The road to character / David Brooks.
Material type: TextPublisher: [London, England] : Penguin Books, 2016Description: xv, 300 pages ; 20 cmContent type:- text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9780141980362
- 0141980362
Item type | Current library | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Non-Fiction | Davis (Central) Library Non-Fiction | Non-Fiction | 170.44 BRO | Available | T00812225 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
We live in a Big Me culture- universities and businesses alike reward goal-oriented superstars and those who self-promote are most likely to thrive. But what does this say about us?
David Brooks argues that our hunger for wealth and status is eroding our ability to create meaningful inner lives. To show us how to live better, he looks at people whose sense of humility was fundamental to their success. What they all understood was a simple but counterintuitive truth- in order to fulfil yourself, you must learn how to forget yourself.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 275-284) and index.
"In The Road to Character, Brooks focuses on the deeper values that should inform our lives. Responding to what he calls the culture of the Big Me, which emphasizes external success, Brooks challenges us, and himself, to rebalance the scales between our "resume virtues"--achieving wealth, fame, and status--and our "eulogy virtues," those that exist at the core of our being: kindness, bravery, honesty, or faithfulness, focusing on what kind of relationships we have formed. 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. 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. "-- Publisher's information.