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Paul Rogat Loeb (born July 4, 1952)^[1] is an American writer whose work has focused onactivism,civic engagement, andsocial change.

Loeb was born inBerkeley, California. He attendedStanford University, and subsequently attended theNew School for Social Research^[2] inNew York City, where he worked actively to end theVietnam War. He also began his writing and speaking career during that period.^[3]

Loeb's work offers an often alternative look at currentsocial issues, frompoverty,taxation, and budget priorities tocriminal justice,environmentalism, and citizen activism. His writing has received wide attention, including being cited in Congressional debates, and he has been interviewed hundreds of times for radio, TV and print media.

Loeb's first book,Nuclear Culture (1982), examined the daily life ofatomic weapons workers at theHanford nuclear site inTri-Cities, Washington. His second book, written in response to theReagan Administration's escalation of the nuclear arms race, wasHope In Hard Times (1986), which portrayed ordinary Americans involved in grassrootspeace activism. His next book wasGeneration at the Crossroads (1994), which explored the choices and values ofGenX, and delved into the issue ofpolitical apathy among American college students.^[4] Loeb's fourth book,Soul of a Citizen, first published in 1999, strove to counter the prevalent sense of powerlessness and cynicism in the United States with inspirational stories of citizen activists. His following book,The Impossible Will Take a Little While (2004), was an anthology detailing the achievements of activists in history who faced and overcame enormous obstacles. It was named the #3 political book of 2004 by theHistory Channel and theAmerican Booksellers Association,^[5][6] and also won theNautilus Book Award for bestsocial change book of the year.^[7] A new and wholly updated edition ofSoul of a Citizen was released in 2010, and also garnered the Nautilus Award for that year.^[8]

Loeb has also written for a wide range of publications,^[3][9] including theNew York Times,^[10] theWashington Post,^[11]USA Today,AARP Bulletin,^[12] theLos Angeles Times,^[13] theBoston Globe,Psychology Today, theChristian Science Monitor, theChronicle of Higher Education, andHuffington Post,^[14] as well asRedbook,Parents Magazine,Sojourners, theAtlanta Journal-Constitution, theMiami Herald,^[15] theBaltimore Sun, theCleveland Plain Dealer, theDetroit News, theSan Francisco Chronicle, theSt. Louis Post-Dispatch, theMinnesota Star Tribune,^[16] theTampa Tribune,Mother Jones,^[17]The Nation,^[18] The Fulcrum,^[19] theNational Catholic Reporter,Teaching Tolerance, theInternational Herald Tribune, andAcademe.^[20]

Loeb has been interviewed^[3] on NBC, CNN, PBS, Fox, C-Span,^[21]National Public Radio,^[22] the BBC, the ABC, NBC, and CBS radio networks, American Urban Radio,Voice of America, and national German, Australian, and Canadian radio, as well as in many of the newspapers cited above,^[23] many of which have also reviewed his works.^[24] He has also spoken atTedX inAthens^[25] andCalgary.^[26]

Loeb has lectured at over 400 college campuses, and numerous national conferences. He founded the Campus Election Engagement Project, a nationalnonpartisan effort to engage students in voting, engaging some 600 campuses by 2020 before Loeb left.^[27][28][29] He also founded guides.vote,^[30] which created nonpartisan candidate guides for major elections. He left guides.vote in April 2025 to return to writing.

Loeb is also a featured commentator in the filmEvery Three Seconds, by Oscar shortlisteddocumentary filmmaker Daniel Karslake.^{[citation needed]}

Loeb lives inSeattle and is married to writer Rebecca Hughes.

• Loeb, Paul Rogat (1982).Nuclear Culture: Living and Working in the World's Largest Atomic Complex. New Society Publishers.ISBN 978-0-86571-088-7.
• Loeb, Paul Rogat (1986).Hope in Hard Times: America's Peace Movement and the Reagan Era. Lexington Books.ISBN 978-0-669-12929-8.^[31]
• Loeb, Paul Rogat (1994).Generation at the Crossroads: Apathy and Action on the American Campus. Rutgers University Press.ISBN 978-0-8135-2256-2.^[32]
• Loeb, Paul Rogat (2010).Soul of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in Challenging Times.St. Martin's Publishing Group.ISBN 978-1-4299-3407-7.^[33]
• Loeb, Paul Rogat (2014).The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear.Basic Books.ISBN 978-0-465-03858-9.^[34]

• Student activism

• Paul Rogat Loeb's Official Website
• Interview with Paul Loeb by Stephen McKiernan, Binghamton University Libraries Center for the Study of the 1960s, January 30, 2010

• 20th-century American journalists
• 21st-century American journalists
• 20th-century American non-fiction writers
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• 1952 births
• Activists from the San Francisco Bay Area
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• American anti–Vietnam War activists
• American anti-war activists
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• American sustainability advocates
• HuffPost writers and columnists
• Living people
• Nautilus Book Award winners
• Stanford University alumni
• The New School alumni
• Writers about activism and social change
• Writers from Seattle

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