num_pages: 320
description: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER  David Brooks challenges us to rebalance the scales between the focus on external successrsum virtuesand our core principles. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE ECONOMIST With the wisdom humor curiosity and sharp insights that have brought millions of readers to his New York Times column and his previous bestsellers David Brooks has consistently illuminated our daily lives in surprising and original ways. In The Social Animal he explored the neuroscience of human connection and how we can flourish together. Now in The Road to Character he focuses on the deeper values that should inform our lives.Looking to some of the worlds greatest thinkers and inspiring leaders Brooks explores how through internal struggle and a sense of their own limitations they have built a strong inner character. Labor activist Frances Perkins understood the need to suppress parts of herself so that she could be an instrument in a larger cause. Dwight Eisenhower organized his life not around impulsive self-expression but considered self-restraint. Dorothy Day a devout Catholic convert and champion of the poor learned as a young woman the vocabulary of simplicity and surrender. Civil rights pioneers A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin learned reticence and the logic of self-discipline the need to distrust oneself even while waging a noble crusade.Blending psychology politics spirituality and confessional The Road to Character provides an opportunity for us to rethink our priorities and strive to build rich inner lives marked by humility and moral depth.Joy David Brooks writes is a byproduct experienced by people who are aiming for something else. But it comes.
language: English
title: The Road to Character
publisher: Random House