Healing the Heart of Democracy

More Praise for Healing the Heart of Democracy

“We have been trying to bridge the great divides in this great country for a long time. In this book, Parker J. Palmer urges us to ‘keep on walking, keep on talking’—just as we did in the civil rights movement—until we cross those bridges together.” —Congressman John Lewis, recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom

"Parker J. Palmer bravely takes on the current political climate, and this book provides therapy for the American body politic. His insights are heart-deep: America gains by living with tension and differences; we can help reclaim public life by actions as simple as walking down the street instead of driving. Hope's hardly cheap, but history is made up of what Palmer calls 'a million invisible acts of courage and the incremental gains that came with them.' This beautifully written book deserves a wide audience that will benefit from discussing it." —Starred Review from Publishers Weekly, August 8, 2011

“This is the manual we need for refashioning our life together—for recovering the heart, the very core, of our selves and our democracy.” —Krista Tippett, President, Executive Producer + Host, On Being, 2013 National Humanities Medalist

“This is a master work by a master: a clear and uplifting resource that keeps shining light in all the dark places. Like Socrates and Thoreau, Palmer is that rare, deep seer who is at home in the streets; an inner everyman who keeps speaking from a mind descended into the heart; a teacher by example who has the courage to stand openly and honestly in the public square.” —Mark Nepo, author of The Book of Awakening and As Far as the Heart Can See

“Healing the Heart of Democracy by Parker J. Palmer is a book born for this moment. Wise, evocative, and pragmatic at its core, this dream for a new politics is grounded in dignity and liberty for all.” —Terry Tempest Williams, author of The Open Space of Democracy

“This book is a gracefully written anthem to democracy [that] breaks new ground in marrying the individual capacity of the human heart, broken though it must become, with the irresolvable tensions inherent in the institutions, politics, and aspirations of a nation. Palmer also breathes new life into what it means to be a citizen—accountable, compassionate, fiercely realistic.” —Peter Block and John McKnight, coauthors of The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods

“I find encouragement in this inspirational book. Parker, through sharing his own life’s struggles, reveals the common struggles we all endure in life. He also provides us with a way forward—a way forward with hope.” —Senator Tammy Baldwin

“This book could not be more timely and needed in our country today. Parker J. Palmer gives voice to the yearning for democracy and a politics that honors the human spirit. He examines the courage required to hold life’s tensions consciously and faithfully—and perhaps, as our hearts break open, find ourselves standing and acting creatively ‘in the gap.’” —Congresswoman Lois Capps, grandmother, mother, nurse, and seeker after democracy

“Healing the Heart of Democracy is a courageous work that is honest and true, human and humble, glitteringly intelligent and unabashedly hopeful. Palmer gives us constructive language, historical context, and a practical vision for how we as individuals and communities can get to the real heart of the matter.” —Carrie Newcomer, activist and singer-songwriter, The Geography of Light and Before and After

“In this brave and visionary book, Palmer re-imagines our political lives, not as partisan shouting matches among a homogenous and disconnected elite, but as a deeply personal process within which all Americans—especially those of us inheriting this broken polity—have a chance to be heard, heal, and get on with the eternal work of perfecting this nation.” —Courtney E. Martin, author of Do It Anyway: The New Generation of Activists

“Parker J. Palmer has been our mentor as we’ve weathered the rough and tumble of political life. He challenges us to recognize that a more vital democracy begins within each of us, as we learn to hold the tensions inherent in community life and no longer fear to tread that most difficult terrain—the broken places in our own hearts.” —Kathy Gille served for twenty years as a senior congressional aide. Doug Tanner, her husband, is a founder and former president of The Faith and Politics Institute.

“This is an inspiring book, one that should be read and talked about in every family, book club, classroom, boardroom, congregation, and hall of government in our country. Parker J. Palmer writes with clarity, good sense, balance, honesty, humor, and humility, focusing on the essence of what is needed from each of us for the survival of our democracy.” —Thomas F. Beech, president emeritus, The Fetzer Institute

“Parker J. Palmer’s unblinking gaze into the habits of the human heart, beginning with his own deeply personal introspection, yields the most important manifesto in generations for breaking through the divisiveness that has paralyzed our democracy to the point of making it almost unrecognizable. In its compassion, tolerance, prescription, and urgency, this book stands alone as a beacon showing what may well be the only tenable path forward for our nation in a perilous time.” —Bill Shore, founder of Share Our Strength and author of The Cathedral Within and The Imaginations of Unreasonable Men

“All who harbor concerns about the quality of public discourse and decision making in twenty-first-century America will find here a wise and kindred spirit who reminds us of choices we can be making now to help ‘reweave the tattered fabric of our civic life.’  You will close this book appreciating how much you can do, and how much depends on you.” —Diana Chapman Walsh, President Emerita of Wellesley College