“The Road to Character” by David Brooks. My Short Review

 

Clearly, David Brooks doesn’t need my evaluation of this book. And with 2,100 reviews on Goodreads and over 3,100 on Amazon, clearly you don’t either. So, quickly: 

Of the 10 chapters, 8 are biographical - Dorothy Day, Augustine, General George Marshall, Philip Randolph, George Eliot, etc.  All are examined in the ways they built and bolstered their character, sometimes failing and picking themselves back up. Great stories, one and all.

The first and final chapters are about the shift between the “Little Me” culture to the “Big Me” culture. It’s not a diatribe against the shift, as much as a series of observations, and how we can still build character in a world of “Big Me” without giving in to “Me”. I enjoyed the closing section, specifically the 15 Planks of his “Humility Code”. I think if more people took them seriously and embraced them - whether Boomers, GenX, Millennials, or GenZ - we’d see a different society and country.

Further, it seems to me that Brooks is correct in his observation that now, in the realm of the “Big Me,” moral realism has collapsed (245) and we have moved into a “moral inarticulateness” (258). He has captured what this means, how it shows up, the way it impacts us singularly and socially - including the loss of intimacy, as well as social trust. But his path forward, which I don’t think goes far enough, leads in the right direction. It’s a book of clearheaded observation and evaluation, but also a book with hopefulness. I do recommend it.