From the author of the New York Times bestseller Begin Again, a politically astute, lyrical meditation on how ordinary people can shake off their reliance on a small group of professional politicians and assume responsibility for what it takes to achieve a more just and perfect democracy.

Preeminent scholar and New York Times bestselling author Eddie Glaude makes the case that the hard work of becoming a better person should be a critical feature of Black politics. Through virtuoso interpretations of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Ella Baker, Glaude shows how we can become the heroes that our democracy desperately needs.

Based on the Du Bois Lectures delivered at Harvard University, We Are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For begins by recalling Glaude’s unease with the Obama years. The excitement around the Obama presidency, Glaude argues, constrained our politics as we turned to yet another prophet-like figure who overwhelmed citizen voices. Weaving together a personal story of political evolution with the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Dewey, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, and Ralph Ellison, Glaude encourages us to address imaginatively the challenges of our day in voices uniquely our own.

With passion and philosophical insight, Glaude offers a powerful reminder that if American democracy is to survive, we must step out from under the shadows of giants and build a society that derives its strength from the pews, not the pulpit.

Confidence in American government has been declining for three decades. Three-quarters of Americans said they trusted the Federal government to do the right thing in 1964. Today, only a quarter do. Why the decline? Is this mistrust a healthy reflection of America's long-lasting skepticism of a strong state? Is mistrust a problem for the future of governance?

Bringing together essays by leading Harvard scholars, this book explores the roots of mistrust. It first examines government's current scope, its actual performance, and citizens' perceptions of its performance. It then assesses many possible explanations that have been offered for the decline of trust, including the end of the Cold War, elevated expectations following World War II, a weakened economy, the effects of globalization, resentment over political scandals, and incompetence of bureaucrats. The book clarifies thinking about the sources of public disaffection.

Mistrust, the contributors find, is largely unrelated to national economic conditions, to challenges of a global economy, to the Cold War, or to bumbling bureaucrats and venal politicians. Rather, they show that the most likely culprits are all around us—an interacting blend of cultural and political conflicts stirred by an increasingly corrosive news media.