By this time, Lernoux had grown aware of extreme contrasts between the wealth of Latin American politicians, businessmen and landlords, on the one hand, and the poverty of the region's masses, on the other. She adopted a radical view of Jesus Christ and tried to relate his teachings to Latin American struggles against economic exploitation and military dictatorship. As she became a freelance writer, Lernoux gravitated toward new Latin American expressions of Catholicism, notably base communities and liberation theology. Lernoux attracted major attention from her first book "Cry of the People: The Struggle for Human Rights in Latin America," published in 1977. The book outlined her discoveries about Latin American history and extreme social inequality. "Cry of the People" won a Sidney Hillman Foundation Book Award in its third (1982) edition.