Social movements around the world have used a wide variety of protest tactics to bring about enormous social changes, influencing cultural arrangements, public opinion, and government policies. In this book, the author explores key theoretical issues in the study of social movements through a series of case studies. The aboriginal rights movement, the women's movement, the gay and lesbian rights movement, the environmental movement, and the global justice movement are studied. The author describes and analyzes social movements in terms of their strategies and tactics, the organizational challenges they faced, and the role the mass media and counter-movements played in determining their successes and failures.