American Renewal: Civic Life and the Work of Re-Formation
The difficulties now visible in American public life are rooted not primarily in political failure but in the erosion of something less visible: the civic foundation upon which self-government depends. The associations, clubs, congregations, and community institutions through which citizens develop the habits of self-government have weakened in ways that political reform cannot address. And there are moments in the life of a republic when reform is not enough. What such moments require is not reform, but re-formation.
American Renewal makes that argument at length, across six essays with a full introduction and epilogue. It examines how the republic came to operate on inherited civic strength, how that strength has eroded, and what the historical pattern of civic re-formation reveals about what the present moment requires and who does the work. It builds on Robert Putnam’s landmark documentation of the decline of associational life in America and carries the argument forward in a specific direction. Putnam asked what has declined and why. American Renewal asks what comes next and who builds it.
Who this is for
For those who build or aspire to build the organizations and initiatives that civic life currently lacks, this work names what you are doing and why it matters. Builders are not peripheral to the project of self-government. They are its foundation.
For directors, trustees, staff, and volunteers who sustain existing civic organizations, this is a reminder of just how important that work is. The institutions you maintain did not build themselves and will not sustain themselves. The decisions you make determine whether they will be there for the next generation.
For funders, foundation officers, and leaders of corporate, nonprofit, academic, and governmental institutions, this is an invitation to a different way of thinking about civic health. The civic institutions described here are not social amenities or charitable causes. They are structural necessities. A republic that allows them to weaken is depleting the foundations on which everything else depends.
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