The Common Good

In a bracing answer to the prevailing headwinds of division, cynicism, and self-interest, Robert B. Reich makes a powerful case for the expansion of America's moral imagination. Rooting his argument in common sense and everyday reality, he demonstrates that a common good not only exists but in fact constitutes the very essence of any society or nation. Societies, he says, undergo virtuous cycles that reinforce the common good, as well as vicious cycles that undermine it, one of which America has been experiencing for the past five decades. This process can and must be reversed. But first, we need to weigh the moral obligations of citizenship and carefully consider how we as a country should relate to honor, shame, patriotism, truth, and the meaning of leadership.

Powerful, urgent, and utterly vital, this is a heartfelt missive from one of our foremost political thinkers: a fundamental statement about the purpose of society and a cri de coeur to save America's soul.