There is a growing anxiety about the basic health of society. Everywhere we see the fraying of the social fabric, the decline of families, the absence of consensus on unifying moral principles, and the disappearance of community and voluntary associations. Around the world, politicians and intellectuals of all political persuasions seek to restore civil society by cultivating stronger public ethics and social institutions. In The Essential Civil Society Reader Don Eberly, one of the nation's leading civil society theorists and activists, presents the classic writings of the leading scholars and organizers who have brought the civil society debate to the forefront of American politics. The future of democracy depends on a strong civil society, and this book tells readers how we can achieve it.

Contributions by: Daniel Bell, Robert Bellah, Peter Berger, John Dilulio, Don E. Eberly, Allan Ehrenhalt, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Amitai Etzioni, Francis Fukuyama, William Galston, Mary Ann Glendon, Vaclav Havel, Gertrude Himmelfarb, John McKnight, Richard John Neuhaus, Robert Nisbet, Michael Sandel, William A. Schambra, James Q. Wilson, Alan Wolfe