This book is about culture — the state of American culture, why culture matters, and what can be done to promote cultural health. Composed of essays by well-known thinkers and unique in the breadth and depth of its discussion, this timely and constructive work argues for the importance of cultural health in maintaining a free and civil society and explores the theme of cultural renewal in many different sectors of life — family life, vocations, the media, and more.
As the contributors insightfully show, much of the moral and social breakdown in America is being fueled by cultural influences. The great challenge for this generation is both to think more seriously about culture and to develop initiatives and reform movements for positive change. Contrary to the common belief that major problems in our culture — moral license, sexual promiscuity, divorce, the loss of shame, shock, and manners — can be corrected through political action, the remedy pursued in this volume is to promote cultural renewal through cultural means — to replace bad culture with good culture.
The chapters in the first section of the book, "The Imperative of Building a Healthy Culture," focus on the ramifications of cultural decay, not only for individuals and families but for society as a whole. The second section, "Historical Models for Cultural Transformation," discusses transformative public movements and figures of the past, which provide insight for us as we seek cultural renewal today. Finally, in "Strategies for Cultural Renewal," organizers and scholars of numerous reform movements today — in areas ranging from courtship to community revitalization to journalism — describe the work currently being done and the work that still needs to be done to revitalize our culture.
The object of Building a Healthy Culture is to start the process of recovery by addressing what may be the core problem — the lack of any meaningful discussion in the cultural debate or any real long-term strategy to permeate the culture. The book does not merely detail the current state of cultural decay in America but also takes the hopeful position that our culture can in fact be improved, and it offers politically balanced models for reform, many of which use voluntary associations to address a specific social or moral problem. If recent public opinion polls are correct, Americans long for an elevation of cultural standards. This book provides a significant blueprint for accomplishing just that.
Contributors: Stephen H. Balch, Kevin Belmonte, Elayne Glover Bennett, T. William Boxx, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Don Eberly, Amitai Etzioni, John Fonte, Mary Ann Glendon, Stephen Goldsmith, Cherie S. Harder, Elizabeth L. Haynes, Gertrude Himmelfarb, Wade F. Horn, Leon Kass, Charles Krauthammer, Thomas Lickona, Joseph Loconte, Herbert London, Elizabeth Lurie, Terry Mattingly, Joe McIlhaney, Michael Medved, Eric Miller, David G. Myers, Kenneth A. Myers, David Popenoe, Robert Royal, Amy L. Sherman, Curt Smith, Wesley J. Smith, John G. West Jr., William B. Wichterman, and Christopher Wolfe.
