The Civility Book: A Guide to Building Bridges Across the Political Divide

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Henderson and Detroit News editorial page editor Finley disagree on most things. Finley is conservative, while Henderson is progressive. Both were opinion editors on opposing Detroit newspapers. However, they agree that people with differing opinions can talk to each other, and have truly civil conversations at that. The two also agree that incivility is a serious threat to American democracy. Their book, written with Lynne Golodner, is about how those civil conversations can be held. The authors first define “civility” as being able to have contentious political conversations and disagreements without letting hate be part of the equation. Vigorous debate and even heated disagreement can still be a vital part of any civil conversation. Disagreeing respectfully and seeking out common ground are among the goals set out by this book. The appendices add real substance to the informative text as a manual for difficult political conversations. The first appendix introduces a “civility curriculum” that comes from work done by the Great Lakes Civility Project. The second appendix lists an extensive group of valuable resources. Each chapter offers recommended actions as well.