We have been told that we are a nation divided along lines of red and blue, religious and secular, urban and rural.  But Richard C. Harwood?s new book, Hope Unraveled: The People?s Retreat and Our Way Back, discovers something different: a nation struggling with growing consumerism, distorted realities, and false divisions that cut across cultural, political and media landscapes.

Harwood, founder and president of The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, has chronicled 15 years of conversations with ordinary Americans as part of major research initiatives funded by some of the largest foundations in the country.  What he has found is that because political leaders and the news media (at the national and local levels) fail to reflect the reality of our daily lives in their words and deedsand often distort those realities for short-term gainpeople have felt no choice but to retreat from politics and public life into their close-knit circles of family and friends. They abhor and deeply lament this retreat but are lost about what to do about it.

This retreat runs counter to the purported ?red state, blue state? division that drives today?s political conversations.  Harwood has discovered that we are more alike than we are different, and that many of the strategies our leaders are pursuing to mend this false division are actually driving us further and further into retreat.  Despite a seemingly overwhelming problem, Harwood asserts there is a way to reverse this retreat and forge an alternate path for politics and public life.

In Hope Unraveled, Harwood calls on peopleincluding leaders, news media, and citizens to pursue an alternate path for politics and public life rooted in genuine possibility and hopethe first and most important step is to get back to basics:

• First, we must square with the reality of people's lives. This means understanding why people have retreated and under what conditions they will step forward.
• Second, we must tap into people's desire to be part of something larger than themselves. Our task is to forgo engaging people as isolated consumers and re-instill a sense of purpose and meaning in our public affairs. Otherwise, we will be unable to bring people together to address our common problems.
• Finally, we must affirm our commitment to hope. But meeting this challenge requires that we make a clear distinction between false hope and authentic hope. People do not want to endure more disappointment.
  

To learn more about Hope Unraveled, Richard Harwood, and The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, visit the website www.hopeunraveled.com.  You can also download a variety of free publications from the Harwood Institute, including a copy of the Hope Unraveled discussion guide to use with friends, co-workers, and members of your community to begin to better understand where we are today in our public life and politics, and what we need to do to create the kind of communities and nation we all seek.

Hope Unraveled is published by Kettering Foundation Press; all proceeds from the sale of this book go directly to the Kettering Foundation.