Status
Available
Collection
Publication
Berkeley : University of California Press, c1985.
Description
First published in 1985, Habits of the Heart continues to be one of the most discussed interpretations of modern American society, a quest for a democratic community that draws on our diverse civic and religious traditions. In a new preface the authors relate the arguments of the book both to the current realities of American society and to the growing debate about the country's future. With this new edition one of the most influential books of recent times takes on a new immediacy.
Media reviews
In short, their book testifies to their refusal to be governed by the current fashion or conventional wisdom of the academy. Such independence, I must add, has long been true of Bellah, to my mind the premier American sociologist of our day and the senior scholar, if not senior author, in this
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collaboration. He and his coauthors bear no animosity toward their fellow citizens and are less interested in criticizing them than in understanding them. And even where they are critical, they remain sympathetic and charitable. Indeed, I take them to argue that such qualities mark them as faithful to a central, if understated, element of American tradition, that which is manifested in American religion. In their version of the American heartland, a good deal of decency prevails.
Unfortunately, Habits does not stop at this. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member Corrientes
Habits of the Heart is required reading for anyone who wants to understand how religion contributes to and detracts from America's common good. An instant classic upon publication in 1985, it was reissued in 1996 with a new introduction describing the book's continuing relevance for a time when the
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country's racial and class divisions are being continually healed and ripped open again by religious people. Habits of the Heart describes the social significance of faiths ranging from "Sheilaism" (practiced by a California nurse named Sheila) to conservative Christianity. It's thoroughly readable, theologically respectful, and academically irreproachable. Show Less
LibraryThing member literaryjoe
really appreciate this book and Robert Bellah's insights
Awards
Pulitzer Prize (Finalist — General Non-Fiction — 1986)
LA Times Book Prize (Finalist — 1985)