I am every partisan politician's worst nightmare--a registered independent,"

says journalist Marcia Ford. "Wildly unpredictable in my voting habits over the last three decades, I have cast ballots for Democrats, Republicans, independents and assorted loose cannons."

In We the Purple, Ford describes and interprets her fellow "Purple" voters--independents who are neither Republican red nor Democratic blue. Through dozens of interviews with independent voters and candidates, politicians, political observers and activists of many stripes, she explains how these citizens eschew partisan politics, guided instead by their core values, their faith, and their experience.

Read Phyllis Goldberg's moving author profile of Marcia Ford in the latest issue of The Neo-Independent
"A Woman of Faith: Author, Activist, Christian: Marcia Ford Speaks Out"

Historically, most black voters in the United States have aligned themselves with one of the two major parties: the Republican Party from the time of the Civil War to the New Deal and, since the New Deal—and especially since the height of the modern civil rights movement—the Democratic Party. However, as … In the Balance of Power convincingly demonstrates, African Americans have long been part of independent political movements and have used third parties to advance some of the most important changes in the United States, notably the abolition of slavery, the extension of voting rights, and the enforcement of civil rights.

Since the early nineteenth century, there has been an undercurrent of political independence among African Americans. They helped develop the Liberty Party in the 1840s and have continued to work with third parties to challenge the policies of the two major parties. But despite the legal gains of the modern civil rights movement, elements of Jim Crow remain deeply embedded in our electoral process.

Read advance praise for In the Balance of Power.