Mark Satin -- New Age Politics book tour

“Since [Satin’s first speaking invitation, he] has covered more than 55,000 miles – mostly by Greyhound bus – and always with a couple of boxes of New Age Politics by his side. ... Satin has, in fact, begun to facilitate the formation of a national, New Age-oriented political organization.".
– Alison Wells and Stanley Commons, New Realities magazine, June - July 1979

Mark Satin's New Age Politics book tour
and New World Alliance organizing tour

I. INTRODUCTION BY M.S.

About two-thirds of my 90+ New Age Politics-related public appearances (often combined in 1979 with attempts to lay the groundwork for the New World Alliance) are listed here. Another 20 or so were in-studio radio appearances, and the remaining 10 or more are lost in the mists of time -- fond, blurry memories now of people and large rooms in places as diverse as Atlanta GA, Bangor ME, Boulder CO, Kent OH, Miami FL. . . .

To set the stage, here are excerpts from two articles about the book tour:

"If this book had come from a major publisher, it would be making waves, rest assured. But it couldn't have come that route, [and] that is [partly] what Mark Satin talks about as he slowly and personally makes his way from conference to festival, bringing a 'gospel' of New Age Politics."
– Irv Thomas, Black Bart newsletter, August 1979

"When Mark Satin finally came back to this country in April, 1978 -- thanks to President Carter's general amnesty -- he had $39, one speaking engagement, and a couple of hundred copies of this virtually self-published book. Now, a year later, Satin has [lined up] a major New York publisher . . . and enough speaking engagements to keep him in almost perpetual motion. Clearly, what Satin espouses in both his talks and his book -- a politics of personal responsibility and reconciliation -- is striking a responsive chord with a rapidly expanding audience."
– Alison Wells & Stanley Commons, New Realities magazine, June-July 1979

During the political organizing portion of the book tour (Jan. 19 - Dec. 7, 1979), a big chunk of my time was spent traveling across the U.S. by Greyhound bus to meet privately with politically-oriented individuals or small groups, principally in 24 places: Los Angeles, San Francisco-Berkeley, Minneapolis, Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Austin, Atlanta, Miami, western MA, Maine, Boston-Cambridge, New York City, Santa Cruz, Denver, Boulder, southern OR, Eugene, Portland, and Seattle.

The result of that effort was a constituency that eventually took part in a detailed questionnaire process that led to the creation of the New World Alliance (1979-1983, r.i.p.). To see the Alliance's brochure, political platform, and media mentions over the years, go to its home page HERE. For a look back at the Alliance by many of its founders and leaders, see our January 2008 article "Participants Agonize Over (and Draw Lessons From) the Death and Life of the First Transpartisan Political Organization."

II. THE TOUR

A. NovEMBER 1976 – 84-page Fairweather Press edition appears

Booth host, “World Symposium on Humanity,” 3HO (sponsor), Vancouver, BC, Canada (Nov. 27-Dec. 4, 1976)

Speaker, Unitarian Church (sponsor & venue), Victoria, BC, Canada (Feb. 27, 1977)

Booth host, “Earthbeat ‘77,” Calgary, AB, Canada (July 29-Aug. 1, 1977)

B. April 26, 1978 – Bus tour begins

Principal speaker & workshop leader, “Equinox Gathering,” annual meeting of the Northwest Network of Non-Profit Groups, Silver Falls State Park, OR (April 27-30, 1978)

C. May 1978 – 224-page Whitecap Books edition appears

[Fond note: Whitecap Books, a speck on the map in 1978, a two-person operation run out of the basement of Michael Burch's North Vancouver home, is now one of Canada's largest Canadian-owned publishing houses!]

Featured speaker & respondent, “Transition to a Global Society” colloquium, Planetary Citizens (sponsor), Mountain House, Lake Mohonk, NY (May 5-7, 1978)

Featured speaker, “Strategies of Emergence” conference, Lorian Association & Lindisfarne Association (sponsors), Bergamo Center, Dayton, OH (May 11-13, 1978)

Workshop leader, annual meeting of the Rocky Mountain Region of the Association for Humanistic Psychology, Regis College, Denver, CO (May 19-21, 1978)

Speaker, “New Age Politics” event, Tree of Life Cultural Center (sponsor), Tree of Life Bookstore, Harlem, New York, NY (May 26, 1978)

Featured speaker & panelist, conference sponsored by Findhorn Foundation & Lorian Association, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada (June 9-11, 1978)

Featured speaker, “Strategies for the ‘80s” event, various community associations (sponsors), Toronto Island, Toronto, ON, Canada (June 12, 1978)

Two workshops & booth host, “Toward Tomorrow Fair,” Pioneer Valley Association & U-Mass. Summer Session (sponsors), University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (June 16-18, 1978)

Principal speaker, “New Age Politics” event, Technology & Politics Newsletter (sponsor), All Souls Church, Washington, DC (June 29, 1978)

Booth host, “New Age Awareness Fair,” The Griffin People (sponsor), The Show Place, San Francisco, CA (July 6-9, 1978)

Featured discussant, “1968-78: Ten Years After” conference, Another Place Conference Center (sponsor & venue), Greenville, NH (July 21, 1978)

Panelist (with Marilyn Ferguson) & workshop leader, annual meeting of the Association for Humanistic Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada (Aug. 22-25, 1978)

Two workshops, “Shaping the Future” conference, Carleton University (sponsor & venue), Ottawa, ON, Canada (Aug. 26-27, 1978)

Booth host, annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Hilton Hotel, San Francisco, CA (Sept. 4-8, 1978)

Featured speaker, California Institute of Asian [now “Integral”] Studies (sponsor & venue), San Francisco, CA (Sept. 10, 1978)

Speaker, The Network Coffeehouse (sponsor & venue), San Francisco, CA (Sept. 12, 1978)

Principal speaker & respondent, “New Age Politics” event, Rogue Community College (sponsor), Rogue Building, Grants Pass, OR (Sept. 16, 1978)

Principal speaker, “New Age Politics” event, College Union Program Committee (sponsor), College Union Student Lounge, Fresno State University, Fresno, CA (Sept. 22, 1978)

Panelist (with Helen Caldicott & Ira Einhorn), Institute of Politics - Harvard University (sponsor & venue), Cambridge, MA (Sept. 28, 1978), video HERE

Featured speaker & workshop leader, “Healing the Earth” conference, Interface Foundation (sponsor), Longfellow Hall, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (Sept. 29-Oct. 1 1978)

Principal speaker, “New Age Politics” event, New Age Community Center (sponsor & venue), Portland, ME (Oct. 5, 1978)

Featured speaker & booth host, “Festival of Enlightenment,” Holistic Healing Center (sponsor), Gardner Student Center, University of Akron, Akron, OH (Oct. 14, 1978)

Principal speaker, “New Age Politics” event, Free Media Center (sponsor & venue), Lexington, KY (Oct. 17, 1978)

Principal speaker, “New Age Politics” event, College of Science in Society (sponsor), Romance Language Building, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT (Dec. 7, 1978)

Principal speaker, “New Age Politics” event, Friends of the San Francisco Public Library (sponsor), Park Branch Library, Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco, CA (Jan. 17, 1979)

D. January 19, 1979 – New World Alliance organizing portion of the bus tour / book tour begins

Featured speaker & two workshops & booth host, “Rainbow Rose Festival,” International Cooperation Council (sponsor), Convention Center, Pasadena, CA (Jan. 20-27, 1979)

Featured speaker, “Festival ‘79: Living in the New Age,” University of Manitoba (sponsor & venue), Winnipeg, MB, Canada (Feb. 23-25, 1979)

Featured speaker, “Transformational Society” seminar, National 4-H Clubs & Institute for Alternative Futures (sponsors), National 4-H Center, Washington, DC (March, 1979)

Featured speaker, “Modern Homesteading” conference, School of Living (sponsor), Deep Run Farm, York, PA (March 23-25, 1979)

Featured speaker & workshop leader, “Detroit Symposium on Humanity,” 3HO (sponsor), Student Union Building, University of Detroit, Detroit, MI (March 30-April 1, 1979)

Two workshops, “World Symposium on Humanity,” 3HO (sponsor), Toronto, ON, Canada (April 7-9, 1979)

Featured speaker & workshop leader, “World Symposium on Humanity,” 3HO (sponsor), Los Angeles, CA (April 10-14, 1979)

Featured speaker & respondent, “Getting to the Same Place” conference, Another Place Conference Center (sponsor & venue), Greenville, NH (May, 1979)

Featured speaker, annual meeting of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology, Asilomar Conference Center, Asilomar, CA (July 13-15, 1979)

Featured speaker, “New Directions” event, Santa Cruz Peace Center (sponsor & venue), Santa Cruz, CA (July, 1979)

Featured speaker, “New Age Politics Day,” New Age Caucus (sponsor), Glen Park Recreation Center, San Francisco, CA (Aug. 4, 1979)

Panelist, “Reform for Our Time” conference, Henry George School for Social Science (sponsor), Jack Tar Hotel, San Francisco, CA (Aug. 20-25, 1979)

Featured speaker & panelist, “Decentralist Weekend” colloquium, Institute for Liberty and Community (sponsor), Skycroft Conference Center, Middletown, MD (Sept. 14-16, 1979)

Featured speaker, “Law, Morality, and Spiritual Values” conference, Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga Centre (sponsor & venue), San Francisco, CA (Oct. 6, 1979)

Speaker, Professor Leonard Duhl’s “Health and Politics” class, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA (Oct. 8, 1979)

E. November 16, 1979 – 349-page Delta Books (Dell) edition appears

[Fond note: Gary Luke, my editor at Delta/Dell, was the youngest editor in the house at the time, and my book was the first he was principal editor of. Although I told everyone he was "too nice" to make it in NYC, Gary went on to have a very successful career in New York publishing -- until he decided to leave Simon & Schuster in 1994 to lead what I'd have called a more "New Age" life, as editorial director of Seattle's regional publishing house, Sasquatch Books.]

Guest of honor, "New Age Politics" book reception, Institute for Alternative Futures (sponsor), "Top of the Planet," The Planet Restaurant, Washington, DC (Nov. 29, 1979)

Guest of honor, "New Age Politics" book reception, Delta Books and Planetary Citizens (sponsors), 12th Floor Lounge, 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY (Dec. 6, 1979)

F. December 9, 1979 – book-and-organizing tour theoretically ends / New World Alliance officially founded. aND yet ...

Featured speaker, annual conference of the American Library Association, Bay Area Social Responsibilities Roundtable of the ALA (sponsor), Hilton Hotel, San Francisco, CA (Dec. 11, 1979)

Featured speaker & workshop leader, “12-Hour Political Party,” Association for Humanistic Psychology (sponsor), Masonic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA (Feb. 10, 1980)

Featured speaker, “Transformation-Oriented Politics” conference, Center for Urban Community Development (sponsor), Kenwood United Methodist Church, Milwaukee, WI (Mar. 21-22, 1980)

Featured speaker, annual meeting of the Northwest Region of the Association for Humanistic Psychology, Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA (June 20-22, 1980)

Principal speaker & workshop leader, annual meeting of Community Service, Inc., Yellow Springs Cultural Center, Yellow Springs, OH (July 18-19, 1980)

Four workshops, “First Global Conference on the Future: Thinking Globally, Acting Locally,” World Future Society (sponsor), various hotels, Toronto, Canada (July 20-24,1980)

Featured speaker (with Carl Rogers & Elizabeth Kubler-Ross) & workshop leader (with Hazel Henderson), annual meeting of the Swedish Administrative Personnel Association, Stockholm, Sweden (Sept. 30-Oct. 2, 1980)

Principal speaker, "New Age Politics" event, Humanistic Forum and English Speaking Society (sponsors), Aso Auditorium, University of Stockholm, Sweden (Aug. 31, 1981)

Principal speaker, “New Age Politics” event, Antioch University Seattle (sponsor & venue), Seattle, WA (Sept. 18, 1981)

Principal speaker, “Politics of Renewal” event, Rain Community Resource Center & Earthsong (sponsors), Northwest Service Center, Portland, OR (Sept. 22, 1981)

Principal speaker, “New Age Politics” event, CAREL Information Services (sponsor), First United Methodist Church, Eugene, OR (Sept. 24, 1981)

Featured speaker, annual meeting of the Association for Humanistic Psychology, The American University, Washington, DC (July 23-27, 1982)

Picture above: In July 1982, at the Association for Humanistic Psychology conference in Washington, D.C., Jeffrey Stamps, left, and Jessica Lipnack, co-authors of Networking (Doubleday, 1982), finally caught up with Mark Satin, right. Satin’s two-year networking tour, itemized above, had been featured in the “Politics and Economics” section of their book. (Photo by Jessica Lipnack.)