef Stroganoff on the other days. …  On Sunday nights, they would have open houses where Vancouverites could buy dinner for 50 cents and meet the resisters. … Satin personally counseled each migrant, and estimates the hostel [housed] over 1,000 people altogether.<ref>Agarwal, "Resisterville",” fourth and fifth paragraphs under the heading of "The Last Resort".</ref>}}

The hostel did not last long after Satin left it, but others sprang up in its wake.<ref>Williams, ''New Exiles''. p.&nbsp;249 (Larry Martin interview).</ref>

=== ''Confessions of a Young Exile'' ===
[[File:Mark Satin in 1975.jpg|thumb|right |alt=Twentysomething with big smile and long hair |Satin working on his books ''Confessions of a Young Exile'' and ''New Age Politics'' in 1975]]
Until the 1990s, literary critic [[William Zinsser]] says, [[memoir]] writers tended to conceal their most personal and embarrassing memories.<ref>William Zinsser, "Introduction", in William Zinsser, ed., ''Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir'', Mariner Books&nbsp;/ Houghton Mifflin, 1998, p.&nbsp;3.  {{ISBN|978-0-395-90150-2}}.</ref>  In the 1970s Satin wrote a book revealing many such memories as a neopacifist activist during the years 1964–66, ''Confessions of a Young Exile'', published by Gage, a Toronto publishing house soon to merge with Macmillan of Canada.<ref>Ruth Panofsky, ''The Literary Legacy of the Macmillan Company of Canada'', University of Toronto Press, 2012, p.&nbsp;257.  {{ISBN|978-0-8020-9877-1}}.</ref>  ''Confessions'' is "a remarkable exercise in self-exposure", playwright [[John Lazarus (playwright)|John Lazarus]] says in a review.  "The insights into the hero's motives and fears are so honest, and so mortifyingly true, that it soon becomes evident that the [naive] tone is deliberate."<ref>John Lazarus, "Q's Reviews: Confessions of a Young Exile", printed transcript, [[CHQM-FM]] (Vancouver), December 16, 1976, pp.&nbsp;1–2.</ref>

To some reviewers, Satin appears to have had a political goal&nbsp;–  encouraging activists to establish common ground with ordinary North Americans on the basis of their shared confusion and humanity.  For example, Jackie Hooper, writing in ''[[The Province]]'', argues that the purity of motives projected by many pacifist activists is unconvincing, and recommends Satin's more complex view: "Satin's emigration wasn't dictated totally by his idealism.  More often than not, he talked himself into radical positions&nbsp;... as a result of trying to impress his peers or his girlfriend, or rebelling against middle-class parental authority".<ref>Jackie Hooper, "Satin Confesses He Talked Himself Into Exile", ''The Province'' (Vancouver), October 4, 1976, p.&nbsp;20.</ref>  [[Roy MacSkimming]], book editor of the ''[[Toronto Star]]'', says Satin portrayed himself as "idealistic" but also troubled and uncertain, wanting to fit in yet also longing to be unique.<ref name=MacSkimming>Roy MacSkimming, "A Young Exile's Novel: Anxious, Guilt-Ridden", ''Toronto Star'', June 11, 1976, p.&nbsp;E8.</ref>

Some reviewers were unenthusiastic.  For example, Dennis Duffy, writing in ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', describes Satin's memoir as a "story about a young man who doesn't grow up".<ref name=Duffy />  In addition, Satin's publisher began having reservations  about him.  Many years later, the ''Toronto Star'' reported that the publisher decided not to let Satin do any publicity for the book, because of his potentially offensive views.<ref name=Hurst />

In the 21st century, ''Confessions'' was discussed at length by literary critics Rachel Adams in the ''[[Yale Journal of Criticism]]''<ref name=Rachel>Rachel Adams, "'Going to Canada': The Politics and Poetics of Northern Exodus", ''Yale Journal of Criticism'', vol. 18, no. 2 (fall 2005), pp.&nbsp;417–24.</ref> and [[Robert McGill (writer)|Robert McGill]] in his book ''War Is Here''.<ref name=Robert>Robert McGill, ''War Is Here: The Vietnam War and Canadian Literature'', McGill-Queen's University Press, 2017, pp.&nbsp;172–74, 177–81.  {{ISBN|978-0-7735-5159-6}}.</ref>  Both had been drawn to Satin's text because of their interest in the figure of the "draft dodger" in literature,<ref>Adams, "Going", p.&nbsp;417 ("... literary representations of the draft dodger").</ref><ref>McGill, ''War'', p.&nbsp;172 ("Draft-Dodger Novels").</ref> and both depict Satin's journey from Moorhead to Canada as politically complex and sexually charged.<ref name=Rachel /><ref name=Robert />

== New Age politics, 1970s – 1980s ==
{{See also|New Age|Futures studies}}

=== ''New Age Politics'', the book ===
As the 1970s began, the New Left faded away,<ref>[[Todd Gitlin]], ''[[The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage]]'', Bantam Books, 1987, Chap.&nbsp;18.  {{ISBN|978-0-553-05233-6}}.</ref> and many movements arose in its wake&nbsp;– among them the [[Feminist movement|feminist]], [[Men and feminism|men's liberation]], [[Spirituality|spiritual]], [[Human Potential Movement|human potential]], [[Environmental movement|ecology]], [[appropriate technology]], [[intentional community]], and [[holistic health]] movements.<ref name=Aquarian>Marilyn Ferguson, ''The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformation in the 1980s'', Jeremy P. Tarcher Inc., 1980, Chaps.&nbsp;7–11.  {{ISBN|978-0-87477-191-6}}.</ref><ref>Gitlin, ''The Sixties'', Chap.&nbsp;19.</ref>  After graduating from the [[University of British Columbia]] in 1972,<ref name=NYU /> Satin immersed himself in all these movements, either directly<ref>Satin, ''New Age Politics'', Dell edition, p.&nbsp;1.</ref> or as a reporter for Canada's underground press.<ref name=Ferguson />  He also took up residence in a free-love commune.<ref name=Hurst />  "One fierce winter's day", he says,&nbsp;"... it dawned on me that the ideas and energies from the various 'fringe' movements [were] beginning to generate a coherent new politics.  But I looked in vain for the people and groups that were expressing that new politics (instead of merely bits and pieces of it)".<ref name=Ray />  Satin set out to write a book that would express the new politics in all its dimensions.<ref name=Ray />  He wrote, designed, typeset, and printed the first edition of ''New Age Politics'' himself, in 1976.<ref name=Armstrong>David Armstrong, ''A Trumpet to Arms: Alternative Media in America'', Jeremy P. Tarcher Inc.&nbsp;/ South End Press, 1981, pp.&nbsp;315–16.  {{ISBN|978-0-89608-193-2}}.</ref>  A 240-page edition was published by Vancouver's Whitecap Books in 1978,<ref>Mark Satin, ''New Age Politics: Healing Self and Society'', Whitecap Books, 1978.  {{ISBN|978-0-920422-01-4}}.</ref> and a 349-page edition by Dell Publishing Company in New York in 1979.{{refn||name=first|group=nb}} It is now widely regarded as the "first",<ref>[[David Spangler]], "Foreword", in Mark Satin, ''New Age Politics: Our Only'' Real ''Alternative'', Lorian Press, 2015, p.&nbsp;15.  {{ISBN|978-0-936878-80-5}}.</ref><ref name=Wasserman>[[Harvey Wasserman]], "The Politics of Transcendence", ''[[The Nation]]'', August 11, 1985, pp.&nbsp;146–47.</ref> "most ambitious",<ref name=Boggs>Carl Boggs, ''The End of Politics: Corporate Power and the Decline of the Public Sphere'', Guilford Press, 2000, p.&nbsp;170.  {{ISBN|978-1-57230-504-5}}.</ref> or "most adequate"<ref name=Ross>[[Andrew Ross (sociologist)|Andrew Ross]], "New Age Technoculture", in [[Lawrence Grossberg]], [[Cary Nelson]], and Paula A. Treichler, eds., ''Cultural Studies'', Routledge, 1991, p.&nbsp;548.  {{ISBN|978-0-415-90345-5}}.</ref> attempt to offer a systemic overview of the new post-socialist politics arising in the wake of the New Left.  Some academics say it offers a new ideology.<ref name=Billig /><ref name=Jamison>Andrew Jamison, ''The Making of Green Knowledge: Environmental Politics and Cultural Transformation'', Cambridge University Press, 2001, p.&nbsp;5.  {{ISBN|978-0-521-79252-3}}.</ref>

[[File:Carl Ransom Rogers.jpg|thumb|left |upright |alt=Line drawing of Carl Rogers's head |[[Carl Rogers]] (1902–1987), whose ideas about human potential helped shape ''New Age Politics''.<ref>Satin, ''New Age Politics'', Dell edition, p.&nbsp;305.</ref>  He later joined Satin's ''New Options'' advisory board.]]
At the heart of ''New Age Politics'' is a critique of the consciousness we all supposedly share, a "six-sided prison" that has kept us all trapped for hundreds of years.  The six sides of the "prison" are said to be: patriarchal attitudes, egocentricity, scientific single vision, the bureaucratic mentality, nationalism (xenophobia), and the "big city outlook" (fear of nature).  Since consciousness, according to Satin, ultimately determines our institutions, prison consciousness is said to be ultimately responsible for "monolithic" institutions that offer us little in the way of freedom of choice or connection with others.  Some representative monolithic institutions are: bureaucratic government, automobile-centered transportation systems, attorney-centered law, doctor-centered health care, and church-centered spirituality.<ref name=This>This paragraph combines material from the following sources:
* Cloud, "Socialism of the Mind", pp.&nbsp;231–40.
* Michael S. Cummings, "Mind Over Matter in the Prison", ''Alternative Futures'', vol. 4, no. 1 (1981), pp.&nbsp;158–66.
* [[Richard G. Kyle]], "The Political Ideas of the New Age Movement", ''Journal of Church and State'', vol.&nbsp;37, no.&nbsp;4 (1995), pp.&nbsp;831–48.</ref>

To explain how to break free of the prison and its institutions, Satin develops a "psychocultural" class analysis that reveals the existence of "life-", "thing-", and "death-oriented" classes.  According to Satin, life-oriented individuals constitute an emerging "third force" in post-industrial nations.  The third force is generating a "prison-free" consciousness consisting of [[Androgyny|androgynous]] attitudes, spirituality, multiple perspectives, a cooperative mentality, local-and-global identities, and an ecological outlook.  To transform prison society, Satin argues, the third force is going to have to launch an "evolutionary movement" to replace&nbsp;– or at least supplement&nbsp;– monolithic institutions with life-affirming, "biolithic" ones.  Some representative biolithic institutions are: [[deliberative democracy]] as an alternative to bureaucratic government, bicycles and mass transit as an alternative to the private automobile, and mediation as an alternative to attorney-centered law.  According to Satin, the third force will not have to overthrow capitalism, since Western civilization&nbsp;– not capitalism&nbsp;– is said to be responsible for the prison.{{refn|Satin's father had written a textbook about the achievements of Western civilization.<ref name=Joseph />|group=nb}}  But the third force will want to foster a prison-free New Age capitalism through intelligent regulation and elimination of all subsidies.<ref name=This />

{{quote box|width=35%|quote="Gradually reorganize the armed forces into a multipurpose civilian-defense-and-social-service organization that would train us in the arts of [[Nonviolent resistance|nonviolent]] and 'territorial'&nbsp;– nonviolent plus [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]]&nbsp;– defense.  [And] re-establish the civilian draft.  Without a civilian army the powerful life-rejecting people in this country may never peacefully relinquish their power; and without a citizenry professionally trained in the arts of nonviolent and territorial defense, we may never dare to put an end to the arms race."|source=– Mark Satin in 1979, on military service and New Age ideals.<ref>Satin, ''New Age Politics'', Dell edition, p.&nbsp;255.</ref>|style=padding:8px}}

The reaction to ''New Age Politics'' was, and continues to be, highly polarized.  Many of the movements Satin drew upon to construct his synthesis received it favorably,<ref>Some positive "movement" views of ''New Age Politics'' are expressed in:
* The Editors, "Inside", ''[[Whole Living|New Age Journal]]'', April 1977, p.&nbsp;6.
* Bonnie Kreps, "A Radical Feminist Looks at ''New Age Politics''", ''[[Makara (magazine)|Makara]]'', vol. 2, no. 3 (1977), pp.&nbsp;16–18.
* Unidentified author, "Mark Satin", ''[[Communities (magazine)|Communities: Journal of Cooperative Living]]'', issue no. 28, September–October 1977, p.&nbsp;62.
* Donald Keys, "New Age Politics", ''One Family: Newsletter of Planetary Citizens'', November 1977, p.&nbsp;4.
* Arnold W. Klassen, "Looking For Alternatives: A New Political Analysis", ''[[Gay Community News (Boston)|Gay Community News]]'' (Boston), December 1977, p.&nbsp;13.
* Unidentified author, "New Age Politics", in ''Populi: The United Nations Population Fund Magazine'', Vols. 5-6 (1978), p.&nbsp;55.
* Gerry Dixon, "New Age Politics", ''[[Odyssey Magazine (South Africa)|Odyssey Magazine]]'',  February 1978, p.&nbsp;40.
* [[Mitchell L. Walker|Mitch Walker]], "New Age Politics", ''Gay Sunshine'' (San Francisco), Summer/Fall 1979, no. 40/41, p.&nbsp;35.
* Guy Dauncey, "A New Dance", ''[[Peace News]]'', issue no.&nbsp;2117, April 4, 1980, p.&nbsp;14.
* Robert Thompson, "The Six-Sided Prison", ''[[Yoga Journal]]'', November–December 1980, pp.&nbsp;56–57.
* Greg MacLeod, ''New Age Business: Community Corporations That Work'', [[Social planning organizations in Canada|Canadian Council on Social Development]], 1986, p.&nbsp;7.  {{ISBN|978-0-88810-354-3}}.
* [[Harry Hay]], ''Radically Gay: Gay Liberation in the Words of Its Founder'', Beacon Press, 1996, p.&nbsp;239.  {{ISBN|978-0-8070-7080-2}}.</ref> though some took exception to the title.<ref name=Safransky>Sy Safransky, "Mark Satin, New Age Politics", ''[[The Sun (magazine)|The Sun]]'', April 1981, p.&nbsp;2.</ref><ref>Satin, ''Up From Socialism'', p.&nbsp;139 (on nonviolent-action strategist [[Gene Sharp]]'s reaction).</ref>  Some maverick liberals and [[Libertarianism|libertarians]] are drawn to the book.<ref name=Nielsen>Robert Nielsen, "A Slightly Flawed Blueprint for a Whole New Society", ''Toronto Star'', January 26, 1977, p.&nbsp;B4.  Editorial page.</ref><ref name=McClaughry>John McClaughry, "[https://archive.org/details/sim_reason_1980-08_12_4/page/46/mode/2up?q=what%27s+this+new+age+stuff+john+mcclaughry What's This New Age Stuff?]", ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]'', vol. 12, issue no. 4 (August 1980), pp.&nbsp;46–47.  Retrieved March 25, 2014.</ref>  It was eventually published in Sweden<ref>Mark Satin, ''Politik for en Ny Tid'', Wahlström & Widstrand, 1981.  Swedish language publication. {{No ISBN}}</ref>{{refn|Publication of Satin's book in Sweden was preceded by a large New Age conference near Stockholm featuring Satin, [[Hazel Henderson]], and [[Carl Rogers]].<ref>Erik Sidenbladh, "Kreativ Rörelse för 'Den Nya Tidsaldern{{'}}", ''[[Svenska Dagbladet]]'' (Stockholm), October 5, 1980, "Idag" section, p.&nbsp;1.  Swedish language publication.</ref>|group=nb}} and Germany,<ref>Mark Satin, ''Heile dich selbst und unsere Erde'', foreword by [[Fritjof Capra]], Arbor Verlag, 1993.  German language publication.  {{ISBN|978-3-924195-01-4}}.</ref>{{refn|The German edition of ''New Age Politics'' includes contributions from writers born in Germany, Austria, and Britain.|group=nb}} and European New Age political thinkers came to see it as a precursor of their own work.<ref>Stuart Rose, ''Transforming the World: Bringing the New Age Into Focus'', Peter Lang AG, 2005, p.&nbsp;221.  {{ISBN|978-0-8204-7241-6}}.</ref>{{refn|Bruno Langdahl, from Denmark, has prepared a bibliography featuring European as well as American writing on New Age ideology.  It includes two books by Satin, ''New Age Politics'' and ''Radical Middle''.<ref>Bruno Langdahl, ''New Age-Bevægelsens Politiske Tænkning&nbsp;– En Ideologianalyse,   {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426071138/http://www.specialer.sam.au.dk/stat/2008/20010848.pdf |date=April 26, 2012 }}'', M.A. Thesis in Political Science, [[Aarhus University]], 2008, pp.&nbsp;103–08.  Danish language publication.</ref>  [[Slavoj Žižek]], from Slovenia, has criticized New Age ideology from a radical-left perspective without reference to Satin or any member of Satin's ''New Options Newsletter'' advisory board.  Among New Age writers, Žižek pays particular attention to [[James Redfield]], [[Colin Wilson]], and advocates of [[Analytical psychology|Jungian psychology]].<ref>Slavoj Žižek, ''The Ticklish Subject: The Absent Centre of Political Ontology'', Verso Books, 2000, pp.&nbsp;1–2, 70, 362–63, and&nbsp;384–85.  {{ISBN|978-1-85984-291-1}}.</ref>|group=nb}}  Others see it as proto-Green.<ref name=Jamison /><ref>Kenn Kassman, ''Envisioning Ecotopia: The U.S. Green Movement and the Politics of Radical Social Change'', Praeger Publishers, 1997, pp.&nbsp;121–22.  {{ISBN|978-0-275-95784-1}}.</ref>{{refn|Some authors identify similarities between the New Age and Green approaches.  For example, education theorist Ron Miller says that both Satin's New Age politics and Europe's Green politics seek to "maintain a balance between the existential and the political, the personal and the social".<ref>Ron Miller, ''Free Schools, Free People: Education and Democracy After the 1960s'', State University of New York Press, 2002, p.&nbsp;94.  {{ISBN|978-0-7914-5420-6}}.</ref>  [[University of Urbino]] researcher Stefano Scoglio says that both Satin's book ''New Age Politics'' (1978) and [[Charlene Spretnak]] and [[Fritjof Capra]]'s book ''Green Politics'' (1986) stress "the need to reunite politics and spirituality".<ref>Stefano Scoglio, ''Transforming Privacy: A Transpersonal Philosophy of Rights'', Praeger Publishers / Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998, pp.&nbsp;38 and 50n.30.  {{ISBN|978-0-275-95607-3}}.</ref>|group=nb}}  Ever since its first appearance, though, and continuing into the 21st century, ''New Age Politics'' has been a target of criticism for two groups in the United States: conservative Christians and left-wing intellectuals.

Among conservative Christians, there are cultural, political, and moral objections.  Attorney [[Constance Cumbey]] warns that the book can be "seductive" to those who lack an adequate Biblical education.<ref>Constance E. Cumbey, ''The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow: The New Age Movement and Our Coming Age of Barbarism'', Huntington House, Inc., 1983, p.&nbsp;264.  {{ISBN|978-0-910311-03-8}}.</ref>  Theologians [[Tim LaHaye]] and Ron Rhodes are convinced Satin wants a centralized and coercive world government.<ref>Tim LaHaye and [[Ed Hindson]], ''Seduction of the Heart: How to Guard and Keep Your Heart from Evil'', W Publishing Group / Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2001, p.&nbsp;178.  {{ISBN|978-0-8499-1726-4}}.</ref><ref>Ron Rhodes, ''New Age Movement'', Zondervan Publishing House, 1995, p.&nbsp;20.  {{ISBN|978-0-310-70431-7}}.</ref>  Religious writers Jeff Myers and [[David A. Noebel]] are troubled by Satin's assertion that getting in touch with one's self might be an "evolutionary imperative".<ref>Jeff Myers and David A. Noebel, ''Understanding the Times: A Survey of Competing Worldviews'', Summit Ministries, p.&nbsp;352.  {{ISBN|978-1-4347-0958-5}}.</ref>  Moral philosopher [[Douglas Groothuis]] says Satin's vision is unsound because it lacks an absolute standard of good and evil.<ref>Douglas R. Groothuis, ''Unmasking the New Age'', InterVarsity Press, 1986, p.&nbsp;126.  {{ISBN|978-0-87784-568-3}}.</ref>

Among left-leaning academics, criticism focuses on Satin's theoretical underpinnings.  Political scientist Michael Cummings takes issue with the idea that consciousness is ultimately determining.<ref name=Cummings>Michael Cummings, "Mind Over Matter", pp.&nbsp;161–64.</ref>  Science-and-society professor David Hess rejects the idea that economic class analysis should give way to psychocultural class analysis.<ref>David J. Hess, ''Science in the New Age'', University of Wisconsin Press, 1993, p.&nbsp;174.  {{ISBN|978-0-299-13820-2}}.</ref>  A book from [[MIT Press]] says Satin promoted a superficially subversive but in fact ineffective "new form of individualized, self-help politics".”<ref>Robert W. Gehl and Sean T. Lawson, ''Social Engineering: How Crowdmasters, Phreaks, Hackers, and Trolls Created a New Form of Manipulative Communication'', The MIT Press, 2022, p.&nbsp;52.  {{ISBN|978-0262543453}}.</ref>  A lengthy, systemic critique of ''New Age Politics'', by communication studies professor [[Dana L. Cloud]], accuses it of employing a "therapeutic rhetoric[] generated to console activists after the failure of post-1968 revolutionary movements and to legitimate participation in liberal politics".<ref>Dana L. Cloud, ''Control and Consolation in American Culture and Politics: Rhetorics of Therapy'', Sage Publications, 1998, p.&nbsp;133.  {{ISBN|978-0-7619-0506-6}}.</ref>{{refn|Cloud devotes chapters in two books to comparing Satin's ''New Age Politics'' to the work of non-North American post-Marxists, particularly [[Ernesto Laclau]] and [[Chantal Mouffe]].<ref>Cloud, ''Control and Consolation'', pp.&nbsp;131–56.</ref><ref>Cloud, "Socialism of the Mind," pp.&nbsp;222–51.</ref>|group=nb}} Feminist scholar [[Greta Gaard]] says simply, "Satin's antileftism pervades his ''New Age Politics''".
<ref>Greta Gaard, "Ecofeminism in the Greens", in Heather Eaton and Lois Ann Lorentzen, eds., ''Ecofeminism and Globalization: Exploring Culture, Context, and Religion'', Rowman & Littlefield, 2003, p.&nbsp;206.  {{ISBN|978-0742526976}}.</ref>

=== Organizing the New World Alliance ===
{{See also|New World Alliance}}

[[File:Mark Satin in 1978.jpg|thumb |right |alt=Determined-looking young man against city skyline. |Satin at the start of his "networking" tour, 1978.<ref name=Lipnack />  (Photo by [[Erich Hoyt]].)]]

[[File:New World Alliance 1980.jpg|thumb |right |alt=Twenty people sitting in a circle |Governing council of the [[New World Alliance]] meets at a lodge in upstate New York, 1980.]]

After U.S. President Jimmy Carter pardoned{{refn|Although Carter is often said to have granted "amnesty", he avoided that term on the grounds that it might be taken to imply approval or support.<ref>Hagan, ''Northern Passage'', p.&nbsp;167.</ref>  Instead, he offered an unconditional "pardon" to Vietnam-era draft resisters, and less-than-honorable discharges to Vietnam-era military deserters.<ref>Hagan, ''Northern Passage'', p.&nbsp;176.</ref>|group=nb}}
Vietnam War resisters in 1977, Satin began giving talks on ''New Age Politics'' in the United States.<ref name=Ferguson />  His first talk received a standing ovation, and he wept.<ref name=Ray />  Every talk seemed to lead to two or three more, and "the response at New Age gatherings, community events, fairs, bookstores, living rooms, and college campuses" kept Satin going for two years.<ref name=Radical />  By the second year he began laying the groundwork for the [[New World Alliance]], a national political organization based in Washington, D.C.<ref name=Ferguson />  "I went systematically to 24 cities and regions from coast to coast", he told the authors of the book ''Networking''.<ref name=Lipnack>Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps, ''Networking: The First Report and Directory'', Doubleday, 1982, pp.&nbsp;107–08.  {{ISBN|978-0-385-18121-1}}.</ref>  "I stopped when I found 500 [accomplished] people who said they'd answer a questionnaire ... on what a New Age-oriented political organization should be like&nbsp;– what its politics should be, what its projects should be, and how its first directors should be chosen.".<ref name=Lipnack />{{refn|According to one New Age magazine, Satin traveled over 55,000 miles during his combined book and organizing tour, mostly by Greyhound bus.  He spoke at over 50 venues, including a cultural center in [[Harlem]], the World Symposium on Humanity in Los Angeles, and the [[Harvard Institute of Politics|Institute of Politics]] at Harvard.<ref>Alison Wells and Stanley Commons, "Moving Politics With Spirit (And Greyhound)", ''New Realities'', June–July 1979, p.&nbsp;23.</ref>|group=nb}}

The New World Alliance convened its first "governing council" meeting in New York City in 1979.<ref name=Lipnack />  The 39-member council was chosen by the questionnaire-answerers themselves, out of 89 who volunteered to be on the ballot.<ref name=Lipnack />  Political scientist Arthur Stein describes the council as an eclectic collection of educators, feminists, businesspeople, futurists, think-tank fellows, and activists.<ref name=Stein>Arthur Stein, ''Seeds of the Seventies: Values, Work, and Commitment in Post-Vietnam America'', University Press of New England, 1985, pp.&nbsp;134–39.  {{ISBN|978-0-87451-343-1}}.</ref>  One of the council's announced goals was to break down the division between left and right.<ref name=Stein /><ref name=Saunders>Marilyn Saunders and Bob Olson, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20170830153714/https://www.ahpweb.org/images/stories/archive_pdfs/1980/December1980.pdf The New World Alliance: Toward a Transformational Politics]",   ''AHP Newsletter'', December 1980, pp.&nbsp;14–16. A publication of the [[Association for Humanistic Psychology]].</ref>  Another was to help facilitate a thorough transformation of society.<ref name=Saunders /><ref name=Parkin>Sara Parkin, ''Green Parties: An International Guide'', Heretic Books Ltd., 1989, p.&nbsp;294.  {{ISBN|978-0-946097-27-2}}.</ref>  Satin was named staff member of the Alliance.<ref name=Ferguson />

Expectations ran high among supporters of a post-liberal, post-Marxist politics,<ref>Hazel Henderson, ''The Politics of the Solar Age: Alternatives to Economics'', Anchor Press&nbsp;/ Doubleday, 1981, p.&nbsp;19 n.8.  {{ISBN|978-0-385-17150-2}}.</ref> and the governing council did initiate several projects.  For example, a series of "Political Awareness Seminars" attempted to help participants understand and learn to work with their political opponents.<ref>Corinne McLaughlin and Gordon Davidson, ''Spiritual Politics: Changing the World from the Inside Out'', Ballantine Books&nbsp;/ Random House, 1994, p.&nbsp;109.  {{ISBN|978-0-345-36983-3}}.</ref>  In addition, a "Transformation Platform" attempted to synthesize left- and right-wing approaches to dozens of public policy issues.<ref name=Stein />  But within three years the Alliance fell apart, unable to establish stable chapters in any major cities.<ref name=Clark>Jerome Clark, "New Age Politics", in [[J. Gordon Melton]], Jerome Clark, and Aidan A. Kelly, ''New Age Encyclopedia'', Gale Research, Inc., 1990, pp.&nbsp;323–25.  {{ISSN|1047-2746}}.  ISSN Retrieved September 28, 2011.</ref>  Author [[Jerome Clark]] suggests the cause was the Alliance's commitment to consensus-building in all its groups and projects; within months, he notes, one member was complaining that the Alliance had turned into a "diddler's cult".<ref name=Clark />  Another explanation focuses on the failure&nbsp;– or inability&nbsp;– of the hyper-democratic questionnaire process to select an appropriate governing council.<ref name=Clark />

Satin was devastated by the decline of the Alliance, and engaged in unhappy bouts of public criticism and self-criticism.<ref name=Stein />  "We would rather be good than do good", he told editor [[Kevin Kelly (editor)|Kevin Kelly]].  "We would rather be pure than mature.  We are the Beautiful Losers."<ref>Kevin Kelly, "[https://archive.org/details/sim_whole-earth_whole-earth-review_winter-1988_61/page/106/mode/2up Mark Satin]", ''[[Whole Earth Review]]'', issue no. 61, winter 1988, p.&nbsp;107.  Interview with Satin.</ref>  As time went on, though, the Alliance came to be regarded positively by many observers.  For example, author [[Corinne McLaughlin]] sees it as one of the first groups to offer an agenda for the new transformational politics.<ref>McLaughlin, ''Spiritual Politics'', p.&nbsp;72.</ref>  In an academic text, political scientist Stephen Woolpert acknowledges it as a precursor of North American Green parties.<ref>Stephen Woolpert, "Preface: Paths to Transformational Politics", in Woolpert, Slaton, and Schwerin, eds., ''Transformational Politics'', p.&nbsp;xi.</ref>

=== ''New Options Newsletter'' ===
After four or five New World Alliance governing council meetings, Satin became tired of what he saw as empty rhetoric, and decided to do something practical&nbsp;– start a political newsletter.<ref name=Ferguson />  He raised $91,000{{refn|$91,000 in 1983 was equal to over $278,000 in 2023.<ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20200107084645/https://www.minneapolisfed.org/about-us/monetary-policy/inflation-calculator/consumer-price-index-1913- Consumer Price Index, 1913-]", [[Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis]], no date.  Retrieved March 6, 2020.</ref>|group=nb}} to launch the venture, from 517 people he had met on his travels,<ref name=Ferguson /> and within a few years had built it into what think-tank scholar [[George Weigel]] described as "one of the hottest political newsletters in Washington[, D.C.].&nbsp;... [It] has gotten a fair amount of [national] attention, and perhaps even some influence, because it self-consciously styles itself 'post-liberal'."<ref name=Weigel>George Weigel, "No Options", ''American Purpose'', vol. 3, no. 3 (1989), pp.&nbsp;21–22.</ref>  Satin produced ''New Options'' on a monthly basis from 1984 to 1992.<ref>Satin, ''Up From Socialism'', Chap.&nbsp;7.</ref>  He wrote nearly all the articles.<ref name=Rosenberg />  In 1989 ''New Options'' received ''[[Utne Reader]]'''s first "Alternative Press Award for General Excellence: Best Publication from 10,000 to 30,000 Circulation".<ref name=UR>The Editors, "The Alternative Press Awards", ''[[Utne Reader]]'', issue no. 35, September–October 1989, pp.&nbsp;90–91.</ref>  In 1990 ''[[The Washington Post]]'' identified ''New Options'' as one of 10 periodicals spearheading "The Ideology Shuffle".<ref>"The Ideology Shuffle," graphics display, ''The Washington Post'', April 1, 1990, "Outlook" section, p.&nbsp;1.</ref>  Twenty-five of its articles were published as a book by a university press.<ref>Unidentified book reviewer, "New Options for America: The Second American Revolution Has Begun", ''The Futurist'', September-October 1991, pp.&nbsp;43, 57.  Magazine of the World Future Society.</ref>

[[File:Jane Jacobs 2004.png|thumb|left |upright |alt=Face of a smiling elderly woman |Seminal thinker [[Jane Jacobs]] (1916–2006), Satin's hero in the early 1960s,<ref name=Mark /><ref>Satin, ''Confessions'', p.&nbsp;25.</ref> became an advisor to ''New Options''.]]
Satin wanted ''New Options'' to make the visionary perspective of ''New Age Politics'' seem pragmatic and realizable.<ref name=Gottlieb>Annie Gottlieb, ''Do You Believe in Magic?: Bringing the 60s Back Home'', Simon & Schuster, 1987, pp.&nbsp;153–54.  {{ISBN|978-0-671-66050-5}}.</ref>  He also wanted ''New Options'' to spread the New Age political ideology more effectively than the New World Alliance had done.<ref>[[Bill Thomas (writer)|Bill Thomas]], "Now 'New Age' Activists Search for Alternatives", ''[[The Baltimore Sun]]'', April 17, 1984, pp.&nbsp;B1–2.</ref>  To those ends, he challenged traditional views across the political spectrum,<ref name=Cordes>Helen Cordes, "New Options: Requiem Eterna", ''Utne Reader'', issue no. 51, May–June 1992, p.&nbsp;46.</ref> and he expanded the scope of politics to include subjects like love and relationships.<ref name=Cordes />  In her book ''Do You Believe in Magic?'', culture critic Annie Gottlieb says ''New Options'' offered:
<blockquote>an explosive short course in political possibility.&nbsp;... What are the best books and groups in the consumer empowerment (not "protection") and neighborhood self-reliance movements?  Who is working on practical, compassionate, populist alternatives to the welfare state and the big-business state?  What is the best way to cut the budget deficit?  What can we learn from the Sri Lankan Sarvodaya (local self-help) and Polish Solidarity movements?  Each issue presents ideas, names and addresses, and a crossfire of reader debate.<ref name=Gottlieb /></blockquote>
"I think the reason ''New Options'' works is it has a particular tone", Satin told one reporter.  "It's as idealistic as many of us were in the 1960s, but ... without the childishness".<ref name=Rosenberg />

''New Options'' owed its rise to more than just content and tone, however.  Positioning was also a factor.  The New Age political movement was cresting in the 1980s,<ref>Richard Kyle, ''The New Age Movement in American Culture'', University Press of America, 1995, pp.&nbsp;x and&nbsp;198–99.  {{ISBN|978-0-7618-0010-1}}.</ref> and it needed a political periodical.  Satin's book ''New Age Politics'' had helped define the movement,<ref name=Clark /> and the ''New Options'' advisory board&nbsp;– a collection of prominent post-liberal thinkers&nbsp;– gave the newsletter further credibility.  At the outset it included [[Lester R. Brown]], [[Ernest Callenbach]], [[Fritjof Capra]], [[Vincent Harding]], [[Willis Harman]], [[Hazel Henderson]], [[Petra Kelly]], [[Amory Lovins]], [[Joanna Macy]], [[Robin Morgan]], [[John Naisbitt]], [[Jeremy Rifkin]], [[Carl Rogers]], [[Theodore Roszak (scholar)|Theodore Roszak]], [[Kirkpatrick Sale]], [[Charlene Spretnak]], and [[Robert Theobald]],<ref>Masthead, ''New Options Newsletter'', issue no. 1, February 1984, p.&nbsp;2.</ref>  and over the years it added such figures as [[Herman Daly]], [[Marilyn Ferguson]], [[Jane Jacobs]], [[Winona LaDuke]], and [[Robert Rodale]].<ref name=Masthead>Masthead, ''New Options Newsletter'', issue no. 50, July 1988, p.&nbsp;2.</ref>

''New Options'' did not succeed in all quarters.  [[Jules Feiffer]], for example, often seen as being on the liberal-left, called it "irritating" and "neo-yuppie".<ref>Jules Feiffer, in "Letters", ''New Options Newsletter'', issue no. 35, January 1987, p.&nbsp;5.</ref>  [[Jason McQuinn]], often seen as a radical,
objected to what he perceived as its relentless American optimism.<ref>Jason McQuinn (Lev Chernyi, ed.), "Alternative Press Review", ''[[Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed]]'', summer 1988, p.&nbsp;5.</ref>  [[George Weigel]], often seen as a conservative, said it consisted largely of a cleverly repackaged leftism.<ref name=Weigel />  Satin himself turned out to be one of the newsletter's critics.  "I could have edited ''New Options'' forever", he wrote in 2004.  "But, increasingly, I was becoming dissatisfied with my hyper-idealistic politics".<ref name=Radical />  His experiences in the U.S. Green politics movement contributed to that dissatisfaction.<ref>McLaughlin, ''Spiritual Politics'', p. 111.</ref><ref>Satin, ''New Options for America'', Chaps.&nbsp;3 and&nbsp;20.</ref>

=== "Ten Key Values" of the U.S. Green Party ===
{{See also|Green Party of the United States|History of the Green Party of the United States}}
[[File:Green-2008-chicago.jpg|thumb |right  |alt=Dozens of people standing and cheering |[[Green Party of the United States|U.S. Green Party]] national political convention, Chicago, 2008.  A modified Ten Key Values statement remains part of the Green platform.]]
By the mid-1980s, Green parties were making inroads all over the world.<ref>Fritjof Capra and Charlene Spretnak, ''Green Politics: The Global Promise'', E. P. Dutton, 1984, Chaps. 1 and 8.  {{ISBN|978-0-525-24231-4}}.</ref><ref>Frank Zelko and Carolin Brinkmann, eds., ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20150101054510/http://www.ghi-dc.org/files/publications/inhouse/greenparties/gps.pdf  Green Parties: Reflections on the First Three Decades]'', [[Heinrich Böll Foundation]] North America&nbsp;/ [[German Historical Institute]], 2006, pp. 1–41.  Booklet.</ref>  A slogan of the [[Alliance '90/The Greens|West German Greens]] was, "We are neither left nor right; we are in front".<ref name=Gaard>Greta Gaard, ''Ecological Politics: Ecofeminists and the Greens'', Temple University Press, 1998, pp.&nbsp;142–45.  {{ISBN|978-1-56639-569-4}}.</ref>  Some observers, notably [[Green Party (UK)|British Green Party]] liaison [[Sara Parkin]], saw the New World Alliance and ''New Options Newsletter'' as Green entities.<ref name=Parkin />  Others saw the early Greens as one expression of New Age politics.<ref name=Clark /><ref>Carl Boggs, ''Social Movements and Political Power: Emerging Forms of Radicalism in the West'', Temple University Press, 1986, pp.&nbsp;220 and&nbsp;277 n.91.  {{ISBN|978-0-87722-447-1}}.</ref>  In 1984, Satin was invited to the founding meeting of the U.S. Green politics movement,<ref>Gaard, ''Ecological Politics'', p.&nbsp;293 n.10.</ref> and he became a founding member.<ref>John Ely, "Green Politics in the United States and Europe", in Margit Mayer and John Ely, eds., ''The German Greens: Paradox Between Movement and Party'', Temple University Press, 1998, p.&nbsp;200.  {{ISBN|978-1-56639-516-8}}.</ref><ref>Satin, ''Up From Socialism'', Chap.&nbsp;8.</ref>  The meeting chose him, along with political theorist [[Charlene Spretnak]], to draft its foundational political statement, "Ten Key Values".<ref name=Gaard /><ref name=Ten>Mark Satin, "[https://green-horizon.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/GHM_26_web.pdf  Miraculous Birth of the 'Ten Key Values' Statement]", ''Green Horizon Magazine'', vol. 9, issue no. 26, fall-winter 2012, pp.&nbsp;19–22.  Retrieved October 7, 2025.</ref>  Some accounts recognize futurist and activist Eleanor LeCain as a co-equal drafter.<ref name=Gaard /><ref name=Spretnak>Charlene Spretnak, "The Early Years of the Green Movement in the United States", in Zelko and Brinkmann, eds., ''Green Parties'', cited above, p.&nbsp;48.</ref>  The drafters drew on suggestions recorded on a flip chart during a marathon plenary brainstorming session, as well as on suggestions received by Satin and Spretnak during the meeting and for many weeks afterward.<ref name=Gaard /><ref name=Ten />

The original "Ten Key Values" statement was approved by the Greens' national steering committee<ref name=Spretnak /> and released in late 1984.  The values in the original statement are: Ecological Wisdom, Grassroots Democracy, Personal and Social Responsibility, Nonviolence, Decentralization, Community-based Economics, Postpatriarchal Values, Respect for Diversity, Global Responsibility, and Future Focus.<ref>Gaard, ''Ecological Politics'', pp.&nbsp;276–79.</ref><ref>Charlene Spretnak and Fritjof Capra, ''Green Politics: The Global Promise'', Bear & Company, rev. 1986, pp.&nbsp;229–33.  {{ISBN|978-0-939680-28-3}}.</ref>  One unusual aspect, say many observers, is the way the values are described; instead of declaratory statements full of "shoulds" and "musts", each value is followed by a series of open-ended questions.<ref name=Coleman>Daniel A. Coleman, ''Ecopolitics: Building a Green Society'', Rutgers University Press, 1994, pp.&nbsp;98–99.  {{ISBN|978-0-8135-2055-1}}.</ref><ref name=Lichterman>Paul Lichterman, ''The Search for Political Community: American Activists Reinventing Commitment'', Cambridge University Press, 1996, pp.&nbsp;37–38.  {{ISBN|978-0-521-48343-8}}.</ref>  "That idea&nbsp;... came from Mark Satin", Spretnak told scholar [[Greta Gaard]] in 1997.<ref name=Gaard />  Its effect, says sociologist Paul Lichterman, was to promote dialogue and creative thinking in local Green groups across the U.S.<ref name=Lichterman />

{{quote box|width=35%|quote="How can we, as a society, develop effective alternatives to our current patterns of violence, at all levels, from the family and the street to nations and the world?  How can we eliminate nuclear weapons from the face of the Earth without being naive about the intentions of other governments?  How can we most constructively use nonviolent methods to oppose practices and policies with which we disagree&nbsp;...&nbsp;?"|source=– Original "Ten Key Values" statement, on nonviolence and Green politics.<ref>Gaard, ''Ecological Politics'', p.&nbsp;277.</ref>|style=padding:8px}}

The original values statement was, and remains, controversial.  U.S. Green Party co-founder [[John Rensenbrink]] credits it with helping to unify the often contentious Greens.<ref>John Rensenbrink, "The United States Green Party: Up from the Wilderness", in Zelko and Brinkmann, eds., ''Green Parties'', cited above, p.&nbsp;61.</ref>  However, party co-founder [[Howie Hawkins]] sees it as just a watered-down, "spiritual", and "New Age" version of the German Greens' [[Ten key values|Four Pillars]] statement.<ref name=Gaard />  Greta Gaard says it fails to call for the elimination of capitalism or racism.<ref name=Gaard />  Looking back after 20 years, Green activist [[Brian Tokar]] said that "the voice of the original [values] questions is distinctly personal ... and aims to avoid fundamental conflicts with elite social and cultural norms."<ref>Brian Tokar, "The Greens as a Social Movement: Values and Conflicts", in Zelko and Brinkmann, eds., ''Green Parties'', cited above, p.&nbsp;93.</ref>  A "modified"<ref name=Coleman /> list of the Ten Key Values became part of the U.S. Greens' political platform.<ref name=Dolbeare>Green Party of the United States, "Green Party Platform: Green Key Values," in Kenneth M. Dolbeare and Michael S. Cummings, eds., ''American Political Thought'', CQ Press, 5th ed., 2004, pp.&nbsp;544–45.  {{ISBN|978-1-56802-913-9}}.</ref>  However, all the open-ended questions were replaced by declaratory sentences,<ref name=Dolbeare /> and the U.S. Greens have come to be regarded as a party of the left, rather than one seeking to be neither left nor right.<ref>Micah L. Sifry, ''Spoiling for a Fight: Third-Party Politics in America'', Routledge, 2002, p.&nbsp;11 and Sect.&nbsp;III.  {{ISBN|978-0-415-93142-7}}.</ref>{{refn|In 2018, British scholar Aidan Rankin said that the "technique of questioning" of the original Ten Key Values statement was useful because it could help the political right and left find "unexpected common ground" with others.<ref name=Rankin>Aidan Rankin, ''Jainism and Environmental Philosophy: Karma and the Web of Life'', Routledge, p.&nbsp;51.  {{ISBN|978-1-138-55182-4}}.</ref>  An "attitude of questioning", he added, "is a more practical response to increasing complexity in economics, the environment and technology than adopting absolutist positions".<ref name=Rankin />|group=nb}}

Satin himself became increasingly critical of the Greens.  He gave a featured speech at the U.S. Green gathering in 1987 urging them to avoid hyper-detailed platform writing and other projects and specialize in one thing&nbsp;– running people for office who endorse the Ten Key Values.  But the speech failed to persuade.<ref name=Ten />  After the Green gathering in 1989, he urged them to abandon hippie-era fears of money, authority, and leadership.<ref>Gaard, ''Ecological Politics'', p.&nbsp;66.</ref>  After the 1990 gathering he complained "I've been Pure before,"<ref name=Greta>Gaard, ''Ecological Politics'', pp.&nbsp;70–71.</ref> an allusion to his time in the New World Alliance.  According to Greta Gaard, he then bid farewell to the Greens, but recognized it as a loss: "Whatever I may think of their internal battles and political prospects, the Greens are My People.  Their life choices are my life choices; their failings mirror my own."<ref name=Greta />  Within a year of voicing those words, he stopped ''New Options Newsletter'' and applied to law school.<ref name=Cordes /><ref>Howard Penn Hudson, "Despite Success, Newsletter Publisher Throws Up His Hands and Quits", ''The Newsletter on Newsletters'', vol. 29, no. 10 (1992), p.&nbsp;1.</ref>

== Radical centrist politics, 1990s – 2000s ==
{{See also|Radical centrism|Postpartisan}}

=== ''Radical Middle Newsletter'' ===
The 1990s are remembered, by many in the West, as a time of relative prosperity and satisfaction.<ref>[[Joseph Stiglitz]], ''The Roaring Nineties: A New History of the World's Most Prosperous Decade'', W. W. Norton, 2003, pp.&nbsp;3–5.  {{ISBN|978-0-393-32618-5}}.</ref>  According to some historians, visionary politics appeared to be on the decline.<ref>[[Eric Hobsbawm]], ''The Age of Extremes: A History of the World, 1914–1991'', Vintage Books&nbsp;/ Random House, 1996, pp.&nbsp;563–68.  {{ISBN|978-0-394-58575-8}}.</ref><ref>[[Paul Johnson (writer)|Paul Johnson]], ''Modern Times: The World from the Twenties to the Nineties'', Harper Perennial, rev. 1991, pp.&nbsp;783–84.  {{ISBN|978-0-06-093550-4}}.</ref>  However, even after Satin entered [[New York University School of Law]] in 1992, he expressed no desire to abandon his project of helping to construct a post-liberal, post-Marxist ideology.<ref name=NYU />  He did admit to being disillusioned with his approach.  "I knew my views (and I personally) would benefit from engagement with the real world of commerce and professional ambition", he wrote.<ref name=Ivor>Satin, ''Radical Middle'', pp.&nbsp;29–30.</ref>

[[File:Vietnamese KFC.jpg|thumb |left |alt=Big-city street with corner restaurant |[[KFC]] in Vietnam.  Satin's ''Radical Middle Newsletter'' saw American investment abroad as a "chance for mutual learning".]]
After graduating in 1995, Satin worked for a Manhattan law firm focusing on complex business litigation.<ref name=Hurst />  He also wrote about financial and legal issues.<ref>Peter G. Eikenberry and Mark Satin, "Equitable Remedies and Financial Transactions Litigation", ''Federal Bar Council News'', vol.&nbsp;III, no.&nbsp;1 (1996), pp.&nbsp;9, 12–17.  Publication of the [[Federal Bar Council]].</ref>  He did not dislike his work, but felt he was "sleepwalking" because he was not doing what he loved, writing about visionary politics.<ref name=Ivor />  With six former law school classmates,<ref>Satin, ''Radical Middle'', p.&nbsp;208</ref> he began planning a political newsletter that could accommodate all he was learning about business and law.<ref name=Ivor />  In 1998 he returned to Washington, D.C., to launch ''Radical Middle Newsletter''.<ref>Satin, ''Up From Socialism'', Chap.&nbsp;11.</ref>{{refn|Satin maintained District of Columbia Bar membership into the 2020s.<ref>"[https://lawyers.justia.com/lawyer/mark-satin-658152 Mark Satin]", JUSTIA Lawyers section, Justia.com website, no date. Online law and legal information directory.  Accessed May 25, 2024.</ref>|group=nb}}

As the title indicates, it sought to distance itself from New Age politics.  If the term "New Age" suggests utopianism,<ref name=Nielsen /> the term "radical middle" suggests, for Satin and others, keeping at least one foot firmly on the ground.<ref>Satin, ''Radical Middle'', pp.&nbsp;5–6.</ref><ref>Texts presenting the "radical middle" as visionary but grounded include:
* [[Renata Adler]], ''Toward a Radical Middle: Fourteen Pieces of Reporting and Criticism'', Random House, 1969, pp.&nbsp;xxii–xxiv.  {{No ISBN}} {{OCLC|53617}}.  Retrieved September 30, 2011.
* [[Joe Klein]], "Stalking the Radical Middle", ''[[Newsweek]]'', September 25, 1995, pp.&nbsp;32–36.
* Denis Beckett, ''Radical Middle: Confessions of an Accidental Revolutionary'', Tafelberg, 2010, pp.&nbsp;11–15.  {{ISBN|978-0-624-04912-8}}.</ref>  Satin attempted to embrace the promise but also the balance implied by the term.<ref name=Anderson>Walter Truett Anderson, ''All Connected Now: Life in the First Global Civilization'', Westview Press&nbsp;/ Perseus Books Group, 2001, pp.&nbsp;177–78.  {{ISBN|978-0-8133-3937-5}}.</ref><ref name=Cox />  One feature story is entitled "Tough on Terrorism, and Tough on the Causes of Terrorism".<ref>Satin, ''Radical Middle'', Chap.&nbsp;15.</ref>  Another feature story attempts to go beyond polarized positions on biotechnology.<ref name=Anderson />  Another argues that corporate activity abroad can best be seen as neither inherently moral nor inherently imperialistic, but as a "chance for mutual learning".<ref>Mark Satin, "Selling U.S. Products Abroad: Malign, Moral, or a Chance for Mutual Learning?", ''Radical Middle Newsletter'', March 2000, pp.&nbsp;1–2,&nbsp;6.</ref>  The board of advisors of ''Radical Middle Newsletter'' signaled Satin's new direction.  It was politically diverse, and many of its members sought to promote dialogue or collaboration across ideological divides.  By the end of 2004 it included [[Walter Truett Anderson]], [[John Avlon]], [[Esther Dyson]], [[James Fallows]] of the [[New America Foundation]], [[Jane Mansbridge]] of the [[John F. Kennedy School of Government|Harvard Kennedy School]], [[John D. Marks]] and Susan Collin Marks of [[Search for Common Ground]], Elsa Porter (a former U.S. Assistant [[United States Secretary of Commerce|Secretary of Commerce]]), Ernest Prabhakar of [[Apple Inc.|Apple Computer, Inc.]], and [[William Ury]], co-author of ''[[Getting to Yes]]''.<ref>Masthead, ''Radical Middle Newsletter'', November 2004, p.&nbsp;2.</ref><ref>Satin, ''Up From Socialism'', p.&nbsp;304.</ref>

''Radical Middle Newsletter'' proved controversial.  Many responded positively to Satin's new direction.  A professor of management, for example, wrote that unlike Satin's former newsletter, ''Radical Middle'' spoke about "reality".<ref>William E. Halal, "More Balance!", ''Radical Middle Newsletter'', August 1999, p.&nbsp;5.</ref>  Scholarly books began citing articles from the newsletter.<ref>Books citing articles from the newsletter included:
* [[Frank Furedi]], ''Therapy Culture: Cultivating Vulnerability in an Uncertain Age'', Routledge, 2004, p.&nbsp;215 n.28 (citing "Confronting the Causes of Psychological Depression: Too Taboo?").  {{ISBN|978-0-415-32160-0}}.
* Marilyn Hamilton, ''[[Integral City|Integral City: Evolutionary Intelligences for the Human Hive]]'', New Society Publishers, an imprint of Douglas & McIntyre (Canada), 2008, p.&nbsp;83 (citing "The Katrina Dialogues").  {{ISBN|978-0-86571-629-2}}.
* Constance Hilliard, ''Does Israel Have a Future?: The Case for a Post-Zionist State'',  Potomac Books, an imprint of University of Nebraska Press, 2009, pp. 109–110, 117 (citing "The One-State Solution Is the Most Visionary and the Most Sensible").  {{ISBN|978-1-59797-234-5}}.
* Michael S. King et al., ''Non-Adversarial Justice'', Federation Press (Australia), 2009, p.&nbsp;316 (referencing "Healing First!: Time for the U.S. Justice System To Get Less Mechanistic and More Compassionate").  {{ISBN|978-1-86287-747-4}}.
* [[David Rieff]], ''A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis'', Simon & Schuster, 2002, p.&nbsp;341 (citing "Humanitarian Military Intervention: The 'Peace Movement' of the '00s?").  {{ISBN|978-0-684-80977-9}}.</ref>  In a book on globalization, [[Walter Truett Anderson]] said ''Radical Middle'' "carries the encouraging news of an emerging group with a different voice, one that is 'nuanced, hopeful, adult'.&nbsp;... It is essentially a willingness to listen to both sides of the argument."<ref name=Anderson />  But three objections were often heard.  Some critics accused Satin of misguided policy proposals, as when peace studies scholar [[Michael N. Nagler]] wrote that the article "praising humanitarian military intervention as the 'peace movement' of our time, is nothing short of an insult&nbsp;... to the ''real'' peace movement" [emphasis in original].<ref>Michael N. Nagler, in "Peace Brawl", ''Radical Middle Newsletter'', February 2000, p.&nbsp;5.</ref>  Other critics accused Satin of abandoning his old constituency, as when author and former ''New Options'' advisor [[David Korten]] chided him for consciously choosing pragmatism over idealism.<ref>David Korten, in "Globalism and Localism: An Exchange", ''Radical Middle Newsletter'', September 1999, p.&nbsp;5.</ref>  There were also accusations of elitism, as when the executive editor of ''[[Yes! (U.S. magazine)|Yes!]]''  magazine said Satin favored globalization because it appealed to his interests and those of his "law school buddies".<ref>Sarah Ruth van Gelder, in "Globalism and Localism: An Exchange", ''Radical Middle Newsletter'', September 1999, pp.&nbsp;5–6.</ref>

''New Options Newsletter'' was based on the theories set forth in ''New Age Politics''.<ref name=Clark />  But Satin's approach to his radical middle project was eclectic and experimental.<ref name=Utne>Leif Utne, "[http://www.utne.com/2004-09-01/the-radical-middle.aspx The Radical Middle]", ''Utne Reader'', issue no. 125, September–October 2004, p.&nbsp;82.  Retrieved April 17, 2011.</ref> His contribution to radical centrist political theory, the book ''Radical Middle'', was not published until 2004, the newsletter's sixth year.  Until then, the only glimpse Satin gave of his larger vision appeared in an article he wrote for an academic journal.<ref>Mark Satin, "Where's the Juice?",  {{Cite web |url=http://www.gwu.edu/~ccps/rcq/issues/12-4.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=March 26, 2020 |archive-date=December 19, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061219215215/http://www.gwu.edu/~ccps/rcq/issues/12-4.pdf |url-status=bot: unknown }}", ''The Responsive Community'', vol. 12, no. 4 (2002), pp.&nbsp;70–75.</ref>

=== ''Radical Middle'', the book ===
Satin's book ''Radical Middle: The Politics We Need Now'', published by Westview Press and Basic Books in 2004, attempts to present radical centrism as a political ideology.<ref name=Olson>Robert Olson, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20120716184225/http://www.wfs.org/revsatinjf05.htm The Rise of 'Radical Middle' Politics]", ''The Futurist'', January–February 2005, pp.&nbsp;45–47.  Magazine of the World Future Society.</ref>  It is considered one of the two or three "most persuasive"<ref>Leonard Santow and Mark Santow, ''Social Security and the Middle-Class Squeeze'', Praeger Publishers&nbsp;/ Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005, p.&nbsp;4.  {{ISBN|978-0-275-98881-4}}.</ref> or most representative<ref>Christopher B. Strain, ''Reload: Rethinking Violence in American Life'', Vanderbilt University Press, 2010, p.&nbsp;149 n.26.  {{ISBN|978-0-8265-1742-5}}.</ref><ref>Wendy L. Wall, ''Inventing the 'American Way': The Politics of Consensus from the New Deal to the Civil Rights Movement'', Oxford University Press, 2008, pp.&nbsp;297–98 n.25.  {{ISBN|978-0-19-532910-0}}.</ref> books on the subject, and it received the "Best Book Award" for 2003 and 2004 from the Section on Ecological and Transformational Politics of the [[American Political Science Association]].<ref name=APSA>The Editors, "Organized Sections Distribute Awards at 2004 Annual Meeting", ''[[PS Political Science & Politics|PS: Political Science & Politics]]'', vol. 37, no. 4 (2004), p.&nbsp;923.  A journal of the American Political Science Association.</ref>  It also generated&nbsp;– like all of Satin's works&nbsp;– criticism and controversy.

[[File:Joseph Ducreux - Portrait of Benjamin Franklin in blue coat and a fur collar.jpg|thumb |left |upright |alt=Painting of Benjamin Franklin in green coat |[[Benjamin Franklin]] (1706–1790).  Satin calls him the radical middle's favorite Founding Father because of his penchant for "creatively borrowing" from everyone.]]
Satin presents ''Radical Middle'' as a revised and evolved version of his ''New Age Politics'' book, rather than as a rejection of it.<ref name=Radical />  Some observers had always seen him as a radical centrist.  As early as 1980, author Marilyn Ferguson identified him as part of what she called the "Radical Center".<ref>Ferguson, ''Aquarian Conspiracy'', pp.&nbsp;228–29 and&nbsp;434.</ref>  In 1987, culture critic Annie Gottlieb said Satin was trying to prompt the New Age and New Left to evolve into a "New Center".<ref name=Gottlieb />  But the revisions Satin introduces are substantial.  Instead of defining politics as a means for creating the ideal society, as he did in ''New Age Politics'',<ref name=Nielsen /> he defines radical middle politics as "idealism without illusions"{{refn|This phrase, unattributed by Satin, is credited to [[John F. Kennedy]] by Kennedy biographer [[Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.]]<ref>John P. Avlon, ''Independent Nation: How the Vital Center Is Changing American Politics'', Harmony Books / Random House, 2004, pp.&nbsp;109 and&nbsp;356 n.5.  {{ISBN|978-1-4000-5023-9}}.</ref>|group=nb}}&nbsp;– more creative and future-oriented than politics-as-usual, but willing to face "the hard facts on the ground".<ref name=Olson />  Rather than arguing that change will be brought about by a third force, he says most Americans are already radical middle&nbsp;– "we're very practical folks, and we're very idealistic and visionary as well."<ref name=Cox>Tony Cox, "Interview: Mark Satin Discusses the Radical Middle", printed transcript, National Public Radio: The Tavis Smiley Show, July 9, 2004, pp.&nbsp;1–2.</ref>

Although Satin argues in ''New Age Politics'' that Americans need to change their consciousness and decentralize their institutions,<ref name=Clark /> in ''Radical Middle'' he says they can build a good society if they adopt and live by Four Key Values: maximize choices for all Americans, give every American a fair start, maximize every American's human potential, and help the peoples of the developing world.  Instead of finding those values in the writings of contemporary theorists, Satin says they are just new versions of the values that inspired 18th-century American revolutionaries: liberty, equality, pursuit-of-happiness, and fraternity, respectively.  He calls [[Benjamin Franklin]] the radical middle's favorite Founding Father, and says Franklin "wanted us to invent a uniquely American politics that served ordinary people by creatively borrowing from all points of view."<ref name=Paragraph>This paragraph combines material from the following sources:
* Olson, "Rise of Radical Middle", pp.&nbsp;45–47.
* Michael Marien, "Radical Middle", ''Future Survey'', vol.&nbsp;26, no.&nbsp;4 (2004), p.&nbsp;9.</ref>{{refn|Satin claims that his  interpretation of Franklin is supported by [[Walter Isaacson]]'s biography ''[[Benjamin Franklin: An American Life]]'' (2003).<ref>Satin, ''Radical Middle'', pp.&nbsp;30–31.</ref>|group=nb}}

In ''New Age Politics'', Satin chooses not to focus on the details of public policy.<ref>Gordon Flagler, "New Age Philosopher Good Despite Extreme Proposals", ''[[Ottawa Citizen]]'', June 4, 1977, p.&nbsp;39.</ref>  In ''Radical Middle'', however, Satin develops a raft of policy proposals rooted in the Four Key Values.  (Among them: universal access to private, preventive health insurance, class-based rather than race-based affirmative action,  mandatory national service, and opening U.S. markets to more products from poor nations.)  In ''New Age Politics'', Satin calls on "life-oriented" people to become radical activists for a New Age society.  In ''Radical Middle'',  Satin calls on people of every political stripe to work from within for social change congruent with the Four Key Values.<ref name=Paragraph />

{{quote box|width=35%|quote="I think most of us secretly know&nbsp;– and those of us at the radical middle are inclined to say&nbsp;– that without such concepts as duty and honor and service, no civilization can endure.&nbsp;... I suspect most Americans would respond positively to a [draft] if it gives us some choice in how to exercise that duty and service.&nbsp;... Exactly the kind of choice my generation did not have during the Vietnam War."|source=– Mark Satin in 2004, on mandatory national service and the individual conscience.<ref>Satin, ''Radical Middle'', pp.&nbsp;126–27.</ref>|style=padding:8px}}

Satin's mandatory national service proposal drew significant media coverage,<ref name=Cox /><ref name=Beardsley>Nancy Beardsley, "[https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-a-2004-07-28-40-1-66890702/261794.html Independent Voters Put a New Face on US Politics]", Voice of America newswire, July 28, 2004, p.&nbsp;3.  Originally Voice of America radio broadcast, July 27, 2004.  Reproduced on the Voice of America website, October 28, 2009. Retrieved January 3, 2016.</ref> in part because of his status as a draft refuser.<ref name=Constable>Burt Constable, "When It Comes to Death and War, There's No Dodging the Issues", ''[[Daily Herald (Arlington Heights)|Daily Herald]]'' (suburban Chicago), February 4, 2003, p.&nbsp;9.</ref>  Satin argues that a draft could work in the United States if it applied to all young people, without exception, and if it gave everyone a choice in how they would serve.<ref name=Cox />  He proposes three service options: military (with generous benefits), homeland security (at prevailing wages), and community care (at subsistence wages).<ref name=Draft>Satin, ''Radical Middle'', Chap.&nbsp;12.</ref>  On [[Voice of America]] radio, Satin presented his proposal as one drawing equally from the best of the left and the right.<ref name=Beardsley />  On [[NPR|National Public Radio]], he emphasized its fairness.<ref name=Cox />

''Radical Middle'' provokes three kinds of responses: skeptical, pragmatic, and visionary.  Skeptical respondents tend to find Satin's beyond-left-and-right policy proposals to be unrealistic and arrogant.  For example, political writer [[Charles R. Morris]] says "Satin's nostrums" echo the "glibness and overweening self-confidence&nbsp;... in Roosevelt's brain trust, or in John F. Kennedy's."<ref name=Morris>Charles R. Morris, "[https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/what-works-what-doesnt-0 What Works & What Doesn't]", ''Commonweal'', June 4, 2004, p.&nbsp;25.  Retrieved December 13, 2013.</ref>  Similarly, the policy director of the [[Democratic Leadership Council]] says Satin's book "ultimately places him in the sturdy tradition of 'idealistic' American reformers who think smart and principled people unencumbered by political constraints can change everything."<ref name=Kilgore>Ed Kilgore, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20240614101016/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Good+government%3A+time+to+stop+bashing+the+two-party+system-a0119444637 Good Government: Time to Stop Bashing the Two-Party System]", ''The Washington Monthly'', June 2004, pp.&nbsp;58–59.</ref>

Pragmatic observers tend to applaud Satin's willingness to borrow good ideas from the left and the right.<ref name=Olson />  But these respondents are typically more drawn to Satin as a policy advocate&nbsp;– or as a counterweight to partisan [[Militant (word)|militants]] like [[Ann Coulter]]<ref>Larry Cox, "Shelf Life: Radical Middle",'' [[Tucson Citizen]]'', March 18, 2004, "Calendar" section, p.&nbsp;12.</ref>&nbsp;– than they are to him as a political theorist.  For example, Robert Olson of the [[World Future Society]] warns Satin against presenting the radical middle as a new ideology.<ref name=Olson />

Visionary respondents typically appreciate Satin's work as a policy advocate.  But they also see him as attempting something rarer and, according to spiritual writer Carter Phipps, richer&nbsp;– raising politics to a higher level by synthesizing truths from all the political ideologies.<ref name=Phipps />  Author [[Corinne McLaughlin]] identifies Satin as one of those creating an ideology about ideologies.<ref>McLaughlin, ''Spiritual Politics'', pp.&nbsp;77–81.</ref>  She quotes him:
<blockquote>Coming up with a solution is not a matter of adopting correct political beliefs.  It is, rather, a matter of learning to listen&nbsp;– really, listen&nbsp;– to everyone in the circle of humanity, and to take their insights into account.  For everyone has a true and unique perspective on the whole.  [Many] years ago the burning question was, How radical are you?  Hopefully someday soon the question will be, How much can you synthesize?  How much do you dare to take in?<ref>McLaughlin, ''Spiritual Politics'', p.&nbsp;81.</ref></blockquote>

== Later life ==
Life changed for Satin after writing and publicizing his ''Radical Middle'' book.  In 2006, at the age of 60, he moved from Washington, D.C., to the San Francisco Bay Area to reconcile with his father, from whom he had been estranged for 40 years.<ref name=Hurst />  "With the perspective of time and experience," Satin told one reporter, "I can see [my father] was not altogether out to lunch."<ref name=Hurst />  Later that year Satin began a committed relationship with his eventual life partner.  He describes it as no accident.<ref>Satin, ''Up From Socialism'', p.&nbsp;323.</ref>

In 2009 Satin learned he was losing his eyesight as a result of [[diabetes]].<ref>Satin, ''Up From Socialism'', pp.&nbsp;324–325.</ref>  He stopped producing ''Radical Middle Newsletter'' but resolved to continue promoting [[transpartisan]] and "post-socialist" ideas.<ref>Satin, ''Up From Socialism'', p.&nbsp;325.</ref>  From 2009 to 2011 he presented occasional guest lectures on "life and political ideologies" in peace studies classes at the [[University of California, Berkeley]].<ref>Mark Satin, "[http://www.radicalmiddle.com/ideologies.htm Fifty Contemporary Political Ideologies]", ''Radical Middle'' website, July 5, 2011.  Retrieved October 28, 2011.</ref>  In 2015 he helped produce a "40th Anniversary Edition" of his book ''New Age Politics'',<ref name=Gilman>Rhoda Gilman, "[https://greenhorizon.sites.community/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/GHM_33.pdf  New Age Politics: Our Only Real Alternative]", ''Green Horizon Magazine'', vol. 13, issue no. 33, spring–summer 2016, pp.&nbsp;20, 34.  Retrieved October 27, 2025.</ref> and in 2017 he helped produce a 50th anniversary edition of his ''Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada''.<ref name=Roy />

=== ''Up From Socialism'' ===

In his mid-70s, Satin wrote the book ''Up From Socialism'' (2023).<ref> Susan Witt, "[https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/lessons-for-visionary-activists  It Isn't 'The System' That's Holding Visionary Activists Back From the World We Want]", Common Dreams website, November 10, 2024. Retrieved May 24, 2025.</ref>  It was edited by [[Adam Bellow]], a son of the novelist [[Saul Bellow]].<ref>Satin, ''Up From Socialism'', pp.&nbsp;339–340.</ref>  Shortly after publication, Satin described what he saw as the book's political perspective on the [[Civil Rights Movement Archive]] website:  "[In my new book], radical politics no longer means taking an extreme side of an issue and acting as if you're right and everyone else is wrong (or, especially today, 'evil'). Rather, it means listening empathically to the fears, needs, wants, and wisdom of people on all sides of an issue, and then working with all sides to develop genuine (not mushy-middle) solutions that address everyone's core interests. That is the kind of movement we need today, not a revival of the movements of the Sixties".<ref>Mark Satin, [https://www.crmvet.org/vet/satinm.htm Mark Satin], last paragraph, c. 2023.  In [https://www.crmvet.org/ Civil Rights Movement Archive], "Activists" section, "Roll Call" sub-section.  Retrieved May 23, 2024.</ref>

Reviewers' reactions to the book differed greatly from one another.  On the progressive website [[Common Dreams]], for example, [[Schumacher Center for a New Economics|Schumacher Center]] activist Susan Witt succinctly summarizes Satin's critique of New Left, transformational, Green, and radical centrist initiatives (and activists) over the decades.  She appreciates his tone of "heartache rather than blame", and empathizes with his final call to create a new political movement of genuinely kind people who learn from everyone and synthesize left and right.<ref>Witt, "It Isn't 'The System'".  The quoted phrase is from the fourth paragraph.</ref>  By contrast, in a review-essay on the conservative ''[[New English Review]]'' site, cultural critic [[Bruce Bawer]] presents the organizational efforts and personal behavior of Satin and his colleagues as bizarre and appalling.  While Bawer acknowledges that Satin was never a socialist and that he became more pragmatic over time, he contends that even at his final, radical-centrist stage Satin failed to abandon "the idea of coming up with grand formulations for social transformation".<ref>Bruce Bawer, "[https://www.newenglishreview.org/mark-satins-long-journey-from-radicalism-to-reality  Mark Satin's Long Journey from Radicalism to Reality]", ''New English Review'', August 29, 2024. Retrieved October 13, 2025. The quoted phrase is from the second-to-last paragraph.</ref>

== Assessment ==
Mark Satin has been a controversial public figure since the age of 20. Assessments of his significance vary widely.

=== Positive or empathic views ===

[[File:Mark Satin by Gary Faigin.jpg|thumb |right |alt=Stern-looking middle-age man speaking into a microphone. |Satin defending his views at a bookstore in Seattle, 2004.  (Drawing by [[Gary Faigin]]).]]

Some observers see Satin as an exemplary figure. Global-literature scholar J. Daniel Elam, for example, places Satin in a line of effective refugee and internal-exile writers that includes [[Henry David Thoreau]] and [[Richard Wright (author)|Richard Wright]].<ref>J. Daniel Elam, ''World Literature for the Wretched of the Earth: Anticolonial Aesthetics, Postcolonial Politics'', Fordham University Press, 2020, p.&nbsp;124.  {{ISBN|978-0-823289806}}.</ref>  David Armstrong, in his study of independent American journalism, presents Satin as an embodiment of the "do-it-yourself spirit" that makes an independent press possible.<ref name=Armstrong />  Futurists Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps portray Satin as a pioneer "networker" who spent two years riding the bus across the U.S. in an attempt to connect like-minded thinkers and activists.<ref name=Lipnack /> [[Marilyn Ferguson]], author of ''The Aquarian Conspiracy'', says that by engaging in a lifelong series of personal and political experiments with few resources, Satin is playing the role of the holy "[[Foolishness for Christ|Fool]]" for his time.<ref name=Ferguson />

Other observers stress the freshness of Satin's political vision. Social scientists [[The Cultural Creatives|Paul Ray and Sherry Anderson]], for example, argue that Satin anticipated the perspectives of 21st century social movements better than nearly anyone.<ref name=Ray>Paul H. Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson, ''[[The Cultural Creatives|The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World]]'', Harmony Books&nbsp;/ Random House, 2000, pp.&nbsp;206–07. {{ISBN|978-0-609-60467-0}}.</ref>{{refn|The authors devote the opening of their "Converging Movements" section to telling Satin's story, then name six "other visionaries": [[George Leonard]], Marilyn Ferguson, Alvin Toffler, Fritjof Capra, Hazel Henderson, and [[Theodore Roszak (scholar)|Theodore Roszak]].<ref name= Ray />|group=nb}} [[Humanistic psychology|Humanistic psychologist]] John Amodeo says Satin is one of the few political theorists to grasp the connection between personal growth and constructive political change.<ref name=Amodeo>John Amodeo, "The Six-Sided Prison", ''Yoga Journal'', November–December 1978, pp.&nbsp;62–63.</ref>  Ecofeminist [[Greta Gaard]] claims that Satin "played a significant role in facilitating the articulation of Green political thought".<ref>Gaard, ''Ecological Politics'', p.&nbsp;143.</ref>  Policy analyst [[Michael Edwards (international development specialist)|Michael Edwards]] sees Satin as a pioneering [[transpartisan|trans-partisan]] thinker.<ref name=Edwards>Michael Edwards, "[https://www.opendemocracy.net/transformation/michael-edwards/is-there-any-hope-for-new-age-politics  How Can We Make Our Politics Reflect What's Best In Us and Not What's Worst?]", [[openDemocracy]] website, July 18, 2016, paragraphs #9–20.  Retrieved July 26, 2016.</ref>  Peace researcher [[Hanna Newcombe]] and many other observers find a spiritual dimension in Satin's politics.{{refn|Newcombe points to a [[Pierre Teilhard de Chardin|Teilhardian]] element in Satin's work.<ref>Hanna Newcombe, "World Religion for the Coming Age", in [[Walter Dorn]], ed., ''World Order for a New Millennium: Political, Cultural, and Spiritual Approaches to Building Peace'', Palgrave Macmillan, 1999, p.&nbsp;232 n.1.  {{ISBN|978-0-312-21635-1}}.</ref>  So does biologist David H. Lane in his critique of Teilhardian philosophy.<ref>David H. Lane, ''The Phenomenon of Teilhard'', Mercer University Press, 1996, pp.&nbsp;99 and 115.  {{ISBN|978-0865544987}}.</ref>  Spiritual writer Anna Lemkow sees an overlap with  [[Theosophy (Blavatskian)|theosophy]],<ref>Anna F. Lemkow, ''The Wholeness Principle: Dimensions of Unity Within Science, Religion, and Society'', Quest Books / [[Theosophical Society in America]], 2nd ed., 1995, pp.&nbsp;273–74. {{ISBN|978-0-8356-0715-5}}</ref> and British scholar Aidan Rankin sees an overlap between the original Satin-Spretnak "Ten Key Values" document, discussed above, and [[Jainism]].<ref name=Rankin /> Author and academic Diane Dreher says a passage in Satin's ''New Age Politics'' captures the [[Tao]]'s "lesson of oneness".<ref>Diane Dreher, ''The Tao of Inner Peace'', Plume / Penguin Random House, 2000, p.&nbsp;208.  {{ISBN|978-0-452-28199-8}}.</ref>Anthropologist Armin Geertz identifies a [[Prophecy|prophetic]] dimension in Satin's work (but finds it inauthentic).<ref>Armin W. Geertz, ''The Invention of Prophecy: Continuity and Meaning in Hopi Indian Ritual'', University of California Press, 1994, p.&nbsp;308.  {{ISBN|978-0-520-08181-9}}.</ref> Christian scholar [[Norman Geisler]] describes Satin's environmentalism, disapprovingly, as [[pantheism|pantheistic]].<ref>Norman L. Geisler, ''Christian Ethics: Contemporary Issues and Options'', Baker Academic / Baker Publishing Group, 2010, p.&nbsp;320.  {{ISBN|978-0-8010-3879-2}}.</ref>  Elsewhere, Geisler notes – also without approval – that Satin promoted a [[Modern paganism|contemporary form of paganism]] that "could adapt nature- and woman-centeredness to new priorities".<ref>Norman L. Geisler, ''Christian Apologetics'', 2nd ed., Baker Academic / Baker Publishing Group, 2013, p.&nbsp;238.  {{ISBN|978-1-4412-4581-6}}</ref>  [[Rick Fields]], an authority on [[Buddhism]], says some of Satin's [[political ethics]] could form the basis of a society "in harmony with diverse spiritual beliefs".<ref>Rick Fields, ''Chop Wood, Carry Water: A Guide to Finding Spiritual Fulfillment in Everyday Life'', Jeremy P. Tarcher Inc. / Penguin Group, 1984, p.&nbsp;243.  {{ISBN|978-0-87477-209-8}}.</ref>|group=nb}}  Political scientist Christa Slaton's short list of "nonacademic" transformationalists consists of [[Alvin Toffler|Alvin and Heidi Toffler]], [[Fritjof Capra]], Marilyn Ferguson, [[Hazel Henderson]], [[Betty Friedan]], [[E. F. Schumacher]], [[John Naisbitt]], and Mark Satin.<ref name=Slaton />

Some see Satin as a classic example of the perpetual rebel and trace the cause back to his early years. For example, author Roger Neville Williams focuses on the harshness and "paternalistic rectitude" of Satin's parents.<ref name=Williams /> Novelist [[Dan Wakefield]], writing in ''[[The Atlantic]]'', says Satin grew up in a small city in northern Minnesota like Bob Dylan but did not have a guitar to express himself with.<ref name=Wakefield>Dan Wakefield, "Supernation at Peace and War", ''The Atlantic'', March 1968, p.&nbsp;42.</ref> According to historian [[Frank Kusch]], the seeds for rebellion were planted when Satin's parents moved him at age 16 from liberal Minnesota to still-segregated Texas.<ref>Frank Kusch, ''All American Boys: Draft Dodgers in Canada from the Vietnam War'', Praeger Publishers, 2001, p.&nbsp;100.  {{ISBN|978-0-275-97268-4}}.</ref>

=== Negative or equivocal views ===

Although many observers praise or are intrigued by Satin, many find him dismaying.  Memoirist [[George Fetherling]], for example, remembers him as a publicity hound.<ref name=Fetherling>George Fetherling, ''Travels By Night: A Memoir of the Sixties'', McArthur & Company Publishing, 2000, orig. 1994, p.&nbsp;138. {{ISBN|978-1-55278-132-6}}.</ref>  Literary critic Dennis Duffy calls him incapable of learning from his experiences.<ref name=Duffy>Dennis Duffy, "Perhaps Somewhere a Turgenev Is Waiting", ''The Globe and Mail'' (Toronto), June 12, 1976, p.&nbsp;34.</ref> Green Party activist [[Howie Hawkins]] sees him as "virulently anti-left".<ref>Howard Hawkins, "[https://s3.amazonaws.com/xlsuite_production/assets/10435353/VOL_23_01.pdf North American Greens Come of Age: Statism vs. Municipalism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919170807/https://s3.amazonaws.com/xlsuite_production/assets/10435353/VOL_23_01.pdf |date=September 19, 2016 }}", ''Our Generation'', vol. 23, issue no. 1 (Winter 1992), p.&nbsp;75.  Retrieved August 7, 2016.</ref>  The ''[[Washington Monthly]]'' portrayed him in his 50s as a former New Age "guru",<ref name=Kilgore /> and ''[[Commonweal (magazine)|Commonweal]]'' compares reading him to listening to glass shards grate against a blackboard.<ref name=Morris />{{refn|Privately, educator John Ohliger mocked what he called Satin's "warm, fuzzy arguments".<ref>David Yamada, "The Adult Educator as Public Intellectual", in Andre P. Grace, Tonette S. Rocco, and associates, ''Challenging the Professionalization of Adult Education: John Ohliger and Contradictions in Modern Practice'', Jossey-Bass / John Wiley & Sons, 2009. p.&nbsp;156. {{ISBN|978-0-7879-7827-3}}.</ref>|group=nb}}

Other observers see Satin as an emotionally wounded figure. For example, historian [[Pierre Berton]] calls him a "footloose wanderer" and says he hitchhiked across Canada 16 times.<ref name=Berton />  Culture critic Annie Gottlieb, who attributes Satin's wounds to his struggle against the Vietnam War, points out that even as a successful newsletter publisher in Washington, DC, he paid himself the salary of a monk.<ref>Gottlieb, ''Do You Believe?'', pp.&nbsp;72–73.</ref>

The major substantive criticisms of Satin's work have remained constant over time. His ideas are sometimes said to be superficial; they were characterized as childish in the 1960s,<ref name=Clausen /> naive in the 1970s,<ref name=Labonte>Richard Labonte, "Business for Humanity in the New Age", ''Ottawa Citizen'', April 10, 1979, p.&nbsp;32.</ref> poorly reasoned in the 1980s<ref name=Cummings /> and 1990s,<ref>Cloud, ''Control and Consolation'', pp.&nbsp;143,&nbsp;146.</ref> and overly simple in the 2000s.<ref>Marien, "Radical Middle", p.&nbsp;9.</ref> His ideas have also occasionally been seen as not politically serious,<ref>Robert Sarti, "TV Technology Used to Find God at Symposium", ''[[The Vancouver Sun]]'', December 1, 1976, p.&nbsp;7.</ref> or as non-political in the sense of not being capable of challenging existing power structures.<ref>Jamison, ''Making of Green Knowledge'', p.&nbsp;169.</ref> His work is sometimes said to be largely borrowed from others, a charge that first surfaced with regard to his draft dodger manual,<ref name=Hagan /><ref name=Fetherling /> and was repeated to varying degree by critics of his books on New Age politics<ref name=McClaughry /> and radical centrism.<ref name=Kilgore />

Satin has long been faulted for mixing views from different parts of his political odyssey.  In the 1970s, for example, ''Toronto Star'' editor [[Robert Nielsen]] argued that Satin's leftist pacifism warps his New Age vision.<ref name=Nielsen /> Three decades later, public-policy analyst Gadi Dechter argued that Satin's New Age emotionalism and impracticality blunt his radical-centrist message.<ref name=Dechter>Gadi Dechter, "Radical Middle: The Politics We Need Now", ''[[Baltimore City Paper]]'', February 25, 2004, p.&nbsp;35.</ref> At 58, Satin suggested his message could not be understood without appreciating all the strands of his personal and political journey:
<blockquote>
From my New Left years I took a love of political struggle. From my New Age years I took a conviction that politics needs to be about more than endless struggle&nbsp;– that responsible human beings need to search for reconciliation and healing and mutually acceptable solutions. From my time in the legal profession I took an understanding (and it is no small understanding) that sincerity and passion are not enough&nbsp;– that to be truly effective in the world one needs to be credible and expert. ...

Many Americans are living complicated lives now&nbsp;– few of us have moved through life in a straight line. I think many of us would benefit from trying to gather and synthesize the difficult political lessons we've learned over the course of our lives.<ref name=Mark>Satin, ''Radical Middle'', p.&nbsp;30.</ref>
</blockquote>

== Publications ==

=== Books ===
* ''Up From Socialism: My 60-Year Search for a Healing New Radical Politics'', Bombardier Books&nbsp;/ Post Hill Press, distributed by Simon & Schuster, 2023.  {{ISBN|978-1-63758-663-1}}.  Strengths and weaknesses of the "post-socialist" wing of the social change movement.
* ''Radical Middle: The Politics We Need Now'', Basic Books, 2004, orig. Westview Press, 2004.  {{ISBN|978-0-8133-4190-3}}.  Radical-centrist ideas presented as an integrated political ideology.
* ''New Options for America: The Second American Experiment Has Begun'', foreword by [[Marilyn Ferguson]], The Press at California State University, 1991.  {{ISBN|978-0-8093-1794-3}}.  Twenty-five cover stories from Satin's ''New Options Newsletter''.
* ''New Age Politics: Healing Self and Society'', Delta Books&nbsp;/ Dell Publishing Co., 1979.  {{ISBN|978-0-440-55700-5}}.  New Age political ideas presented as an integrated political ideology.{{refn|name=first|A "40th Anniversary Edition" of ''New Age Politics'', condensed and updated by the author, with a new subtitle and a foreword by spiritual writer [[David Spangler]], appeared in 2015.<ref name=Only>Mark Satin, ''New Age Politics: Our Only'' Real ''Alternative'', foreword by [[David Spangler]], Lorian Press, 2015.  {{ISBN|978-0-936878-80-5}}.</ref>|group=nb}}
* ''Confessions of a Young Exile'', Gage Publishing Co.&nbsp;/ Macmillan of Canada, 1976.  {{ISBN|978-0-7715-9954-5}}.  Memoir covering the years 1964–66.
* ''Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada'', House of Anansi Press, 1968.  {{No ISBN}}. {{OCLC|467238}}.  Preserve oneself and change the world.  Satin wrote Part One ("Applying") and solicited and edited the materials in Part Two ("Canada").  OCLC retrieved December 13, 2013.{{refn|A 50th anniversary edition of the ''Manual'', with an introduction by Canadian political economist [[James Laxer]] and a 10-page afterword by Satin, appeared in 2017.<ref>Mark Satin, ''Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada'', introduction by [[James Laxer]], The A List / House of Anansi Press, 2017.  {{ISBN|978-1-4870-0289-3}}.</ref>|group=nb}}

=== Newsletters ===
* ''[http://www.radicalmiddle.com/ Radical Middle Newsletter]'', 120 issues, 1999–2009.  {{ISSN|1535-3583}}.  Originally hard-copy only, now largely online.  [[Radical centrism|Radical centrist]] political orientation.  Newsletter retrieved April 17, 2011, ISSN retrieved September 28, 2011.
* ''[http://www.radicalmiddle.com/nonr.htm New Options Newsletter]'', 75 issues, 1984–1992.  {{ISSN|0890-1619}}.  Originally hard-copy only, now partially online.  [[Transformative social change|Transformational]] political orientation.  Newsletter retrieved October 18, 2014, ISSN retrieved September 28, 2011.
* ''Renewal Newsletter'', 26 issues, 1981–1982.  No ISSN, not online.  Produced in cooperation with the [[New World Alliance]].<ref>Satin, ''Up From Socialism'', pp.&nbsp;172–173 (on the relationship between Satin's ''Renewal Newsletter'' and the New World Alliance).</ref>

=== Selected articles ===
* "[https://spectator.org/my-super-woke-ideas-helped-kill-my-former-girlfriend-sherri  My Super-Woke Ideas Helped Kill My Former Girlfriend]", ''[[The American Spectator]]'', February 7, 2024. Self-critique of some of the more radical ideas in the author's book ''New Age Politics''.  Retrieved May 29, 2025.
* "[https://houseofanansi.com/blogs/anansi/godfrey-and-me-a-guest-post-by-mark-satin-1  Godfrey and Me]", [[House of Anansi Press]] website, June 14, 2017.  How Satin convinced Anansi to publish his ''Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada''.  Retrieved April 4, 2019.
* "[https://web.archive.org/web/20061219215215/http://www.gwu.edu/~ccps/rcq/issues/12-4.pdf Where's the Juice?]", ''The Responsive Community'', vol. 12, no. 4 (2002), pp.&nbsp;70–75.  Critical review of [[Ted Halstead]] and [[Michael Lind]]'s book ''The Radical Center'', in a [[Communitarianism|communitarian]] journal edited by [[Amitai Etzioni]].  Retrieved April 17, 2011
* "[https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/annam1994&div=48 Law and Psychology: A Movement Whose Time Has Come]", ''[[NYU Annual Survey of American Law|Annual Survey of American Law]]'', vol. 51, no. 4 (1994), pp.&nbsp;583–631.   Early argument for what is now called [[therapeutic jurisprudence]].  Retrieved September 17, 2025.
* "[https://archive.org/details/Esquire-Magazine-1983-04/page/n63/mode/2up Do-It-Yourself Government]", ''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]'', vol. 99, no. 4 (April 1983), pp.&nbsp;126–28.  Early attempt to present New Age political ideas as pragmatic and centrist.  Retrieved September 17, 2025.

=== Selected interviews ===
* "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1qQQhlOWTY Mark Satin Talks With High School Students About Being a Radical Activist in the 1960s and 1970s]", produced by the [https://www.crestwood.on.ca/ohp Oral History Project] at [[Crestwood Preparatory College]], May 15, 2025.  Public video.  Retrieved August 31, 2025.
* "[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rick-heller/the-new-age-40-years-late_b_9765486.html The New Age 40 Years Later]", ''[[The Huffington Post]]'', April 25, 2016.  Interview by Rick Heller of the Humanist Community at Harvard.  Retrieved July 16, 2016.
* "[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3247038 Mark Satin on the Politics of the Radical Middle]", [[NPR|National Public Radio]] audiotape, July 9, 2004.  Interview by [[Tony Cox (journalist)|Tony Cox]] for ''[[The Tavis Smiley Show]]''.  Retrieved April 17, 2011.
* "[https://archive.org/details/sim_whole-earth_whole-earth-review_winter-1988_61/page/106/mode/2up 20th Anniversary Rendezvous: Mark Satin]", ''[[Whole Earth Review]]'', issue no. 61, winter 1988, p.&nbsp;107.  Interview by [[Kevin Kelly (editor)|Kevin Kelly]].  Retrieved September 17, 2025.

=== Short stories ===
* "[https://www.newenglishreview.org/articles/my-revolution  My Revolution]", ''[[New English Review]]'', November 2024. Young political activist befriends elderly [[Pawnbroker|pawnbroker]] in a gritty part of Oakland CA in the 2020s.  Retrieved May 29, 2025.
* "[https://spectator.org/another-idealistic-lefty-bites-the-dust  Another Idealistic Lefty Bites the Dust]", ''[[The American Spectator]]'', June 10, 2024.  Semi-autobiographical story about being so dedicated to a political vision that your personal life is in shambles.  Retrieved October 20, 2025.
* "[http://www.crmvet.org/nars/satin15.htm The Three Committees]", [[Civil Rights Movement Archive]] website, "Activists" section, "Our Stories" sub-section, 2015.  Website sponsored by [[Duke University Libraries]] and others.  Semi-autobiographical story about being an estranged [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]] volunteer in Mississippi in 1965.  Retrieved May 26, 2024.

== See also ==
* [[Canada and the Vietnam War]]
* [[List of futurologists]]
* [[List of peace activists]]
* [[S. H. Rider High School]]
* [[Transformative social change]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|group="nb"|45em}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category}}

* [http://www.radicalmiddle.com/ Mark Satin's website].  Foregrounds selected ''Radical Middle Newsletter'' articles from 1999 to 2009.  Also features material on  [http://www.radicalmiddle.com/tadp.htm Toronto Anti-Draft Programme],  [http://www.radicalmiddle.com/nwa.htm New World Alliance], [http://www.radicalmiddle.com/nonr.htm ''New Options Newsletter''], and three of Satin's books.  Retrieved May 18, 2024.
* [https://www.vcn.bc.ca/~jjones/indiv.html Vietnam War Resisters in Canada: Individual Resisters].  Provides links to many of their writings and bios, including Satin’s.  Retrieved May 20, 2024.
* [http://www.context.org/iclib/ic01/gilman1 Context Institute: Introduction to ''In Context''].  Satin was a founding advisor to editor [[Robert Gilman]]'s ''In Context'' quarterly from 1983 forward.  Retrieved May 18, 2024.

=== University holdings ===
* [https://search.lib.umich.edu/catalog/record/990121729120106381?query=Mark%20Satin&utm_source=lib-site-search  Mark Satin Papers, 1967–2009], in the [http://www.lib.umich.edu/labadie-collection Joseph A. Labadie Collection] at Hatcher Library, University of Michigan. "Two linear feet" of correspondence and documents.  Retrieved October 26, 2025.
* [https://discoverarchives.library.utoronto.ca/downloads/mark-satin-papers.pdf Mark Satin Papers], in the [http://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/ Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library] at University of Toronto.  Correspondence, documents, and other materials related to Satin's time at the Toronto Anti-Draft Programme and his subsequent activities in Canada, through 1978.  Retrieved May 18, 2024.
* [https://librarysearch.temple.edu/catalog/991029852229703811 New World Alliance and New Options: Correspondence Files, 1977–1992], in the [https://library.temple.edu/scrc Special Collections Research Center] at Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia.  Features thousands of letters to the Alliance and ''New Options Newsletter''.  Retrieved October 22, 2025.

{{Anti-war|state=collapsed}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Satin, Mark}}
[[Category:1946 births]]
[[Category:American alternative journalists]]
[[Category:American anti–Vietnam War activists]]
[[Category:American expatriates in Canada]]
[[Category:American legal writers]]
[[Category:American male journalists]]
[[Category:American nonviolence advocates]]
[[Category:American political philosophers]]
[[Category:American political writers]]
[[Category:American sustainability advocates]]
[[Category:California Greens]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Members of Students for a Democratic Society]]
[[Category:Memoirists from Minnesota]]
[[Category:Memoirists from Texas]]
[[Category:New Age writers]]
[[Category:New York University School of Law alumni]]
[[Category:Newsletter publishers (people)]]
[[Category:People from Moorhead, Minnesota]]
[[Category:People from Wichita Falls, Texas]]
[[Category:Radical centrist writers]]
[[Category:University of British Columbia alumni]]
[[Category:Vietnam War draft evaders]]