PROPERTY POWER: How to Keep the Bulldozer, the Power Line, and the Highwaymen Away from Your Door

Ms. Guitar's message is as direct as that bulldozer she won't let push her around -- local taxpayers (read exclusive suburbanites) can resist and defeat ""progress"" (read big highways, power plants, housing developments, jetports, shopping centers, factories) if they are willing to fight back with the vote, petitions, constant complaints, court actions, restrictive zoning laws, organization of pressure groups, community land acquisition programs, ecological breastbeating, high decibel propaganda. . . anything short of self-immolation. She provides instances of how it has been done from New England to California, with much attention given to her own town of Redding, Connecticut, where she led a successful charge against the ""spoilers"" -- the State and Conn. Light & Power. Some will read Guitar's espousal of such concepts as political decentralization and environmental protectionism as codeword for racism and elitism, but she's prepared for this, defending the right ""to build a clean, green world and keep it that way"" under the banner of Property Power. This, then, is part encouragement for the haves who are increasingly fearful of encroachment, part manifesto articulating the growing disenchantment with bureaucratic government and exploitative industry, and part manual for suburban counterinsurgents who are not only digging in but glowering back. Look for a big demand in the safe places.