This is the story of an extraordinarily powerful kind of social change. It has led teens in America to rebel against cigarettes and teens in Africa to protect themselves from AIDS. It has brought worshippers into a closer relationship with God. It has organized a passive and fearful citizenry subjugated by a dictator into the nonviolent army that overthrew him. It has even led millions of people to quit drinking and drugs. Through stories drawn from the affluent suburbs of Chicago to the impoverished shanties of rural India, this is one of those rare books that will not only revolutionize the way you look at the world but give you the power to change it.Tina Rosenberg has spent her career writing about people facing some of the world's most difficult challenges. Her "brilliant and impassioned" (David Rieff, Los Angeles Times) book on how Eastern Europe faced the crimes of Communism won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Now, in this inspiring work, Rosenberg identifies a brewing social revolution that exploits one of our most basic human needsùto belongùas a way to transform society.Telling striking stories of peer power in action, Rosenberg shows how positive peer pressure can change people's behavior and solve seemingly intractable problemsùand how others can use these strategies to accomplish their own goals. Readers will learn how peer power has met challenges ranging from intimate struggles with temptation to the grand dramas of global politics. It has led villagers in India to vanquish infant mortality, turned D students into A students in college calculus, created social movements, turned gang members straight, and even fought terrorism.In every case, pioneering social entrepreneurs threw out the old models for social changeùmodels that tried to motivate people with information or used appeals based on fear. Their astounding successes provide a road map to reimagine social change, one never before charted. Together, they offer a blueprint of the ultimate cure for problematic social ills, employing humanity's most powerful and abundant resource: our connections with one another. Read Less