Books by Frances Moore Lappe

An optimistic book for Americans who are asking, in the wake of Trump's victory, What do we do now? The answer: We need to organize and fight to protect and expand our democracy.Americans are distraught as tightly held economic and political power drowns out their voices and values. Legendary Diet for a Small Planet author Frances Moore Lappe and organizer-scholar Adam Eichen offer a fresh, surprising response to this core crisis. This intergenerational duo opens with an essential truth: It's not the magnitude of a challenge that crushes the human spirit. It's feeling powerlessin this case, fearing that to stand up for democracy is futile. It's not, Lappe and Eichen argue. With riveting stories and little-known evidence, they demystify how we got here, exposing the well-orchestrated effort that has robbed Americans of their rightful power. But at the heart of this unique book are solutions. Even in this divisive time, Americans are uniting across causes and ideologies to create a ';canopy of hope' the authors call the Democracy Movement. In this invigorating ';movement of movements,' millions of Americans are leaving despair behind as they push for and achieve historic change. The movement and democracy itself are vital to us as citizens and fulfill human needsfor power, meaning, and connectionessential to our thriving. In this timely and necessary book, Lappe and Eichen offer proof that courage is contagious in the daring fight for democracy.

Three out of five Americans, both Republicans and Democrats, feel our country is headed in the wrong direction. America is at the edge, a critical place at which we can either renew and revitalize or give in and lose that most precious American ideal democracy and along with it the freedom, fairness, and opportunities it assures.

From national political campaigns to local community action groups, a grassroots approach to change is taking hold of America today. Ordinary citizens, driven by a desire to go beyond rhetoric and ideology and address problems in a direct, practical way, are changing the way we live, work, and govern ourselves. The Quickening of America reveals how this new approach to solving our problems is indeed working--in local government, education, the workplace, human services, and the media. The authors criss-crossed America in search of democracy in action and found moving stories of ordinary people coming together to make their institutions meet their needs.