The Road to Character
<p><b>Number-one </b><b><i>New York Times</i></b><b> best seller</b></p> <p><b>David Brooks challenges us to rebalance the scales between the focus on external success - “résumé virtues” - and our core principles.</b></p> <p>Named one of the best books of the year by <i>The Economist</i> </p> <p>With the wisdom, humor, curiosity, and sharp insights that have brought millions of readers to his <i>New York Times</i> column and his previous best sellers, David Brooks has consistently illuminated our daily lives in surprising and original ways. In <i>The Social Animal</i>, he explored the neuroscience of human connection and how we can flourish together. Now, in <i>The Road to Character</i>, he focuses on the deeper values that should inform our lives.</p> <p>Looking to some of the world's 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. </p> <p>Blending psychology, politics, spirituality, and confessional, <i>The Road to Character</i> provides an opportunity for us to rethink our priorities and strive to build rich inner lives marked by humility and moral depth.</p> <p>“Joy,” David Brooks writes, “is a byproduct experienced by people who are aiming for something else. But it comes.”   </p> <p><b>Praise for </b><b><i>The Road to Character</i></b> </p> <p>“A hyper-readable, lucid, often richly detailed human story.” (<i>The New York Times Book Review</i>)</p> <p>“This profound and eloquent book is written with moral urgency and philosophical elegance.” (Andrew Solomon, author of <i>Far from the Tree</i> and <i>The Noonday Demon</i>)</p> <p>“A powerful, haunting book that works its way beneath your skin.” (<i>The Guardian</i>)</p> <p>“Original and eye-opening... Brooks is a normative version of Malcolm Gladwell, culling from a wide array of scientists and thinkers to weave an idea bigger than the sum of its parts.” (<i>USA Today</i>)</p>