The Soul of Civil Society: Voluntary Associations and the Public Value of Moral Habits

(Paperback)

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Americans care about the public value of moral habits. They like to see virtue rewarded and vice censured, appealing as this does to the nation's deep sense that one's success rests neither in money nor in power but in one's civility. In "The Soul of Civil Society" Don Eberly and Ryan Streeter look beyond such abstractions as the "volunary sector" and superficial communitarian solutions to civic anomie to identify the pitoval role played by local voluntary associations in a civil society. Not only important for the service they provide, these "little platoons", as Edmund Burke labelled them, are the public incubators of a "new" morality, their emphasis on civic engagement at the local level central to preserving America's democratic culture on the national and international stage. More than simply championing the promise of a social renaissance, "The Soul of Civil Society" is useful reading for those seeking to do battle with a culturally entrenched individualism that threatens the core of America's moral vitality.

Reviews

Not only is this book a solid, thoughtful argument on a many-stranded subject; it is a treasure house of references and citations to a vast and important literature. -- Michael Novak, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, 1994 Templeton laureate
If you want angry partisanship and political name-calling, this is not the book for you. If you want wisdom, lots of fresh ideas, palpable good will, and intellectual seriousness, it is. -- David Blankenhorn, Institute for American Values
Don Eberly and Ryan Streeter are two of America's most thoughtful students of civic and moral renewal. I plan to 'read unto others' their splendid call for a national movement to restore the Golden Rule to American life. -- Adam Meyerson, president, The Philanthropy Roundtable
A major contribution to the continuing debate about the well-being of American democracy. . . . Without in any way downplaying the distinctiveness of the present, [Eberly and Streeter] call upon us to draw wisdom from the past. But, most of all, they orient us toward the future with dedication and hope, with faith in democracy and in one another. -- Jean Bethke Elshtain, The Laura Spelman Rockeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics, University of Chicago; author of Just War Against Terror

Author Bio

Don Eberly is the founder of several nationally recognized civic organizations, including the Civil Society Project and the National Fatherhood Initiative, and has authored, coauthored, or edited seven books, including The Essential Civil Society Reader: The Classic Essays and The Content of America's Character: The Recovery of Civic Virtue. He has worked for two presidents in more than a decade's service in top policy positions, most recently as Deputy Assistant to the President and the first Deputy Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Ryan Streeter has served as Research Fellow at the Hudson Institute and has worked on local and federal government initiatives to strengthen the role of civil society in America. He is the author of Transforming Charity: Toward a Results-Oriented Social Sector.