A house divided

The Cold War with the Soviet Union may be over, but America is now at war with itself. Citizens are raising their voices against other citizens who hold opposing views. How can we reconcile these competing perspectives? What does it mean to call yourself a patriot when your opponent believes you are a traitor? If, as Abraham Lincoln warned us, "a house divided against itself cannot stand," will America fall apart, or can a new patriotism be born out of these conflicts?

In A House Divided, Mark Gerzon, co-founder of the Rockefeller Foundation project The Common Enterprise, a network of community-building efforts to find common ground, invites us to move beyond these divisive, polarizing views. Gerzon's work has taken him and his colleagues into the heart of the most bitter community disputes in the country. There he discovered the America that is divided not into geographic states, but into states of belief about what is good for this country.

In his book he journeys through these Divided States of America: Patria, Corporatia, Disia, Media, Gaia, and Officia. He lets each state speak for itself, so that we can understand what each believes and why. He shows how "new patriots" from each of these six states are working successfully with their opponents to heal seemingly insurmountable conflicts, reuniting our divided house and safeguarding America's soul.

. Without taking sides or joining the battle, Gerzon lays bare the many causes for strife in our country and describes clearly what must be done for America to become once again the United States.