From national political campaigns to local community action groups, a grassroots approach to change is taking hold of America today. Ordinary citizens, driven by a desire to go beyond rhetoric and ideology and address problems in a direct, practical way, are changing the way we live, work, and govern ourselves. The Quickening of America reveals how this new approach to solving our problems is indeed working— in local government, education, the workplace, human services, and the media. The authors criss-crossed America in search of democracy in action and found moving stories of ordinary people coming together to make their institutions meet their needs.