Managing Chaos is Greg Guma’s look back at his experiences over 50 years as a journalist, activist, editor and progressive manager — of newspapers, social change groups and Pacifica Radio, the country’s original listener-supported radio network. His 15th book, in a career that began in 1968 with reporting for the Bennington Banner, a southern Vermont daily, Managing Chaos discusses the evolution of radio and television, the impacts of concentrated media ownership, the rise of the alternative press, and his own work — before and during the progressive revolution that changed the state’s power structure.
Weaving together an intimate account of what he saw as Pacifica’s post-revolutionary CEO and episodes from his earlier life as a reporter, editor and activist, Guma also explores the challenges of maintaining democratic institutions in a culture of distrust and polarization, of striking the delicate balance between truth and advocacy, observation and participation, and of managing conflicts with persuasion instead of force. He calls the book a media saga, a personal story, and a cautionary tale.