Rollo May defines power as the ability to cause or prevent change; innocence, on the other hand, is the conscious divesting of one's power to make it seem a virtue -- a form of powerlessness that Dr. May sees as particularly American in nature. From these basic concepts he suggests a new ethic that sees power as the basis for both human goodness and evil.

Dr. May discusses five levels of power's potential in each of us: the infant's power to be; self-affirmation, the ability to survive with self-esteem; self-assertion, which develops when self-affirmation is blocked; aggression, a reaction to thwarted assertion; and, finally, violence, when reason and persuasion are ineffective.

"Sheds new light on the timely topic of violence". -- Library Journal

"(May's book) is an attack on the psychological rejection of power in the intellectual tradition of the Christian West .... With great skill (he) weaves together his political reflections and clinical experience.... (A) wise, humane, and admirable book". -- William Hamilton, Christian Century