How Books Can Save Democracy

How Books Can Save Democracy argues that American democracy is in trouble. Healthy democracies thrive on constructive disagreement: individuals and groups engaging with different points of view on school boards, city councils, juries, and in many other settings. In faltering democracies, disagreement escalates into the fight-to-the-finish battles that have become familiar scenes in American politics: one side doing whatever it can to vilify and vanquish the adversaries it despises. Saving American democracy depends on rebuilding confidence that citizens with different perspectives can work things out together, without resorting to force or calling on strong-armed leaders to take up their cause.  

How Books Can Save Democracy argues that reading, creating, and discussing works of literature can play a vital role in strengthening the relationships that healthy disagreement – and functioning democracies – depend on. Whether reading at home, studying in class or a writing workshop, discussing with friends in reading groups, or celebrating in public as book festivals, this reminds us of the importance of finding value in sharing the world with others. Now more than ever we need works of literature to help us benefit from our differences instead of being threatened by them.