Mark Satin

Mark Satin (born November 16, 1946) is a U.S. lawyer and editor of the online political periodical Radical Middle Newsletter. He graduated from the New York University School of Law in 1995, and his article "Law and Psychology: A Movement Whose Time Has Come" (Annual Survey of American Law, 1994, issue 4) was an early articulation of the now-emerging concept of "therapeutic jurisprudence" (see Prof. David Wexler's Therapeutic Jurisprudence website (http://www.therapeuticjurisprudence.org)).

He is a proponent of radical centrist politics. His most recent book, Radical Middle: The Politics We Need Now, 2004 (ISBN 0813341906), won "Outstanding Book Award 2004" from the Section on Ecological and Transformational Politics of the American Political Science Association (see Section 26, APSA Awards website (http://www.apsanet.org/imgtest/2004%20Section%20Awards%20Winners.pdf)).

Satin was a green activist from 1984 to 1990, and was a primary editor, with feminist philosopher Charlene Spretnak, of the founding document of the Green Party (United States), the Ten Key Values statement (see John Rensenbrink, Against All Odds, 1999, p. 4).

Satin's hard copy monthly newsletter, New Options (1983-1992), well known as "Washington DC's idealistic political newsletter," received Utne Reader's first "Alternative Press Award for General Excellence: Best Publication from 10,000 to 30,000 Circulation." The most widely discussed New Options articles are collected in Satin's book New Options for America: The Second American Experiment Has Begun, 1991 (ISBN 080931794X).

In the 1970s Satin was co-founder and executive director of the New World Alliance (http://www.radicalmiddle.com/new_world_all.htm), a U.S. New Age political organization that sought to go "beyond left and right" (see Art Stein, Seeds of the Seventies, 1985, pp. 134-139). It drew on the ideas of Fritjof Capra, Duane Elgin, Willis Harman, Hazel Henderson, John Vasconcellos, and many other "transformational" thinkers, as well as ideas in Satin's book New Age Politics: Healing Self and Society, 1979, orig. 1976 (ISBN 0440557003).

In the 1960s Satin was co-founder and executive director of the Toronto Anti-Draft Programme (http://www.radicalmiddle.com/tadp.htm), a major draft dodger assistance organization during the Vietnam War (see Pierre Berton, 1967: The Last Good Year, 1997, pp. 197-203, and John Hagan, Northern Passage, 2001, pp. 74-78). Satin's book Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada, 1968 (ISBN B0006BYDLA), was an underground bestseller, selling 65,000 copies by mail from Toronto and inspiring at least that many pirated, bowdlerized, or mimeographed knock-offs (see Joseph Jones, "The House of Anansi's Singular Bestseller," Canadian Notes & Queries, No. 61, 2002, pp. 19-22).

Satin serves as advisor to the Centrist Coalition (http://www.centristcoalition.com), Let's Talk America (http://www.letstalkamerica.org), Politics of Trust Network (http://www.politicsoftrust.net), and other U.S. activist organizations. He lives in Washington, DC, USA.

Related topics

• Radical middle
• New Age
• Draft dodger

References

• Radical Middle Newsletter (http://www.radicalmiddle.com), website
• Mark Satin contribution to Civil Rights Movement Veterans website (http://www.crmvet.org/vet/satinm.htm) (March 2005), testimony
• Robert Olson, "The Rise of 'Radical Middle' Politics," The Futurist Magazine (http://www.wfs.org/revsatinjf05.htm) (January-February 2005), analysis
• Radical Middle: The Politics We Need Now (http://www.radicalmiddle.com/book.htm) (2004), book info., noncommercial site
• Marilyn Ferguson, "Playing the Fool" (http://www.radicalmiddle.com/ferguson.htm) (1991), essay
• Jeff Rosenberg, "Mark's Ism: Editor Builds a New Body Politic," City Paper, Washington DC (March 17, 1989), feature story
• Alison Wells & Stanley Commons, "Moving Politics with Spirit (and Greyhound)," New Realities Magazine (June/July 1979), feature story
• New Age Politics (http://www.radicalmiddle.com/newagepolitics.htm) (1979, orig. 1976), book info., noncommercial site
• Mark Satin, Confessions of a Young Exile (1976, ISBN 0771599544), novel
• Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada (http://www.radicalmiddle.com/manual.htm) (1968), book info., noncommercial site
• Anastasia Erland, "Mark Satin, Draft Dodger," Saturday Night Magazine, Canada (September 1967), sympathetic cover story
• Oliver Clausen, "Boys Without a Country," The New York Times Magazine (May 21, 1967), unsympathetic feature story