We Need to Build

More about the book

From the former faith adviser to President Obama comes an inspirational guide for those seeking to promote positive social change and build a more diverse and just democracy. The aim of social change work is not to incite a fierce revolution but to create a more beautiful social order. Organizing a fair trial is more complex than rallying a crowd, and building a good school is more challenging than criticizing current education systems. Yet, every decent society requires fair trials and quality schools, among other essential institutions for a large-scale diverse democracy. This work is a call to create and effectively manage these institutions. Eboo Patel, inspired by love-based activists like John Lewis and Martin Luther King Jr., has dedicated his life to building, nourishing, and sustaining an institution for positive social change—Interfaith America. Drawing on twenty years of experience, Patel shares lessons learned and emphasizes the importance of constructing rather than merely critiquing. His challenge to those committed to refounding America as a just and inclusive democracy is to defeat what we oppose by actively building what we support.