With the wisdom, humor, curiosity, and sharp insights* that have brought millions of readers to his New York Times column* and his previous bestsellers, David Brooks has inspired our daily lives in surprising and original ways.

    In “The Social Animal,” he explored the neuroscience* of human connection and how we can flourish* together. Now, in “The Road to Character,” he focuses on the deeper values that should define 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*. The book provides an opportunity for us to rethink our priorities, and try to build rich inner lives marked by humility and moral depth.

    (SD-Agencies)