August 21, 2003 | Read Time: 1 minute
United We Serve: National Service and the Future of Citizenship
edited by E.J. Dionne Jr., Kayla Meltzer Drogosz, and Robert E. Litan
This book pulls together essays on national service written by military, political, and nonprofit leaders. The editors — E.J. Dionne Jr. is a senior fellow and Kayla Meltzer Drogosz a senior research analyst at the Brookings Institution, in Washington, and Robert E. Litan is vice president for research and policy at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, in Kansas City, Mo. — present a series of perspectives on the role government could play in encouraging people to perform public service, and the ways in which volunteering can make participants more aware of, and more actively involved in, local and national decision making.
The book opens with a discussion of whether the September 11, 2001, attacks have prompted Americans to spend more time engaged in political activities, volunteering, or working with community groups. Other essays focus on ways that companies, religious groups, and schools can influence people to donate to charity and volunteer.
Several writers discuss the value of national-service projects like AmeriCorps and describe the arguments for and against federally financed volunteer programs. The book also includes a debate on whether military service or public service should be mandatory.
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press, 1775 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036; (202) 797-6258; fax (202) 797-2960; http://www.brookings.edu; 327 pages; $46.95 cloth, $18.95 paper; I.S.B.N. 0-8157-1865-9.
