The bestselling author of Diet for a Small Planet and Hope's Edge shows how to overcome the restrictions of fear to create personal change in your life and social change in the world.

More than thirty years ago, Diet for a Small Planet captured the imagination of millions of readers. Three decades later that book-and its sequel, Hope's Edge-remain popular for one reason: They help people make a personal connection with big-world solutions.

Today, millions of Americans are becoming aware of the disconnect between their own values and the direction of our world. Many people ask, "If I'm disturbed by the state of my society, and if my life doesn't feel connected to meaningful answers, why I am I not doing something about it? How can I get unstuck?"

You Have the Power offers powerful tools for releasing us. It recognizes that when we begin to face these questions, we meet fear. But it is our personal choices in the face of fear that make the difference. The desired revolution bringing forth the world we want depends on us: on how we relate to fear, in ourselves and in the world around us.

You Have the Power offers seven liberating thoughts about fear. Freeing us from fear's choking energy, these new thoughts allow us to fulfill our heart's desire-to be heroes to ourselves so we can shape the humane world we would like.

"Lappé popularized what she argued was the moral imperative of eating vegetarian in her 1971 classic, Diet for a Small Planet; Perkins co-founded the nonprofit Curious Minds, which helps youth identify and work towards a future vocation. Their idealistic treatise attempts to turn the constricting presence of fear into a 'power to create the lives we want and the world we want.' According to Perkins and Lappé, fear is spread by politicians and media that encourage people to be frightened of other countries and cultures, and that magnify the danger of crime. The result, they argue, is an emotionally paralyzed population, immobilized against real global dangers. In order to take action against environmental degradation, hunger and species extinction, people must dare to act, they say, and overcome fear by leaping into the unknown with creative solutions. They cite numerous examples of those who have helped trigger change in themselves and the world by taking risks. A woman named Jane Stern, for example, faced down a lifelong phobia about illness by becoming a volunteer medical technician and helping others who were sick and dying. After reading a newspaper story about a murdered homeless Guatemalan boy, a Manhattan chef changed his life, despite initial terror, by going to Guatemala and establishing a program for inner-city children. Lappé shares the way she coped with her fears after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, while Perkins describes how he found the courage to tell his parents that he was gay. This a fine collection of engrossing and inspiring anecdotes rather than a how-to manual, by two people who obviously care about the world and its people." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Frances Moore Lapp is the author of the 3-million-copy bestseller Diet for a Small Planet and more than a dozen other books.

Jeffrey Perkins is the founder of Curious Minds, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping young people clarify and enter their life's work.