Head Hand Heart

David Goodheart is absolutely right and timely in his recognition of a crisis of meaning in an age where we so value autonomy, individuality, wealth, status and purpose that we have neglected community, collaboration, inter-dependence and human vulnerability. It’s a topsy-turvy world where the work of the heart and hand is undervalued. It’s time for a radical rethink in what we value - and Goodheart’s book is a part of this urgent endeavour. Nicci Gerrard, author of What Dementia Teaches Us About Love

“David Goodhart – the man who made the words ‘anywheres’ and ‘somewheres’ must-use terms of reference for anyone writing an op ed on globalisation – turns his searching gaze and his genius for pithy formulation to another cause of division in the West: the fact that, as he puts it, “smart people have become too powerful.”” Tom Holland, author of Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind

‘An uplifting book, celebrating wisdom and virtue in contrast to the trite cleverness that has contaminated our values. And a hopeful book at just the time when we need it.’ Paul Collier, Author of The Future of Capitalism, and Greed is Dead.

“David Goodhart is among the most insightful analysts of Anglo-American society, and of why the elites in our two countries so badly misunderstand the values, needs, and worth of most citizens. If you dream of a society that is more just and humane, offering more people more routes to dignity, prosperity, and happiness, then you will love Head, Heart, Hand.”—Jonathan Haidt, New York Times Bestselling author of The Righteous Mind, Co-author of The Coddling of the American Mind

"Books like this one are typically written for audiences who prize the world of "the head" above all. David Goodhart shows us the error of our ways, asking us to challenge our own preconceptions and what we value and why at a critical national and global moment. Head, Hand, Heart is urgent, compelling, and necessary."—Anne Marie-Slaughter, CEO, New America, author of The Chessboard and the Web

“Head, Hand and Heart describes a dangerous concentration of cultural and economic power in a stratum of society that is selected on very narrow grounds, and gives a little weight to experience. The cognitive elite becomes a self-certifying apparatus ever more insulated from the lives and concerns of the majority, resulting in a form of cultural authority that is basically clerical. David Goodhart means to start a reformation. With great clarity and unfailing sympathy for the human condition, he charts a path toward a society in which a fuller range of aptitudes will receive the recognition they are due.”—Matthew Crawford, New York Times Bestselling author of Shop Class as Soulcraft

“Inequality of opportunity and redistribution of income are common topics of debate. In Head, Hand, Heart, David Goodhart, one of the most insightful and provocative thinkers of our time,

compels us to think about inequality of dignity and redistribution of respect.”—Michael Lind, author of The New Class War: Saving Democracy from the Managerial Elite

In his new book David Goodhart spells out a new political outlook, which combines a social democratic concern for fairness with a conservative respect for the family, local community and the nation-state. Challenging the economic and cultural liberalism that dominated much of the political spectrum for many years, Goodhart argues compellingly that an overvaluation of the role of cognitive elites in government and society has blinded us to the importance of the caring professions and vocations based on practical skills. Presenting an agenda that has become all the more urgent since the pandemic, Head, Hand and Heart is a powerful successor to Goodhart's hugely influential Road to Somewhere. For anyone concerned with the state of politics and society, this is a real must-read.

John Gray, author of Straw Dogs