By Jennifer Raymond Dresden, Associate Director of the Democracy & Governance Program

We’re turning now to our final installation of the summer book club, focusing more directly on the polarization and partisanship that has increasingly come to define political life in the United States.  Rather than cruise through the usual tomes of political finger-pointing, though, we’ll take a slightly different approach to the topic.  To wrap up the summer, we’re reading The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt.

The book draws on decades of social psychology research to examine how various approaches to morality help explain the roots of many political divisions.  It promises to be a provocative read and we hope that it offers everyone a chance to examine how political opponents see one another today.

Thanks to everyone who has been reading along with us this summer.  We hope you’re enjoying it!