This page contains links to reports, handouts, interviews, videos, and other multimedia content produced by the Whirlwind Institute or featuring its founders, Mark and Paul Engler.
The following are recent posts from our newsletter, “Dispatches from the Whirlwind.” You can subscribe for future updates by visiting our Substack site, https://whirlwinddispatches.substack.com/.
“The field of civil resistance provides an antidote to the fatal shortage of vision that pervades our political class.”
A first-person account of living through a movement whirlwind.
The MLK Day holiday also provides an occasion to hold up some of the other great leaders of the civil rights movement.
A Year of Protest and Writing
What is co-governance? And why is it relevant to progressive politics? This report provides answers, offering a history of the concept, looking at best practices, and highlighting common tensions that arise between grassroots activists and the elected officials they put into office.
An organizing manual written by Paul Engler and Sophie Lasoff that provides information on what makes movements succeed and how we can use this knowledge to fight for a better America.
In 2018, Whirlwind Institute co-director Paul Engler was one of the lead authors on an Ayni Institute report created as a resource for funders interested in understanding the dynamics of social movements and in how to best support them.
Mark Engler’s first book was described by historian Greg Grandin as “an essential handbook not for the few who do rule the world but for the many who should.”
February 2026
July 2025
April 2018
January 2024
The following handouts are available for download in PDF format:
The Five Factors of Polarization
As a supplement to our article series on Protest and Polarization, we created a one-page handout on the key variables that shape whether or not the public response created by protest actions will be helpful for a cause. The handout is designed for use in trainings and group discussions, and it is available for download here.
