Why read A Time to Build?

Book cover of A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream

Book description

Americans are living through a social crisis. Populist firebrands - on left and right alike - propose to address the crisis through acts of tearing down. They describe themselves as destroying oppressive establishments, clearing weeds, draining swamps. But, as acclaimed conservative intellectual Yuval Levin argues, this is a misguided prescription,…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked A Time to Build as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Grayson Slover

Author

I’ve recently been particularly interested in the sharp decline of trust that Americans feel in our institutions. As I see it, for all their flaws, our country cannot survive without functioning institutions, so we must find a plan to restore them in a way that Americans across the political spectrum can get behind.

A Time to Build provides the most compelling blueprint I’ve yet encountered for that restoration. In accessible language and convincing (and at times surprising) arguments, Yuval Levin reminds us why these institutions are so central to our lives (though it may not always seem so) and shows…

From Grayson's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Patrick M. Garry

Author

Yuval Levin is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and is a nationally recognized commentator on culture and society.

He has written about gratitude as a foundation for our political agendas and cultural values. In A Time to Build, Levin shows how gratitude might be an essential starting point for reinvigorating all aspects of our society and culture.

From Patrick's list on The best books on gratitude and how it can uplift your life.