Frances Moore LappéBesprekingen

Lappe helped me eat more sensibly.

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Frances Moore Lappe whose earlier book Diet For A Small Planet showed many people how eating less meat could not benefit themselves but the whole world addresses our thinking in Ecomind. She points out seven of what she calls "thought traps" what we might call conventional wisdom, and then shows a number of ways we can think differently as we reclaim our world. Thought trap # 7 is "it is too late" to change our warming climate. The author shows how we must reclaim democracy to save our world, and gives many examples including the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Arab Spring to demonstrate that ordinary humans can do that.

I would love to be part of one of these courageous groups, who fight for the health and quality of life and a fair economy. Since it is now almost 18 years since this book was written, if feel the need to "catch up" on these group in Francis Moore Lappe's later books. So I have still a lot to read. However, I think that activism should come first. Sitting at home reading doesn't get much done.

Diet for a Small Planet was my go-to college cookbook and amino acids text. Frankie Lappe was ahead of the curve not only on vegetarian cooking but also the link between food and the planet's health; climate researchers confirm her observations here on unsustainable food production. Imagining the bird that produced 14-oz. Costco chicken breasts draws me back to Lappe's dietary and planetary views.

I liked the message that fear is as powerful as you choose to make it, like all self-help books they dont' provide much in the way of pratical advice. Still, an inspiring read.

Written after the election of Donald Trump, this is a call to action. While not yet a classic like Rules for Radicals by Alinsky it belongs on shelf with it. Gentler in it's approach, the reader is lead to take action to protect our Democracy and your way of life. The authors have had life experiences that make this book a how to as well as a thought provoking read. Recommended for 9-12 as well as adults.

Frances Moore Lappé's and Adam Eichen's Daring Democracy is a wonderful read, especially for folks who are seriously concerned about the future of the United States and its democracy. Carol Wyndham is quoted in the book: "If you want to live in a democracy, you have to take responsibility for it." This book is a useful tool to help that happen. Lappé's and Eichen's writing is engaging and encouraging, although the section of the book describing where the U.S. is and how it got there is dark and a little frightening. Which is where the U.S. is at--no way for it not to be dark and frightening. But there are things we can do to go forward and Lappé and Eichen spell many of those things out. If you're looking for hope, give this book a look.

Daring Democracy: Igniting Power, Meaning, and Connection for the America We Want by Frances Moore Lappé is a must read for anyone with a passing interest in politics on either side of the aisle. Especially in todays challenging political climate, with Donald Trump as president, this book outlines how an individual can become more active in politics and move towards a better tomorrow.

Daring Democracy is that rare book that should be read by anyone along the political spectrum as long as that reader does indeed desire to live in a democracy. Those who, for whatever reason, prefer some other form of governance will find nothing with which to attack a genuine democracy. The idea of a democracy is not, and should not be perceived as, a partisan issue. In the current atmosphere it is because the right has chosen to be (or been manipulated into being) anti-democracy and any attempt for the ideal of one person one vote somehow appears liberal. That is simply how the powers behind the anti-democracy movement have framed the dialogue and does not reflect how democracy can and should work.

This book provides background and history of the anti-democracy movement, what can be done to work toward achieving the democratic government we once thought we had or was working toward perfecting. The information is well documented and almost everything is public record. This is not simply a book with a lot of opinion and little to no substance.

This is a short but dense book, a quick read but one that rewards a second slower read. The resources cited are wonderful and the suggestions for action are workable and within reach, at least for the time being. But action must be taken before the few remaining pillars of our democratic government are destroyed by the anti-democracy and un-American people currently running the country (into the ground).

Highly recommended across political opinions as long as the reader is at least open to the idea of the United States returning to being a democracy.

Reviewed from a copy made available through Goodreads' First Reads.

First, I am a registered Republican. Second, I watched Donald Trump become president with much apprehension. Unfortunately, I had read a great deal about his career, watched him faithfully on his reality show (a fact I am not proud of) and saw how he dealt with others. As a news junkie, I have watched with endless fascination mixed with horror as Trump has governed. Seeing what his true objectives are and feeling helpless to change things, I picked up this book. This is a book of hope, a book that clearly shows how we can become active to change things for the better and save our democracy. This is a book for anyone who cares about our country and our future. It is time we banded together and demand our basic rights - the right to vote, the right to have fair elections without big money controlling them, the right to basic health care, the right to be able to earn a fair salary, etc. It is time to take our country back from the top one percent and this book shows us how we can do that! Thank you!

I received this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewer Program. As an educator, I was troubled that this book spent more than the first half of the book defining the problem before even starting to look at solutions. While it is true that we need to know what bad there is so that we can work to fix it, it was mostly because I had signed up to review this book that I pushed through for what I hoped was some concrete things I could do. Although it was nice to hear about groups working together for democracy, it did not give me a whole lot that I could concretely do, beyond what I've read (and often better) elsewhere. There were many statistics about how much the country as a whole agrees (across party lines) on certain things that need to be fixed, but there was little discussion of how we are supposed to reach across the aisle and work together and bridge the gap. And intersectionality with minority groups seemed more like an afterthought, except for a few designated sections.

I was hoping this book would be something that I could pass onto friends - something short, but encouraging, with good ideas. It lacked too much in the concrete idea department. And I have to say that I was really put off by a quote that said that organizing is "really just socializing with a focus". In all, it was too lite, a bit too self-congratulatory, and although it encourages us that we will feel better once we become involved, it doesn't get into how to do hard things.

As a primer for people who need to know more about some of what's going wrong and how we got here, this book might be a good start. As far as solutions, right now, I need more than this book has to offer.

I hoped to get “Daring Democracy: Igniting Power, Meaning, and Connection for the America We Want” by Frances Moore Lappé and Adam Eichen, in part because I had found Moore Lappé’s books so inspiring. I am sorry that my uncorrected proof does not have the helpful index and books to follow through sections Beacon Press Books almost invariably include. (There is a page noting that they will be included in the final book, so I will probably buy the completed book.)

It has taken me a while to read it, so I have had a chance to see some of the early reviews. The very splitting behaviors that Moore Lappé and Eichen warn about in the book are prominent in the pro-Trump, anti-Trump reviews in LibraryThing. Not good. And not good reviewing. As early as page 3 they say “… Americans are not fundamentally a divided people. … Our point is that Americans who are typically portrayed as being far apart were actually seeking a similar change. In fact, poll after poll shows striking common ground in our values as well as our vision of the democracy we want.” [except for the super-rich]. Throughout the book, the authors believe in the values of most Americans. On page 120 they continue the inclusive talk: “All of this is great, you might be thinking, but America is a big country and progressives can’t make change alone – so these reforms will never pass. What this misses is that the Democracy Movement extends far beyond self-identifying “progressives”. The vast majority of Americans across party lines believes our system for financing campaigns is broken and desperately want reform.”

The only division the book accepts and revolts against is the division between most of the country and the super-rich and those who are bought by them.

Summary: Responding to the concentration of political power within monied elites, the authors expose their strategy, and advocate a growing Democracy Movement to recover American democratic institutions.

Perhaps one of the most disturbing consequences of politics in the post-Citizens United era is the enlarged role that hidden financial donors in what I would propose are rival plutocracies play in our national politics. That is also a concern of the authors of this work, although they only acknowledge the plutocracy of the right. While I think that is a defect of this book, the broader case they make for an active citizen’s democracy movement to challenge the hegemony of wealth in our politics is an important one. These rival plutocracies have created a polarization of the extreme right and left that doesn’t reflect the broader center of the country that has been dis-enfranchised because of the power of money, and the rippling developments that have made it more difficult to elect candidates who do not represent one of these extremes.

Frances Moore Lappe’, who I first encountered in the 1970’s in her Diet for a Small Planet teams up with young Democracy Movement activist Adam Eichen to expose the anti-democratic developments that have brought us to this place, and the need for and promise of a grassroots Democracy Movement to recovering and preserving democracy in America. There are three “powerful ideas” upon which this book is based:

1. Democracy is essential to address public needs and advance public goods.
2. Democracy is possible–a real democracy accountable to people and not narrow, private interests.
3. Each of us has a rewarding and exhilarating role to play in making democracy real.

After describing the powerful ideas that have arisen to respond to what they call “the anti-Democratic movement, the authors trace the development of this monied anti-Democratic movement. They begin with a confidential memo by Justice Lewis Powell commissioned by the U. S. Chamber of Commerce prior to his nomination to the Supreme Court. Powell expresses great concern for “free enterprise” and outlines a strategy to save it by 1) discrediting critics, branding them all as Marxists, 2) avoiding use of the word “capitalism,” substituting the rhetoric of “free” enterprise, 3) promoting a conservative presence in education, from campus speakers to textbooks, 4) gaining control of media outlets. They then describe two sets of strategies that arose from this memo. The first set of four strategies were to control the culture’s mindset:

Strategy 1: Command the Narrative. Think tanks pump out anti-government and pro-market gospel.
Strategy 2: Delegitimize Democracy’s Norms and Institutions.
Strategy 3: Quietly create a parallel political operation pushing the anti-democratic message with hundreds of front groups, community by community.
Strategy 4: Build big donors’ common purpose and coordinate their efforts to achieve the three strategies above.

The second four strategies then rig the rules to favor the monied elites:

Strategy 1: Open doors ever wider to big-money influence in our political system.
Strategy 2: Expand an army of lobbyists and usher anti-democracy forces into government.
Strategy 3: Reduce the voting power of those most likely to be hurt by, and therefore opposed to, the anti-democracy agenda. Curbing voting rights and access and the ruthless gerrymandering of districts.
Strategy 4: Where possible, wipe out local democracy altogether. Eliminate local control, destroy worker protections.

Part three of the book outlines the agenda of the nascent Democracy Movement and gives examples of the kind of impact citizens can have. What must clearly be focused on is finance reform, limits to the power of lobbyists, and redistricting reforms, along with bringing increased transparency about funding sources. The last several chapters are motivational, describing what the authors see as a growing and diverse grassroots movement that came together around a march from Philadelphia to Washington, around resistance to anti-democratic actions in North Carolina, the Women’s March, and other actions. The final chapter is a call for daring engagement in the pursuit of democracy, and outlines additional strategies each of us might pursue. Generally, these strategies combine individual courageous initiative, finding like-minded individuals via events and social media, joining forces with similar movements, and thus amplifying one’s voice.

One thing I think these writers get right is the need for an engaged democracy–that there are a number of us who are not being heard in our highly polarized political discourse. I call us “the adults” who believe a good society has to work for all of us, across race, social class, economic status, religion and gender. We realize it won’t be perfect for anyone, but that good solutions don’t leave anyone out, and the contributions of everyone are considered vital to our society’s health. It has to address concerns of both conservatives and liberals. Most of us are not extremists in any form–Marxist, fascist, anti-facist, you name it. We’re Americans who still think a democratic republic is worth preserving and enhancing, and it won’t be if a monied plutocracy controls it. We are the people we’ve been waiting for, whether young or old, and it is time to make our voices heard and not leave our politics and governance to the extremes.

At the same time, this work left me with two concerns. One is that the authors, (and Lappe’, a veteran activist should know better) do not adequately articulate a long term vision of pursuing democracy. The “anti-democracy” movement they describe was a disciplined, long-term effort by highly committed and focused alliances of individuals, and not simply the influence of a lot of money. Unless there is similar long-term discipline and focus to the democracy movement they envision, their efforts will be little more than attention-deficit disordered emotivist ventilation.

More concerning is that this work at best makes passing references to major funding of progressive causes, which was eclipsed in 2016. But to authentically represent “the adults” in the middle, the authors needed to denounce and expose the monied interests on both extremes in American politics, the elites on both extremes that have controlled our political conversation. Not doing so exposes this movement to the charge of being “stalking horses” for these progressive causes, particularly when they move beyond questions of electoral reform to social issues supported by the left while concerns of thoughtful moderate conservatives are ignored. I would suggest that until the writers do so, this proposal is not democratic enough.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher via LibraryThing. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

This book isn't quite what I expected, which was that it would be a simple how-to book on how to create an America for the people. But the book is interesting to me for two main reasons: One, it gives some background information on the anti-Democracy movement that started during the civil rights era, and two, it provides (some) information for people who want to fight for democracy.

Quite a good deal of the book deals with the history and tactics used by various organization to influence politics and society to favor corporations and how that has affected democratic rights in America. It explains a lot about what the agenda of the current GOP is all about, and why, for instance, they seem to want to take away affordable, accessible health care, or why they fight against unions, or why they try to suppress the voting rights of certain demographics, and it explains how incredibly deep and powerful their reach is, from the textbooks used in our schools, to the pervasive media that's planted with operatives who push the "free market" propaganda of the Republican party. I knew some of this stuff already, having followed fairly closely the Presidential election of 2016 in the US, but some of it I wasn't aware of. At first I thought all this background was boring and somewhat pointless, but I think knowing how Americans are being brainwashed to believe that a capitalistic society is what makes America great, helps to know how to fight against the negative parts of this agenda.

One complaint I have about this book, is that it is cleary biased, and when it finally gets to the part about how to save Democracy, it seems to kind of leave out the parts about how we as Americans share values, and that's what makes us strong. I was left a bit confused as to how to help bring along the staunch Republicans and Trump supporters, so that instead of seeing "the left" as evil and trying to undermine their America, they could see how a Democracy of the people rather than corporate and money controlled capitalism, is the way to a more prosperous life for them, as well as the "liberals." It's clear that the brainwashing via the media and other sources worked in creating an us vs them mentality, not just on the right, but the left as well. You can't really "fight" for Democracy if you leave half the country behind, and I was disappointed to not see any practical advice on how pro-Democracy activists could achieve "converting" right-wing people to fight for democratic rights along with the leftists.

It seems there must be some happy middle-ground, where we can have the best of both worlds, capitalism, but not of the GOP-flavored crony variety where the rich get richer while the middle-class disappears; and where power is in the hands of the people without it being absolute power or a "communist" type system which seems to be a deep fear of the right wing voters. We need to convince people to abandon partisanship politics, but as long as big money (and dark money) are pervasive, I don't really see that happening, no matter how long and hard we protest, or vote, our voices just aren't being heard.

This book is an outline on what needs to be done to get people excited about Grass Roots Democracy.
I only wish that every American could travel to a third world country where Democracy does not exist. Recently, I have traveled to Myanmar and parts of East Africa where the resources of the country are not distributed among the masses of people who live in dire poverty.
Unfortunately, this book is being published at a time in US history when our President, Mr. Trump, keeps Americans so fearful and anxious that we only live in the moment and cannot focus on the future. Until we feel safe, the dream of renewing our Democratic ideals is on hold

Whole wheat and soy, p. 181, 4 to 1.

This was the original small growth limited ambition route from the 1970s. The author is back with another look at progressive politics circa 2017. It is interesting to see the contrast between his perspective and the era of President Trump. Trump wants to make America great again and the author wants to make America small again.

Argues that the solution to world hunger is to grow food first instead of non-edible cash crops for export to the affluent First World. Discusses the political and economic reasons why so many nations devote their land and resources to cultivating export crops while their own people starve. Why American cats and dogs grow fat while Third World children suffer from chronic hunger.

Old as this book is with 25 year old statistics it remains valuable as a detailed, country by country account of how the United States hurt rather than helped much of the world with "assistance." Military, humanitarian, especially food assistance that often led to countries encourged to stop producing local food in favor of food exports. I believe it remains a book that should be on the shelf of anyone in the "assistance" business, even today.

20 years later, still wonderful, updated 1991.

Wow, this book was excellent. I found it to be probably the most comprehensive book about food politics that I've read. It encompasses a lot of important points and really takes a thorough look at all of the intricacies of our current food system. For example, the author makes all of the important connections and leaves no stones unturned. She explains how our current food system leads to overproduction, environmental devastation, hunger and questionable food products. She makes the connection between today's farming and food production systems and global capitalism. These are all important connections to make that many authors overlook.

What I found most amazing about this book is how accurate it still is 20 years after it was written, and I read the 20th anniversary edition. People knew about all of these things since the 1970s and haven't changed anything! It's depressing if you think about it like that, and really opens my eyes to how entrenched our food policies are. I find it strange that people are reading Michael Pollan as if he's coming up with these brand new ideas, and here they are published already in 1991. (Not to say that Pollan is plagiarizing this book, just that his ideas are hardly novel.)

For the vegan, you will probably lament the lack of animal rights consciousness in this book. The author doesn't eat meat, and explains how meat consumption is inefficient, bad for the environment and helps lead to global poverty, but doesn't take much of an animal rights perspective. (Read John Robbins for that.) She ultimately states that including a small portion of meat in one's diet isn't counter to the ideas in the book. As well, many (if not most) of the recipes do contain animal ingredients. That said, the recipes are probably still a good resource for people looking to eliminate meat from their diets.

looking for the positive, change assumptions

(Jane G.): I have read it. I found it a very encouraging book about how we can make a difference.

We own this because we feel we should - it is the companion to the classic we also have. We've not yet cooked anything out of it.