The Fractured Republic (Revised Edition): Renewing America's Social Contract in the Age of Individualism

Description

Americans today are frustrated and anxious. Our economy is sluggish, political polarization is at an all-time high, our government seems paralyzed and our politics has failed to rise to these challenges. No wonder, then, that voters and politicians alike are nostalgic for a better time. The Left is attempting to recreate the middle of the twentieth century, when social movements and anti-poverty programs were at their height, while the Right pines for the Reagan Era, when taxes were low and Americans were optimistic. But America has changed over the past half century. The institutions that once dominated our economy, politics, and culture have fragmented and become smaller, more diverse, and personalized. Individualism, dynamism, and liberalization have come at the cost of dwindling solidarity, cohesion, and social order. This has left us with more choices in every realm of life but far less security, stability, and national unity. The Fractured Republic, Yuval Levin calls for a modernizing politics that can answer the dysfunctions of our fragmented national life. By embracing individualism and diversity and rejecting extremism and nostalgia, we can revive the middle layers of society and enable an American revival

Yuval Levin is the Hertog Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and the founder and editor of National Affairs. He is a former White House and congressional staffer and a contributing editor to National Review and the Weekly Standard. He lives in Maryland

Wall Street Journal "Compelling... Yuval Levin has written an incisive and irenic critique of contemporary American society, together with a series of reflections that offer a way forward without trafficking in the false hope of 'solutions.' That he has done so in fewer than 250 pages of clear, well-organized prose ought to make the book famous for a generation. Maybe, in time, we can stop asking why the former days were better than these." New York Times, David Brooks "There are just a few essential reads if you want to understand the American social and political landscape today... Today, I'd add Yuval Levin's fantastic new book, The Fractured Republic...I learned something new on every page." Washington Post, Michael Gerson "Instead of desperately trying to go back in time to recover lost unity, Levin urges citizens to look forward -- as well as downward, to improve the cultural patch around them. This future orientation may seem like an odd message for a conservative -- and it is all the more powerful for coming from one. The goal is not to make America great... again. It is to make America great in a distinctly 21st-century way." Los Angeles Times, Jonah Goldberg "Brilliant." National Review "A rich, nuanced history of the last 70 years... The Fractured Republic is an invaluable resource for understanding how America came to its present predicament and what must be done to rescue it." Weekly Standard, the "Must Reading" section "[This book] couldn't have come out at a better time... The Fractured Republic is half diagnosis and half prescription. And both halves are essential reading, especially as we contemplate what the current election means for our body politic." Commentary "Superb... The Fractured Republic is not a manual or blueprint for reform, and it does not offer a checklist of repairs to make America whole again. Instead, it merges a deep philosophic understanding of the American experiment and a conceptual analysis of American history into a practical basis from which we can examine contemporary American problems with crystalline clarity. Levin calls his book an 'essay,' and it provides the bracing shock of illumination that is the hallmark of all great essays." Commentary "In a bleak political year, there comes a shaft of light in the form of an extraordinary new book, The Fractured Republic... [Levin] is among America's most important and humane conservative thinkers... Yuval Levin's brilliant new book offers social conservatives a more effective approach to social engagement not only because it's more positive but because it's more true, because it appeals to people on a deeper level, because offering people a healing grace and hope is what is likely to be especially attractive and powerful in this time of disorientation, distemper, and confusion." New Criterion "Insightful... This is the great value of Mr. Levin's book: it cuts through the confusion of the present moment, explains how we got to where we are, and suggests some possible avenues out of the impasse... Yuval Levin deserves great credit for opening up the discussion with this most illuminating essay." Christian Century "A gracefully written, big-picture analysis of American society and politics." Representative Paul Ryan, Speaker of the US House of Representatives "Yuval Levin is one of the most insightful and original thinkers of our time. In this book, he shows why conservatives are best-equipped to help Americans navigate this new and fragmented world we're in. This is required reading for anyone interested in saving the American Idea." Peggy Noonan, columnist, The Wall Street Journal "Yuval Levin's thinking is serious, substantive, and deeply informed, yet his tone is always heartening and serene. His style itself is an element of his thought. The Fractured Republic helps us think clearly about this moment in the life of our country that almost refuses to be clearly understood. He finds solutions in the best of the American tradition. Our weaknesses, he says, are only the opposite side of our strengths. Anyone looking for a realistic source of hope will find it here."