Explore Mark’s Library of Work

HOW WE CAN BRIDGE THE PARTISAN DIVIDE

The Reunited States of America offers a hopeful and practical vision for overcoming America’s growing political polarization. Drawing on years of experience bringing people across deep divides into conversation, Gerzon presents bridging as a civic skill—and a path toward renewing American democracy.

THIS LAND IS OUR LAND. OR IS IT?

In his debut novel, Mark tells the story of a local reporter in Boulder, Colorado who uncovers the dark history of her town and confronts the unsettling truth that the collective traumas of the past are not past at all. Just Neighbors explores how the hidden history of a place can reverberate through the present, touching our communities, our politics, and our most personal lives.

SIX BELIEF SYSTEMS STRUGGLING FOR AMERICA’S SOUL

A House Divided explores the competing worldviews shaping American public life and the deep beliefs beneath the nation’s political and cultural conflicts. Gerzon examines the forces pulling Americans apart while searching for the common ground that might enable a more constructive future.

A YOUNG MAN’S LOOK AT YOUTH’S DISSENT

Published during Mark Gerzon’s senior year at Harvard, The Whole World Is Watching was an instant bestseller. It captured the hopes, tensions, and dissent of a generation coming of age amid profound social change. The book established Gerzon as an influential chronicler of the postwar generation and its search for a more just and meaningful world.

THE POLITICS OF PARENTHOOD

In this early work, Gerzon examines the social and political forces that shape childhood, parenting, and the development of young people. The book asks what it would take to create a society that truly places the well-being and potential of every child at its center.

THE CHANGING FACES OF AMERICAN MANHOOD

In A Choice of Heroes, Gerzon examines the changing ideals of masculinity in America and the cultural forces reshaping the meaning of manhood. The book invites readers to move beyond models of heroism constructed by war and patriarchy toward a more expansive vision of strength, responsibility, and human possibility.

TURNING YOUR CRISIS INTO A QUEST

Rather than treating midlife as a crisis to be endured, Listening to Midlife presents it as a profound opportunity for transformation. Drawing on interviews, personal stories, and research on adult development, Gerzon invites readers to listen more deeply to the questions and possibilities emerging in the second half of life.

HOW SUCCESFUL LEADERS TRANSFORM DIFFERENCES INTO OPPORTUNITIES

Leading Through Conflict is a foundational book in the field of conflict transformation. It offers a practical framework for leaders navigating disagreement, polarization, and complex human differences. Gerzon shows how conflict, when approached with skill and courage, can become a source of insight, innovation, and collective progress.

HOW EXPANDING OUR IDENTITIES MAKES US SAFER, STRONGER, WISER- AND BUILDS A BETTER WORLD

Global Citizens challenges the limits of an increasingly outdated nation-centered worldview. Gerzon explores how our identities, responsibilities, and understanding of community must expand to meet the realities of an interconnected global world.

BECOMING A BETTER LEADER IN THE WILDERNESS, WORKPLACE, AND IN YOUR COMMUNITY

Leadership the Outward Bound Way introduces readers to the fundamentals of good leadership: communicating effectively, building trust, building teams, overcoming fear, taking risks, and making decisions. The book explores how these leadership basics can be applied in different areas of life-in outdoor travel and recreation, in the office or the boardroom, and in community work or volunteerism.

THE KIND OF LEADERSHIP NEEDED TO CREATE A MORE JUST, EQUITABLE, AND PEACEFUL, AND REGENERATIVE WORLD.

There is increasing recognition that the complexities of our world demand a collective, inclusive response - one grounded in leaders’ personal purpose and their connection to shared purpose. Yesterday’s leadership paradigms are insufficient in the face of today’s challenges. A growing global community is navigating this change, by working across barriers, amplifying knowledge, and engaging with those - often the most marginalized - whose lives are most directly affected by social problems.

TOOLS FOR POWERFUL GROUPS AND COMMUNITIES

This book presents an original approach to group problem solving and conflict transformation. It shows how the development and maintenance of something more productive and inspiring than typical ground rules can go a long way toward creating authentic community and sustainable agreements in group settings.

INTEGROUP LEADERSHIP IN A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE

Bringing groups together is a central and unrelenting task of leadership. CEOs must nudge their executives to rise above divisional turf battles, mayors try to cope with gangs in conflict, and leaders of many countries face the realities of sectarian violence.
Crossing the Divide introduces cutting-edge research and insight into these age-old problems.

STORIES AND STRATEGIES FOR MAKING PEACE IN OUR SCHOOLS

Kids who understand how to manage conflict successfully can transform their schools into safer and kinder places to learn. Kids Working It Out offers educators and parents a guide to the most current and effective school-based conflict resolution programs and shows how these programs can make a positive difference in our schools.

FROM WAR INTO PEACE

This book is a unique anthology that collects activists' struggles for peace after the Vietnam War. The anthology brings together poetry, personal narratives, essays, political writing, and art from veterans, activists, refugees, scholars, and artists, with a focus not simply on the war itself but on its aftermath and the possibility of healing and reconciliation.