Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit

Description

This 2014 PAPERBACK EDITION includes TWO NEW FEATURES: (1) A chapter-length INTRODUCTION in which Palmer explores his political experience since the book first came out in 2011, including a new way to understand "the great divide" in our political life. (2) A detailed DISCUSSION GUIDE with links to online resources -- including 40 brief video interviews with the author -- to facilitate more dialogue across political lines of the sort the book has inspired since it was published.

~  HOPE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY IN AN ERA OF DEEP DIVISIONS  ~   In Healing the Heart of Democracy, Parker J. Palmer quickens our instinct to seek the common good and gives us the tools to do it. This timely, courageous and practical work -- intensely personal as well as political -- is not about them, "those people" in Washington D.C., or in our state capitals, on whom we blame our political problems. It s about us, "We the People," and what we can do in everyday settings like families, neighborhoods, classrooms, congregations and workplaces to resist divide-and-conquer politics and restore a government "of the people, by the people, for the people."

In the same compelling, inspiring prose that has made him a bestselling author, Palmer explores five "habits of the heart" that can help us restore democracy s foundations as we nurture them in ourselves and each other: (1) An understanding that we are all in this together. (2) An appreciation of the value of "otherness." (3) An ability to hold tensions in life-giving ways. (4) A sense of personal voice and agency. (5) A capacity to create community. Healing the Heart of Democracy is an eloquent and empowering call for "We the People" to reclaim our democracy. Publishers Weekly, in a *Starred Review*, said "This beautifully written book deserves a wide audience that will benefit from discussing it." And the online journal Democracy & Education called it "one of the most important books of the early 21st Century."