Learn & Act

This work is more than a book.

It’s a movement.

On this page, you’ll find recommendations for books, films, organizations.

Join those working together to build a better future for all of us.

Networks, Organizations, & Websites

Weave: The Social Fabric Project — Help reweave our social fabric by rebuilding social trust.

Citizens Connect — Connect with 600+ organizations – right, left and center – working to strengthen our democracy

Starts With Us: Learn how to overcome toxic polarization and extreme division through daily exercises and other activities

Not In Our Town: Help build communities across the nation that are stronger than hate

Third Act: Find out how Americans over sixty are safeguarding our climate and our democracy

Braver Angels: Learn how to bridge partisan divides and overcome toxic politics

Protect Democracy: Stay aware of authoritarian threats to democratic freedoms

Listen First Project — 500 organizations combating toxic division by bringing Americans together. Join the movement!

New Pluralists — Find funders, practitioners, storytellers, researchers, and innovators coming together to strengthen a culture of pluralism in America.

Solutions Journalism Network: Shift journalism by supporting those who report on how communities are solving problems and learning from each other

Country First: Join those mobilizing the “reasonable majority” to defend our democracy

Urban Rural Action: Join those turning geographic, racial, political, and generational differences into strengths

One Small Step: Get to know someone from a different background over a half-hour conversation

Books


Power of the Powerless

Václav Havel

Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist

Eli Saslow


Ask: Tap Into the Hidden Wisdom of People Around You

Jeff Wetzler


And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle

Jon Meacham

Why We’re Polarized

Ezra Klein

High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out

Amanda Ripley

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

Timothy Snyder

On Freedom

Timothy Snyder

Hannah Arendt and the Politics of Friendship

Jon Nixon

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Maya Angelou

The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant

The Origins of Totalitarianism

Hannah Arendt

I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times

Mónica Guzmán

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

Isabel Wilkerson

The Sum of Us: How Racism Hurts Everyone

Heather McGhee

Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship since Brown v. Board of Education

Danielle S. Allen

The Way Out: How to Overcome Toxic Polarization

Peter T. Coleman

Waking Up White: and Finding Myself in the Story of Race

Debby Irving


Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America’s Heartland

Jonathan M. Metzl


Breaking Bias: Where Stereotypes and Prejudices Come From — and the Science-Backed Method to Unravel Them

Anu Gupta

Documentaries, Movies, & TV


The Basement Talks

I Am Not Your Negro

A Hate Crime Detective's Message to High School Students

James Talarico Delivers Sermon Against Christian Nationalism

America at a Crossroads

The Hate U Give

Inside the Mind of a Dog

PBS News Hour

Tennesseans from across the political spectrum unite to address gun violence

Star Wars: Yoda’s Wisest Words

Repairing The World: Stories From The Tree Of Life

Not In Our Town

Undivide Us

Heineken - Worlds Apart, #OpenYourWorld

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