Who Really Cares

We all know we should give to charity, but who really does? In this provocative and controversial study of America's giving habits, Arthur C. Brooks shatters stereotypes about charity in America-most notably, the myth that the political Left is more compassionate than the Right. Brooks, a preeminent public policy expert, spent years researching giving trends in America, and even he was surprised by what he found. In Who Really Cares, he identifies the forces behind American charity: strong families, church attendance, earning one's own income (as opposed to receiving welfare), and the belief that individuals-not government-offer the best solution to social problems. But beyond just showing us who the givers and non-givers in America really are today, Brooks shows why charity matters-not just to givers and to recipients but to the nation as a whole. He demonstrates conclusively that giving is crucial to our economic prosperity, as well as to our happiness, health, and our ability to govern ourselves as a free people. Book jacket.

Arthur C. Brooks is Louis A. Bantle Professor of Business and Government Policy at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. The author of Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism, Brooks writes widely about the connections between culture, politics, and economic life in America, and his work appears frequently in the Wall Street Journal and other publications. He is a native of Seattle, Washington, and currently lives in Syracuse, New York, with his wife Ester and their three children.