There is a growing anxiety about the basic health of society. Everywhere we see the fraying of the social fabric, the decline of families, the absence of consensus on unifying moral principles, and the disappearance of community and voluntary associations. Around the world, politicians and intellectuals of all political persuasions seek to restore civil society by cultivating stronger public ethics and social institutions. In The Essential Civil Society Reader Don Eberly, one of t...

Edited by founder and chairman of the National Fatherhood Initiative Don Eberly, The Faith Factor in Fatherhood addresses the key role that religious institutions can play in reviving what Eberly calls the "sacred vocation of fatherhood." In response to the wider debate regarding the increased expectations that are being placed by policy makers on faith-based institutions to serve important public purposes, contributors to this volume guide denominations, places of worship, and re...

Americans care about the public value of moral habits. They like to see virtue rewarded and vice censured, appealing as this does to the nation's deep sense that one's success rests neither in money nor in power but in one's civility. In The Soul of Civil Society Don Eberly and Ryan Streeter look beyond such abstractions as the "voluntary sector" and superficial communitarian solutions to civic anomie to identify the pivotal role played by local voluntary associations in a civil s...

If you were to talk to those who experienced the Iraq War from the inside, the word you might hear most often is “surreal.” Don Eberly, a senior official at USAID during the lead-up to the war, was recruited to serve on a post-war civil administration team, and his two years of service spanned all phases of the operation. He was, in fact, the first American civilian to make his way into Baghdad city hall after the occupation.From that up-close perspective Eberly describes what happ...