{"id":2617145,"date":"2026-06-22T08:30:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T12:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/reading-good-literature-can-help-restore-americas-civic-virtue\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T08:34:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T12:34:04","slug":"reading-good-literature-can-help-restore-americas-civic-virtue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/reading-good-literature-can-help-restore-americas-civic-virtue\/","title":{"rendered":"Reading Good Literature Can Help Restore America&#8217;s Civic Virtue"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Freading-good-literature-can-help-restore-americas-civic-virtue%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2617145&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses the declining reading habits in America, highlighting how many adults do not engage with literature despite its recognized benefits. It emphasizes that reading literature enhances emotional intelligence, moral outlook, and self-knowledge, which are vital for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/speaker-johnson-to-make-all-jan-6-tapes-available-to-public-immediately\/\" title=\"Speaker Johnson to make all Jan. 6 tapes available to public &#039;immediately&#039;\">healthy democratic society<\/a>. The author underscores the importance of great books in fostering virtues, shared cultural values, and a common language that binds Americans together. While acknowledging the challenges posed by modern distractions like social media, the piece advocates for returning to classic literature, suggesting that even casual reading of accessible books can enrich the soul and strengthen moral and intellectual health.Ultimately, the author argues that a well-read citizenry contributes to national moral fabric, even if it alone cannot solve all of the country&#8217;s political issues.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Several years ago, upon recommendation from a learned acquaintance of mine, I ordered a book by acclaimed English Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope. <\/p>\n<p>When the (very long) book arrived, there was a little sticky note attached to the first page: \u201cYou will never read this. \u2014 Brent.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Though considered a classic (and Trollope\u2019s masterpiece), Brent\u2019s humorous prophecy has, so far, proven true. I made it about thirty pages before giving up.<\/p>\n<p>Americans don\u2019t read literature much any more. According to a YouGov survey, <a href=\"https:\/\/yougov.com\/en-us\/articles\/53804-most-americans-didnt-read-many-books-in-2025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">40 percent of adults<\/a> did not read a single book last year and the median American likely read less than two novels. That\u2019s the case even though the number of Americans holding a four-year degree has more than <a href=\"https:\/\/youngamericans.berkeley.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/College-Attainment-Issue-Brief.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">doubled<\/a> since the 1970s. I sense, perhaps, a collective shrug from many \u2014 who cares if Americans don\u2019t read fiction? Those who favor republican government should care. Reading is a marker of the relative health of a democratic society. <\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Tried-and-True Benefits of Good Literature<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/4547332\/reading-benefits\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Studies<\/a> show those who regularly read literature score higher on measures of emotional intelligence, seeing other people\u2019s perspectives, and social cognition. Yet as Joshua Hren argues in <a href=\"https:\/\/bookstore.wordonfire.org\/products\/more-than-a-matter-of-taste\"><em>More <\/em><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/bookstore.wordonfire.org\/products\/more-than-a-matter-of-taste\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Than a Matter of Taste: The Moral Imagination &#038; the Spirit of Literature<\/em><\/a>, that\u2019s a minor benefit. Hren says that reading literature \u201cenhances our vision beyond the empirical,\u201d and \u201ccultivates the kind of contemplation by which the soul might purge illusions and recognize reality for what it <em>really <\/em>is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What is Hren talking about? Those who were forced to read <em>To Kill a Mockingbird<\/em> or <em>The Great Gatsby<\/em> may rightly ask, do such texts really have the ability to transform us into better people? Yes, actually. It\u2019s not just about considering others\u2019 perspectives. Literature often makes a more effective point that can have a visceral effect that\u2019s deeper than dry, rhetorical logic. \u201cLiterature emerges as an innately complex corrective to our overly easy moralistic proclamations,\u201d writes Hren. \u201cIt can take the moralistic man through an analogical pilgrimage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In other words, it\u2019s one thing for someone to technically define courage, prudence, or long-suffering. It\u2019s another thing to be drawn into exemplars of them in <em>War and Peace<\/em>, <em>The Grapes of Wrath<\/em>, or <em>Brave New World<\/em>. Alternatively, literature can serve as a <em>via negativa<\/em>, directing the reader towards the virtuous by showing him the perils and misfortunes of indulging vice, as we observe in <em>Anna Karenina<\/em> or <em>Animal Farm<\/em>. When we read such stories, we also develop self-knowledge \u2014 do I possess those virtues, or at least the potential for them? Have I been tempted and deceived to think some sinful behavior is a trifle, rather than a real threat?<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What Good Literature Has To Do With Citizenship<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Founders knew the republican government they established would require an informed, moral people. John Adams declared,\u201cOur Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports,\u201d said George Washington. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnly a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters,\u201d warned Benjamin Franklin. <\/p>\n<p>  A citizenry who reads great books, then, is a citizenry instilled precisely in those virtues necessary for self-government. They are also people who, trained by the patience of reading literature, have generated what the great twentieth century philosopher Josef Pieper called an \u201cattitude of receptive observation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s even more than this. John Jay in Federalist No.2 asserts that part of the reason for the success of our nation is that we are \u201c\u2026 a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As much as Americans share the experience of reading from the Western literary canon, they share a common language, common narratives, and common imagery that directs our hearts and minds to beautiful transcendent truths. That has tremendous rhetorical power, as the great statesman Abraham Lincoln well knew, drawing as he so regularly did on biblical imagery in his speeches.<\/p>\n<p>That said, it\u2019s also true that <em>overly <\/em>moralistic literature can be suffocating in its didactic character. Much of the best children\u2019s literature is the kind that tells a great story that happens to have a moral, rather than being a text that has a great moral and happens to have a story appended to it. <\/p>\n<p>This is why the best literature is morally complex, considers the perspective even of villains, and resonates with the complicated experiences we regularly face. It also effectively communicates comic irony, which exposes our tendency towards self-serving, vainglorious understandings of ourselves. Recently, I couldn\u2019t stop laughing at the irony of a scene in Flaubert\u2019s <em>Madame Bovary<\/em>, in which two narcissistic lovers-to-be at a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >local civic event quietly bond<\/a> over their shared self-indulgent romantic passions, while in the background a speaker dully raves about agriculture. \u201cFlax, gentleman, do not let us forget flax!\u201d he declares.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Reading Won<\/strong><strong>\u2019t Save the Republic, But It Will Make Us Better Americans<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>However, let\u2019s be frank. It will move mountains to significantly change the amount of Americans who read fiction. We are a distracted people addicted to our screens and social media feeds. We stream content that all fosters the exact <em>opposite <\/em>qualities required to quietly sit, read a book, and contemplate eternal truths. Nor are our nation\u2019s problems so easily solved that persuading millions of Americans to read Mark Twain will somehow miraculously resolve the disorder and distemper of our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/israels-political-crisis-bennett-government-coalition-loses-majority-as-whip-idit-silman-resigns\/\" title=\"Israel\u2019s Political Crisis: Bennett ... Coalition Loses Majority As Whip Idit Silman Resigns\u00a0\">current political crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, the reason we should read good fiction is the same reason we should exercise, devote time to loved ones, or pray: because it\u2019s <em>good <\/em>for us. At first, it may seem daunting \u2014 if you haven\u2019t read a book in a while, start with an easy, short \u201cmodern\u201d classic that will keep your attention. I recommend something by Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, or Graham Greene. Even their books, I have found, are capable of broadening the imagination and elevating the appetite for authentic goods (and they\u2019re always great stories!).<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t think anyone is under the illusion that reading will save our fragile republic. But a citizenry who reads is a sign of a nation\u2019s intellectual and moral health. This anniversary of our nation, return to the classics of our literary canon. I\u2019ve got the Trollope book back on my desk now.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Casey Chalk is a senior contributor at The Federalist and an editor and columnist at The New Oxford Review. He is a regular contributor at many publications and the author of three books, including the upcoming &#8220;Wisdom From the Cross: How Jesus\u2019 Seven Last Words Teach Us How to Live (and Die)&#8221; (Sophia Institute Press, 2026).<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A humorous note predicted I\u2019d never finish Trollope&#8217;s classic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":658,"featured_media":2617146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ben-white-1MHU3zpTvro-unsplash-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546,33651],"tags":[44913,81518,19272],"class_list":["post-2617145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","category-the-western-journal","tag-american-society","tag-civic-virtue","tag-literature"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ben-white-1MHU3zpTvro-unsplash-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2617145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/658"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2617145"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2617145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2617150,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2617145\/revisions\/2617150"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2617146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2617145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2617145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2617145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}