The Character of Nations

In the tradition of Thomas Sowell and Stephen Carter, a broad cross-cultural study of how the nature of a regime affects the character of its people - is back in print for the first time in a decade. In the new millennium, people around the world are reexamining and reinventing their political systems, conscious that political choices imply different ways of life. In this newly reissued cross-cultural study, Angelo M. Codevilla illustrates that as people shape their governments, they shape themselves. Drawing broadly from the sweep of history, from the Roman republic to de Tocqueville's America to the Soviet Union, as well as from personal and scholarly observations of the world in the twentieth century, "The Character of Nations" reveals remarkable truths about the effects of government on a society's economic arrangements, moral and religious order, sense of family life, and ability to defend itself.Codevilla argues that in present-day America, government has had a profound negative effect on societal norms.
It has taught people to seek prosperity through connections with political power; fostered the atrophy of civic responsibility; waged a Kulturkampf against family and religion; and dug a dangerous chasm between those who serve in the military and those who send it in harm's way. Informative and provocative, "The Character of Nations" shows how the political decisions we make have higher stakes than simply who wins elections.