James Davison Hunter traces the death of character to the disintegration of the moral and social conditions that make character possible in the first place. This bold, compelling book outlines the particular failures of moral education, where society explicitly takes on the tax of instilling enduring moral commitments and ideals within young people. The Death of Character refocuses the national debate over our moral culture, the nature of the problem and the possibilities for constructive response.
Editorial Reviews
"Shrewd and powerfully argued....Hunter maintains a tone of wise discretion that makes it inappropriate to characterize him as either a neoconservative or a neoliberal....[He] has strength of character and is willing to work hard for his insights....We can...regard Hunter's book as the overture to a long and often heated discussion." -Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, The World & I
"[Hunter] knows how to support bold and surprising conclusions with measured and fair-minded observations that few can dismiss....There are many reasons to be critical of the psychological regime in character education, but Hunter offers the most devastating: It doesn't work." -Weekly Standard
"His great contribution is to demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that moral education cannot be renewed without reintroducing the truth about good and evil, and he shows how we might go about doing that." -First Things
"Excellent, accessible and well-written....This is a book to be widely read and discussed by everyone concerned with moral education in the very broadest sense of the term." -Adam B. Seligman, Institute for the Study of Economic Culture Boston University
About the Author
James Davidson Hunter is professor of sociology and religious studies at the University of Virginia and author of Evangelicalism: The Coming Generation (1987).
