Much is made these days about the disconnect between the American people and public life and politics. The issue is often framed, however, in terms of inherently polarizing dichotomies such as Democrat/Republican, religious/secular, wealthy/poor. In Hope Unraveled: The People's Retreat and Our Way Back, Richard C. Harwood examines this disconnect from a different perspective and concludes that the retreat of Americans from public life and politics is widespread and common among people of all beliefs and positions within society.

As founder and president of the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, Harwood has been researching how Americans view their role as citizens for more than fifteen years. Through group conversations with residents of different cities throughout the country, he and his associates have established themselves as well-regarded analysts of trends in the body politic that transcend geography and parochial concerns.

Those conversations are central to the book. Although the earliest conversations took place more than fifteen years ago, they remain relevant to Harwood's thesis that the movement among Americans toward a less publicly engaged lifestyle has been taking shape for some time. Harwood's commentary on these conversations focuses on common concerns such as the news media, dishonest and/or self-serving politicians, and hyper-consumerism and materialism. Taken together, these concerns inform what is perhaps the most interesting insight in the book: that a current of anxiety and despair has coursed steadily (with some changes of emphasis) through American life for at least a decade, and has led to the retreat of citizens from civic action and the public arena.

The news is not all bad, according to Harwood, who sees another common theme emerging from his years of research — one of hope and expectation. Many people, he believes, are in a "waiting place" from which they can, and will, rejoin the civic and public sphere if they are given hope and reasons to re-engage.

Despite the prevalence of negativity Harwood has noted in his conversations with Americans, he is reservedly optimistic about the future. Drawing on observations of communities where people have sucessfully worked toward real, substantial improvement, Harwood believes that the American people are capable of becoming more active in civic affairs, both locally and on a broader scale. Their re-engagement with the public sphere is contingent on two key issues, however. The first is an increased emphasis — by our leaders, the media, and each individual American — on the "public good" rather than appeals to individual self-interest. The second and, in Harwood's view, most essential is a commitment to developing "authentic hope." While Americans have become disenchanted with false promises and false hope, Harwood fervently believes they have responded to instances of genuine hope in the past 151 and will do so again in the future. Authentic hope, he says, is what will bring people back to the public square.

Though Harwood concludes his book on this optimistic note, he leaves an essential issue unresolved: The long-term implications of the overarching narrative he describes as being deeply rooted in the national consciousness. After spending the bulk of the book describing the development and ingrained nature of this narrative, Harwood does not address how it might be "edited" to create change for the better.

Nevertheless, his book serves as an important introduction to the issue of civic retreat and re-engagement. While the author does not offer a specific plan of action, his examination of the situation serves nicely as a catalyst for further research on and discussion of the issues he has raised. By bringing the issue of civic retreat into the spotlight and by focusing on the comments and concerns of real Americans, Hope Unraveled reminds us that in order for the American experiment to survive and thrive, our way forward as individuals and as a nation must be together and united, rather than isolated and alone.

For citations to additional materials on this topic refer to the Literature of the Nonprofit Sector Online, using the subject heading "Public policy."