"Alan Khazei is the walking definition of a Big Citizen. One of the great entrepreneurs in America, he has created not just an idea, not just an organization, not just an impact---he has helped launch an enduring great movement that carries forth with exponential momentum. Read. Learn. Be inspired."---Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, coauthor of Built to Last"Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others,' Robert Kennedy famously wrote, `he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.' No one better exemplifies the truth of these words than Alan Khazel, the cofounder of City Year. In this stirring call to arms, Khazei lays out a path for the renewal of America, which should provoke conversation, debate, and action."---Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals"You can read Alan Khazei's extraordinary book forward or backward, starting with his personal saga of social invention in founding City Year and becoming a major leader in the movement for national service, or you can start with his concluding section that conveys his larger vision of a Service Nation in bold detail. But read it. Khazei has rolled into one ball his rich experience and creative ideas that will challange and inspire those ready to be big citizens, and make social entrepreneuring cantagious."---former Senator Harris Wofford"Forget the debate between big and small government. Big Citizenship gives an alternative---and far more inspiring---answer. From being one of the creators of City Year, to his work preserving AmeriCorps, Khazei knows exactly how idealism works."---Brad Meltzer, author of The Tenth Justice"Big Citizenship is a brilliant tour de force and force for change. Alan Khazel masterfully weaves together a big idea for the future of America with his personal journey as a savvy leader building a successful national organization and social movement. His engaging story will both inspire and yield practical models for action."---Rosabeth Moss Kanter, professor, Harvard Business School, and author of Confidence and Supercorp"Big Citizenship is not a `feel good' book, not even a `do good' book, but an invitation and challenge to `be good,' written by one of the most accomplished social entrepreneurs of this generation---or any other generation. Alan Khazei lives the change he seeks to create, and Big Citizenship is the story telling invitation to each of us to be the Big Citizen we can each of us be."---Jeff Swartz, Ceo of the Timberland CompanyWhen Alan Khazei ran in the Massachusetts special election to fill the Senate seat held by Ted Kennedy, he was endorsed by the state's leading newspaper, the Boston Globe, and by Jonathan Alter in Newsweek, in a column entitled "Teddy's Rightful Heir." Throughout his career, Alan Khazei has pioneered ways to empower citizens to make a difference.In 1987, as a young graduate from Harvard Law School, he turned down lucrative offers from corporate law firms to co-found a nonprofit organization called city Year ("One of the best youth services groups in the country," says E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post) with his friend, Michael Brown. City Year allowed young people to serve their communities---first in Boston, now in twenty cities across the U. S. and in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the United Kingdom---through mentoring, tutoring, and leading children. It also allowed Khazei to be at the forefront of a generation of innovators who invented new methods of social entrepreneurship.Khazei explored how social change could be achieved by mobilizing Congress, popular movements, and alliances of groups. Big Citizenship tells how, in the face of drastic budget cutbacks, Khazei led the effort to save AmeriCorps by convincing a huge coalition of people---members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, governors and mayors from around the country, private sector leaders, editorial boards of major newspapers, and thousands of American, citizens---to lend their support to the fight. Through his second start-up, Be The Change, Khazei persuaded candidates Barack Obama and John McCain to appear together on television during the 2008 election campaign to advocate for national service. With their backing, he helped to frame the bipartisan Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which ensured AmeriCorps' lingterm future.Khazei's Journey---from the most local of grassroots engagement to Washington, D.C.---is an extraordinary story and a vital model for how idealism works. Read Less