This is a compelling read for anyone concerned about making democracy work to the benefit of their entire community. First a Dream tells the heartwarming and instructive story of how the people of Belevedere and Tiburon in Calfornia's Marin County dared to believe that they could build cooperatively a grass-roots community library that reflects and serves their diverse population in extraordinary ways. It is heartwarming to read how their community library, serving two quite different towns, engages and invigorates a remarkable number of their citizens in reading, the arts, and community improvement projects. It is instructive to see what it takes to build such a learning community into the roots of a society: a vision, extraordinary commitment and perserverence, flexibility, imagination and time.

This is one of the better guides I have seen on how constructively to involve an entire community in building its own living democracy. There are exciting and useful lessons here for anyone who is ready to engage in strengthening their neighborhood, town or society.