A Time to Build

Americans are living through a social crisis. Populist firebrands - on left and right alike - propose to address the crisis through acts of tearing down. They describe themselves as destroying oppressive establishments, clearing weeds, draining swamps. But, as acclaimed conservative intellectual Yuval Levin argues, this is a misguided prescription, rooted in a defective diagnosis. The social crisis we confront is defined not by an oppressive presence but by a debilitating absence of forces that unite us and militate against alienation.

Both Republicans and Democrats overwhelmingly respond to crisis by threatening to dismantle institutions that they perceive as belonging to their political opponents. Both sides have turned "institution" into a pejorative. Levin argues that this is misguided - this is not a time to tear down, he says, but rather to build and rebuild by committing ourselves to the institutions around us and strengthening their capacity to shape and unite us. Institutions - from the military to churches to families and universities - give us the forms we require to be free. They give us a sense of community, shared identity and a sense of belonging to something greater than ourselves.

What we perceive as a social crisis, Levin argues, is really an institutional crisis. By rebuilding and restoring collective trust in our institutions, we rebuild and restore trust in society.

“"Yuval Levin stands athwart the wrecking ball of anger that is smashing a democracy in desperate need of rebuilding and repair. A Time to Build sets forth an ambitious blueprint for how Americans can work together to strengthen broken institutions we cannot live without."-- Bruce Reed, chief of staff to former Vice President Joe Biden”

"A Time to Build diagnoses the decline of institutions as the source of many social ills, including loneliness and despair, that have been attributed to other causes."--Mona Charen, National Review
"A Time to Build is exactly what America needs right now. A moving call to recommit to the great project of our common life. And from Yuval Levin, one of the most thoughtful and pertinent of our public intellectuals, who writes like a dream if dreams were always clear. What an encouraging book this is, and what an important one."--Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal
"A provocative, inspiring look at the underlying cause of our polarization and dysfunction."--Kirkus
"As Yuval Levin writes in his profound forthcoming book, A Time to Build, Trump is an example of a person who wasn't formed by an institution. He is self-created and self-enclosed. He governs as a perpetual outsider, tweeting insults to members of his own cabinet. At its best, the impeachment process is an attempt to protect our institutions from his inability to obey the rules."--David Brooks, New York Times
"Crisply written and characteristically thoughtful..."--Commentary
"In A Time to Build, one of the few mildly optimistic political books to come out in this winter of depressing ones, the conservative scholar (and editor of National Affairs) Yuval Levin argues for ... a comprehensive recommitment to American institutions - families and churches, academia and government - as an alternative to the current tendency to use them instrumentally, as a platform for partisan ambitions and personal desires."--Ross Douthat, New York Times
"In a political moment focused only on tearing down, Yuval Levin shows the necessity and the promise of institution-building. This book is an essential starting point toward an American renewal."--Senator Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska)
"In his excellent forthcoming book A Time to Build, Yuval Levin discusses how we've degraded our institutions by not letting them shape and constrain us, but instead using them as mere platforms."--Rich Lowry, National Review
"Mainstream Republicans dismayed by the current state of their party...will savor this well-reasoned and hopeful study."--Publishers Weekly
"The most thoughtful conservative theorist of his generation..."--Washington Post
"There is a great deal of ruin in our society. Yuval Levin does not shrink from taking the full measure of our woes. But his counsel is not despair. This perceptive and important book sets an agenda for renewing the institutions we need in order to live and flourish together as Americans."--R.R. Reno, editor of First Thing
"Yuval Levin stands athwart the wrecking ball of anger that is smashing a democracy in desperate need of rebuilding and repair. A Time to Build sets forth an ambitious blueprint for how Americans can work together to strengthen broken institutions we cannot live without."--Bruce Reed, chief of staff to former Vice President Joe Biden

Yuval Levin is the founder and editor of National Affairs and has written for the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. His previous books include The Fractured Republic and The Great Debate. Levin was a member of the White House domestic policy staff under George W. Bush. He lives in Maryland.

Americans are living through a social crisis. Populist firebrands - on left and right alike - propose to address the crisis through acts of tearing down. They describe themselves as destroying oppressive establishments, clearing weeds, draining swamps. But, as acclaimed conservative intellectual Yuval Levin argues, this is a misguided prescription, rooted in a defective diagnosis. The social crisis we confront is defined not by an oppressive presence but by a debilitating absence of forces that unite us and militate against alienation.Both Republicans and Democrats overwhelmingly respond to crisis by threatening to dismantle institutions that they perceive as belonging to their political opponents. Both sides have turned "institution" into a pejorative. Levin argues that this is misguided - this is not a time to tear down, he says, but rather to build and rebuild by committing ourselves to the institutions around us and strengthening their capacity to shape and unite us. Institutions - from the military to churches to families and universities - give us the forms we require to be free. They give us a sense of community, shared identity and a sense of belonging to something greater than ourselves. What we perceive as a social crisis, Levin argues, is really an institutional crisis. By rebuilding and restoring collective trust in our institutions, we rebuild and restore trust in society.

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