Healing the Heart of Democracy (PDF)

Hope for American democracy in an era of deep divisions

In Healing the Heart of Democracy, Parker J. Palmer
quickens our instinct to seek the common good and gives us the
tools to do it. This timely, courageous and practical
work--intensely personal as well as political--is not
about them, "those people" in Washington D.C., or in our
state capitals, on whom we blame our political problems. It's about
us, "We the People," and what we can do in everyday settings
like families, neighborhoods, classrooms, congregations and
workplaces to resist divide-and-conquer politics and restore a
government "of the people, by the people, for the people."

In the same compelling, inspiring prose that has made him a
bestselling author, Palmer explores five "habits of the heart" that
can help us restore democracy's foundations as we nurture them in
ourselves and each other:

* An understanding that we are all in this together

* An appreciation of the value of "otherness"

* An ability to hold tension in life-giving ways

* A sense of personal voice and agency

* A capacity to create community

Healing the Heart of Democracy is an eloquent and
empowering call for "We the People" to reclaim our
democracy. The online journal Democracy & Education
called it "one of the most important books of the early 21st
Century." And Publishers Weekly, in a Starred Review, said
"This beautifully written book deserves a wide audience that will
benefit from discussing it."