This book is currently available for pre-order and will ship on or before the publishing date of December 3, 2024.
Free pick-up is available only from H&H at 2230 Frankford Ave.
Thank you for choosing to purchase your book from H&H Books for the Rosenbach's Book Club Special Meeting: The Power of Bridging by john a. powell happening on Tuesday, February 25, 2025.
This program is part of “The People’s Friend: Civic Dialogues at the Rosenbach.” As the United States reckons with challenging civic divisions, the Rosenbach is doing its part to create opportunities to learn, grow, and heal together, as one people. “The People’s Friend: Civic Dialogues at the Rosenbach” invite members of our community to learn about history and build a bright future, together.
Learn more about these programs at the Rosenbach here.
The Head & The Hand (H&H) is a nonprofit independent publisher and community bookstore based in the Kensington/Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia. Learn more about us here.
View our other book listings for the Rosenbach's programs here.
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We don't want to live in a society in turmoil. In fact, 93 percent of people in the US want to reduce divisiveness, and 86 percent believe it's possible to disagree in a healthy way. Yet with increasing political and social fragmentation, many of us don't know how to move past our differences. Civil rights scholar john a. powell presents an actionable path through "bridging" that helps us communicate, coexist, and imagine a new story for our shared future where we all belong.
With inimitable warmth and vision, powell offers a framework for building cohesion and solidarity between disparate beliefs and backgrounds. Bridging is more than a discrete list of actions to follow--it's a mindset we can develop to help us foster belonging and connection. Key elements of the bridging mindset include:
- Understanding how deeply "othering" shapes our world, priming us to see difference of any kind--race, gender, political orientation, etcetera--as a threat
- Identifying where "breaking" happens, when people are excluded or treated differently for being perceived as other
- Embracing "belonging" as one of our core human needs--we all want to feel seen, valued, and appreciated just as we are
- Committing ourselves to treat all people like they belong
- Allowing ourselves grace when we inevitably fall short--and resolving to try again
Throughout the book, powell shares personal reflections as well as practices to help you begin bridging wherever you are--in your community, friendships, family, workplace--even with those whom you might never have imagined you could find common ground.
"Bridging is a salve for our fractured world," powell says. "We can overcome the illusion of separateness by honoring our differences, transcending the notion that difference divides us, and instead cocreate a world where everyone belongs."
