'Classism, racism, sexism. Words, words, words? Revolutions, protests, riots - more words? That master of contentious politics, Sid Tarrow, examines how language constructs (empowers and unites) and deconstructs (disempowers and divides) actors. Using word counts and ethnography, his positivist constructivism connects words to actions as well as to historical structural contexts. Exploring cognitions, emotions, and meanings, Tarrow's rich analyses demonstrate how language endures through time and diffuses through populations via mechanisms of symbolic resonance and processes of strategic modularity.' Mark I. Lichbach, University of Maryland