Political activist and writer Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz brought an insightful eye and a sharp analytical mind to probe the problems facing America at the turn of the century. First published in 1992, the hard-hitting essays in this collection scan the connections across a wide range of issues: whether the topic is class, racism, Israel and Palestine, war, anti-Semitism, violence against women or violence by women, the issue is power-in all its complexity. Now in its second edition and no less relevant nearly three decades later, her work-dedicated, persistent-continues to remind us of the strength in community.

Beginning at the intersection of sex, race, class, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, Kaye/Kantrowitz asks hard questions in these essays about power, violence, resistance, and victimhood. ... At the core of The Issue Is Power is a smart, engaged observer of the world who invites us to think and act with her. -from the new foreword byJulie R. Enszer

Here is a book for everyone who dares to want to help make history. Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitzis passionate, strategic, pithy, generous, realistic, controversial, unquenchable-like the best of our movements for change. As a writer and lifelong doer, she gives us reasons to believe in achievable justice, and maps for acting on that belief. -Adrienne Rich

If we ever needed people like Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz-people who think strategically, whose writing is rooted in activism, and who have the courage to explore ideas in public-it is now...this essay urges activists to write, to speak, to organize, to take a moral stance and to put their talents to turning the tide.- Women's Review of Books