The Essential Civil Society Reader

The Classic Essays

Contributions by Daniel Bell, Robert N. Bellah, Peter L. Berger, John Dilulio, Don Eberly, Allan Ehrenhalt, Jean Bethke Elshtain The Laura Spelman Rockeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics, Unive, Amitai Etzioni professor, George Washing, Francis Fukuyama author of The End of History and the Last Man, William A. Galston The Brookings Institution, Mary Ann Glendon, Vaclav Havel, Gertrude Himmelfarb, John McKnight, Richard John Neuhaus The Institute on Religion and Public Life; Editor, FIRST THINGS, Robert Nisbet, Michael J. Sandel, William A. Schambra, James Q. Wilson, Alan Wolfe Director of the Boisi Center for Religion & American Public Life at Boston Edited by Don Eberly

Publication date:

12 July 2000

Length of book:

424 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Dimensions:

236x156mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780847697182

There is a growing anxiety about the basic health of society. Everywhere we see the fraying of the social fabric, the decline of families, the absence of consensus on unifying moral principles, and the disappearance of community and voluntary associations. Around the world, politicians and intellectuals of all political persuasions seek to restore civil society by cultivating stronger public ethics and social institutions. In The Essential Civil Society Reader Don Eberly, one of the nation's leading civil society theorists and activists, presents the classic writings of the leading scholars and organizers who have brought the civil society debate to the forefront of American politics. The future of democracy depends on a strong civil society, and this book tells readers how we can achieve it.
The revival of scholarly and public policy interest in the 'institutions of civil society' is one of the more encouraging intellectual and social movements of the past decade. Still, much work needs to be done to clarify the normative tasks and limits of these institutions and to try to explain how they should properly relate to government, individual citizens, the market, and to each other. This collection of essays helps set the stage for the next round in the "civil society debate.