From a Wall Street Journal review by Meghan Cox Gurdon headlined “‘The Soul of Civility’ Review: Doing Life Together”:

Since the pandemic, it’s common to hear laments that America’s social order is breaking down. It is well understood, too, that ours is rapidly becoming a low-trust society, one marked by punitive constraints on free expression and bitterly polarized politics.

Cultural analysts point to the causes of our distress. Alexandra Hudson offers a corrective to it. In “The Soul of Civility,” she makes a heartfelt case that Americans are far from the first people to struggle to “do life together” harmoniously and that we individually have the power, even the obligation, to make inward changes to improve our communal lot. She believes we must rededicate ourselves to principles of kindness, self-respect and consideration for others: in short, civility.