A research-backed guide for building bridges across difference in any area of our lives, from esteemed civil rights scholar john a. powell, edited and developed with the Othering & Belonging Institute's Rachelle Galloway-Popotas.
About the Book
We don't want to live in a society in turmoil. In the US, 93 percent of people 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 groups. He defines key concepts such as "othering," which primes us to see people as a threat; "breaking," which excludes people or sees them as threatening our belonging; and finally "bridging," which fosters acceptance both of those we might have othered and even aspects of ourselves. He shares personal reflections as well as practices to help you begin bridging wherever you are--in your community, friendships, family, workplace, and even those with whom you might never have imagined you could find common ground. He calls upon us not just to engage with bridging but to become bridgers.
"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 co-create a world where everyone belongs."
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Download a readers discussion guide on The Power of Bridging, which includes a summary of the book, reflection questions for each chapter, provocations, and other resources.
Events & Media
- Next Big Ideas Book Club (curated by Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Daniel Pink, and Susan Cain) chose The Power of Bridging as one of their books of the month and featured a “Book Bite” narrated by john for their members
- Detroit Book Launch: An evening with john powell hosted by InterFaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit and the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights
- john a. powell at the Fitzgerald Theater with the Bush Foundation, co-hosted with Minneapolis Public Radio
- 34 Summer Books, Movies, and Podcasts to Mend America’s Divisions: Chronicle of Philanthropy
- Can We Agree? Especially If It's About the Kids. Skillman Foundation State of Education broadcast
- Bay Area Book Festival: 2025 Democracy Dialogues: In Dialogue: Building Communities that Thrive
- City Arts & Lectures: Podcast
- Silicon Valley Reads builds bridges to belonging through books
- john a. powell at the Grace Cathedral
- Book Launch: Greater Good Science on The Power of Bridging (Watch Part 1 & Part 2)
- The Power of Bridging: A conversation with UC Berkeley Journalism's Sherene Meraji
- Building Bridges with john a. powell and Science and Nonduality
- KQED: john a, powell on polarization and the "Power of Bridging"
- California Report Magazine: How a UC Berkeley Professor Confronts Division With a Vision for Belonging
- Nonprofit Quarterly: Who Is Included in and Who Will Fight for “We the Civic”?
- El PAIS: john a. powell: ‘When fear wins, democracy crumbles’
- Greater Good Science Magazine: Can we build a world where we all belong?
- Berkeley News: john a. powell: In a time of tense division, we must see the humanity in our opponents
- Minnesota Star Tribune: Longtime Twin Cities civil rights figure implores us to be curious, not divisive
- The Stakes Explained with john a. powell
- Yale Climate Connections: 12 books to prepare you for Trump 2.0
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