Saul Alinsky, according to Time Magazine in 1970, was a "prophet of power to the people," someone who "has possibly antagonized more people . . . than any other living American." People Power introduces the major organizers who adopted and modified Alinsky's vision across the United States:

—Fred Ross, Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, and the Community Service Organization and National Farm Workers Association
—Nicholas von Hoffman and the Woodlawn Organization
—Tom Gaudette and the Northwest Community Organization
—Ed Chambers, Richard Harmon, and the Industrial Areas Foundation
—Shel Trapp, Gale Cincotta, and National People's Action
—Heather Booth, Midwest Academy, and Citizen Action
—Wade Rathke and ACORN

Weaving classic texts with interviews and their own context-setting commentaries, the editors of People Power provide the first comprehensive history of Alinsky-based organizing in the tumultuous period from 1955 to 1980, when the key organizing groups in the United States took form. Many of these selections—previously available only on untranscribed audiotapes or in difficult-to-read mimeograph or Xerox formats—appear in print here for the first time.