Getting a Grip

Winner of the 2008 JAMES BEARD HUMANITARIAN AWARD, 2008 NAUTILUS SMALL PRESS GOLD AWARD and 2008 NAUTILUS SILVER AWARD in the category of Social Change/Activism Getting a Grip: Clarity, Creativity & Courage in a World Gone Mad is a little book with a big message. Frances Moore Lappe--author of fifteen books, including three-million-copy bestseller Diet for a Small Planet--distills her world-spanning experience and wisdom in a conversational yet hard-hitting style to create a rare "aha" book. In nine short chapters, Lappe leaves readers feeling liberated and courageous. She flouts conventional right-versus-left divisions and affirms readers' basic sanity--their intuitive knowledge that it is possible to stop grasping at straws and grasp the real roots of today's crises, from hunger and poverty to climate change and terrorism. Because we are creatures of the mind, says Lappe, it is the power of "frame"--our core assumptions about how the world works--that determines outcomes. She pinpoints the dominant failing frame now driving out planet toward disaster. By interweaving fresh insights, startling facts, and stirring vignettes of ordinary people pursuing creative solutions to our most pressing global problems, Lappe uncovers a new, empowering "frame" through which real solutions are emerging worldwide. She writes: "My book's intent is to enable us to see what is happening all around us but is still invisible to most of us. It is about people in all walks of life who are penetrating the spiral of despair and reversing it with new ideas, ingenious innovation--and courage."

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements; Opening Note; Clarity; 1. The Straightjacket: peeling away the layers; elections plus a market... that's democracy?; lizzie's lessons; thin democracy's pitfalls; deeper dangers; humility and hope; 2. New Eyes: goodness of or in human nature?; an ecology of democracy, five qualities; a premise of plenty, a spiral of hope; 3. What Democracy Feels Like: nine dimensions, some glimpses; why now? four revolutions; Creativity; 4. Power Invisible: one choice we don't have; mirrors in our brain; power isn't a four-letter word; relational power's under-appreciated sources; drops count; 5. The Art Of Power: democracy's arts; the power of simply listening; conflict as creative; kids learn conflict is okay; 6. Talking Democracy: globalization or global corporate power?; free market-free trade or fair market-fair trade?; regulations or standards?; consumers or buyers?; Courage; 7. Seize the Moment: a downward spin; a rude shock; 8. When Fear Means Go: fear as pure energy; fear and conflict; as it is; old thoughts, new thoughts; inner applause; 9. Sanity in Motion: claiming our sanity; protection; a cautionary tale, the dangers of good intentions; on issues versus entry points; an internal checklist; bold humility; knowing; An Invitation; Questions to Spark Talk and Action; Recommended Reading; Endnotes; Index; Books from the Small Planet Institute; Ideas; Idea 1: Thin Democracy vs. Living Democracy; Idea 2: We All Have Public Lives; Idea 3: Rethinking Power; Idea 4: Ten Arts of Democracy; Idea 5: Toward a Language of Democracy; Idea 6: The Inner World of Living Democracy; Idea 7: Seven Ways to Rethink Fear; Idea 8: Living Democracy's Checklist.

About the Author :
Frances Moore Lappe is the author or co-author of 15 books, beginning with the 1971 three-million-copy Diet for a Small Planet. She is co-founder of the Institute for Food & Development Policy (Food First), the Center for Living Democracy, and the Small Planet Institute.

Review :
"Tikkun Magazine -"Lappe [gives]--plenty of examples of people making change in whatever system they inhabit by bringing stakeholders together irrespective of their initial opinions or class status. The necessary ingredients include a passion to change things, a freedom from too much ideology, a readiness to both enter into conflict and to mediate it through the kind of facilitation that enables people to hear each other's real needs, and the learning of partnership and communication skills--The best part of Lappe's book to me was when she suggested a whole new vocabulary for us to use--It's a fresh look constructed by an original mind, a woman who is grappling with real life problems worldwide and who is pragmatic and out-of-the-box in seeing where entry points for change can be made. If this book isn't inspirational and helpful, then I don't know what is. But it isn't an all-encompassing theory. It isn't a Das Capital to set an agenda for economic research and idealistic policy wonks Lappe [gives]--plenty of examples of people making change in whatever system they inhabit by bringing stakeholders together irrespective of their initial opinions or class status. The necessary ingredients include a passion to change things, a freedom from too much ideology, a readiness to both enter into conflict and to mediate it through the kind of facilitation that enables people to hear each other's real needs, and the learning of partnership and communication skills--The best part of Lappe's book to me was when she suggested a whole new vocabulary for us to use--It's a fresh look constructed by an original mind, a woman who is grappling with real life problems worldwide and who is pragmatic and out-of-the-box in seeing where entry points for change can be made. If this book isn't inspirational and helpful, then I don't know what is. But it isn't an all-encompassing theory. It isn't a Das Capital to set an agenda for economic research and idealistic policy wonks for a hundred years. That may be just as well, for pragmatic compassion and cooperative innovation with no pre-set limits may be just what we need. --David Belden "Tikkun Magazine" September/October 2007 "Getting a Grip is not an ordinary book: it's more like a new pair of glasses, allowing you to see everything around you with greater clarity. Suddenly the world is more comprehensible, more manageable, even more beautiful. You won't want to take them off."--Barbara Kingsolver Lapp [gives]plenty of examples of people making change in whatever system they inhabit by bringing stakeholders together irrespective of their initial opinions or class status. The necessary ingredients include a passion to change things, a freedom from too much ideology, a readiness to both enter into conflict and to mediate it through the kind of facilitation that enables people to hear each others real needs, and the learning of partnership and communication skillsThe best part of Lapps book to me was when she suggested a whole new vocabulary for us to useIts a fresh look constructed by an original mind, a woman who is grappling with real life problems worldwide and who is pragmatic and out-of-the-box in seeing where entry points for change can be made. If this book isnt inspirational and helpful, then I dont know what is. But it isnt an all-encompassing theory. It isnt a Das Capital to set an agenda for economic research and idealistic policy wonks for a hundred years. That may be just as well, for pragmatic compassion and cooperative innovation with no pre-set limits may be just what we need. --David Belden "Tikkun Magazine" September/October 2007 ""Getting a Grip" is not an ordinary book: it's more like a new pair of glasses, allowing you to see everything around you with greater clarity. Suddenly the world is more comprehensible, more manageable, even more beautiful. You won't want to take them off." --Barbara Kingsolver "An absolute must-read! Very inspiring and empowering. It makes you want to jump out of your seat and do something that will better our world."--Lina Musayev, Co-founder of United Students for Fair Trade "Booklist-""Displaying her usual laserlike logic, Lapp 's crystalline assessments virtually leap off the page. A source of inspiration." "I love "Getting a Grip". Its great positive energy awakens us to a whole new way to think and to act. Read it now."--Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, author of "Failing the Faithful" "Lapp has succeeded masterfully, saying what every presidential candidate should, and she is doing so with the boldness that is required."--John Nichols, "The Nation" "There is a small number of people in every generation who are forerunners, in thought, action, spirit, who swerve past the barriers of greed and power to hold a torch for the rest of us. Frances Moore Lapp is one of those."--Howard Zinn, author of "A People's History of the United States" "Booklist-" "Displaying her usual laserlike logic, LappA(c)'s crystalline assessments virtually leap off the page. A source of inspiration." "I love "Getting a Grip," Its great positive energy awakens us to a whole new way to think and to act. Read it now." aKathleen Kennedy Townsend, author of "Failing the Faithful" "LappA(c) has succeeded masterfully, saying what every presidential candidate should, and she is doing so with the boldness that is required." aJohn Nichols, "The Nation" "Tikkun Magazine -" Lappe [gives]--plenty of examples of people making change in whatever system they inhabit by bringing stakeholders together irrespective of their initial opinions or class status. The necessary ingredients include a passion to change things, a freedom from too much ideology, a readiness to both enter into conflict and to mediate it through the kind of facilitation that enables people to hear each other's real needs, and the learning of partnership and communication skills--The best part of Lappe's book to me was when she suggested a whole new vocabulary for us to use--It's a fresh look constructed by an original mind, a woman who is grappling with real life problems worldwide and who is pragmatic and out-of-the-box in seeing where entry points for change can be made. If this book isn't inspirational and helpful, then I don't know what is. But it isn't an all-encompassing theory. It isn't a Das Capital to set an agenda for economic research and idealistic policy wonks for a hundred years. That may be just as well, for pragmatic compassion and cooperative innovation with no pre-set limits may be just what we need.