Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet

Given the subject matter, one can be forgiven for expecting Hope's Edge to be a depressing read--after all we are pushing our planet to its absolute limit and hope sometimes seems a great folly. But rather than increase my sense of helplessness, the mother-daughter team of researchers and writers (Frances Moore-Lappe and Anna Lappe)have inspired me and indeed pushed the edge of hope a little further. With its documentation of individual lives and community-based solutions, the book reminds me about the importance of our individual decisions. It is easy to become complacent when I live in one of the wealthier parts of the world. It is just as easy to feel helpless and apathetic and to not see the impact I can make simply by supporting my local organic farmers and making other conscientious consumer decisions. Hope's Edge eloquently points to the power of imagination, of envisioning new ways of living and working in community. Thanks Anna and Frances for making the journey and sharing it with the world!

I wanted to give you some feedback about an extraordinary book that you sell. Just out a few months ago, written by Frances Moore Lappe (author of Diet for a Small Planet), Ms. Lappe and her daughter Anna traveled 5 continents to write the stories of people in communities that are"doing the right thing" - benefiting their communities in sustainable ways as well as themselves and serving as inspiration for those of us who work to create more healthy and sustainable communities. Hope's Edge is even better than Diet for a Small Planet, and serves as a remarkable guide in a world that has become much harder to live in. Two books that have really changed the way I think about the world are Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point and Hope's Edge, by Frances Moore Lappe and Anna Lappe. Thank you for carrying books that introduce constructive avenues toward social change and move people to positive action.

This is one of the most creative, courageous books I've read in a long time, drawing lessons from something as essential as food to renew our hope in an era of anxiety, cynicism, and learned helplessness. Hope's Edge offers a welcome alternative to a world increasingly dominated by global capitalism, where more is often spent on processing, packaging, and promotion than on the nutritional value of the food itself and where American citizens are becoming unwary guinea pigs for GMO foods. From their grassroots research spanning five continents, Frances and Anna Lappe bring heartening evidence that democracy is still alive, that our personal choices can add up to make a tremendous difference, and that, as Margaret Mead once said, "a small group of highly committed people can change the world." I recommend this book highly for its compelling vision of creativity, community, and positive social change.

What a truly inspiring book! Frances and Anna Lappe put words to the previously not-so-well-articulated feelings of "stuckness" that lead so many of us -- and, therefore, the world -- to perpetuate unhealthy and unsatisfying patterns in our lives and in our communities. The off-the-beaten track tour of Brazil, Bangladesh, India, Kenya, and parts of Europe and the United States, gives an inside look at the growing movement of amazing people doing amazing things to attempt to reverse the increasing despair-ity in our world. These are the stories that rarely make it into the "news", but are so important to hear in order to give us hope.The recipes sound wonderful, however, I cannot find many of the ingredients here around my home in East Africa. So, in the true spirit of the book, I am substituting local ingredients to create globally-inspired cuisine. I can't wait to teach the mamas in the village how to use some of their traditional medicinal herbs to make a cream topping for their beet soup!If there has ever been a time for reflecting on how we are all linked-up, this book gives some wonderful insights and clues to how to make sense of it all...and, how to finally make the leap towards making a difference.

Be careful. This book could change your life. The people you meet and the ideas you encounter here will challenge your perceptions about the world and the choices you make every day, not only about the food you eat but about the other priorities in your life as well. This dynamic mother/daughter team use their journeys through five continents to introduce to you people and communities who have broken out of their boxes, who have chosen to create life-sustaining alternatives to corporate globalization. You meet today's pioneers in Brazil, Kenya, Bangaladesh, Kerala, Michigan, The Netherlands who have transformed their lives and their communities into vibrant greenhouses of sustainable democracy.But even more important than these inspiring examples of the possibilies for nurturing our planet, as well as ourselves, the Lappes provide us with new ways of thinking about the mental prisons in which most of us live our daily lives. They ask us, why do we as a society blithly permit hunger and suffering and disease in the lives of others on our small planet that we as individuals abhor and would never permit? Why do we daily make choices that run counter to our inner values? Their answer is that we habitually make invalid assumptions about the way life must be. They uncover several powerful "mind traps" that, like landmines, keep us fearful of choosing different pathways. They show us that we, like the remarkable people we meet in this book, can choose more caring, sustainable and hopeful lives by simply having the courage to choose a new possibility. This is not a cookbook, even though it has many recipies for delicious vegetarian dishes from some of the world's greatest chefs. Rather it is a map of the Lappe's journeys to greener, more hopeful pastures than most of us have imagined. This is a journey that you too will be tempted to follow. So, be careful. Don't buy this book unless you are ready to choose a new and different life for yourself and your community. You are forewarned.