Ross Douthat Books

Columnist, author and political pundit, Ross Douthat isn’t afraid to challenge the elites, from our universities, to our political structures, to the Church.

Columnist for The New York Times op-ed page, he also served as senior editor for The Atlantic and was film critic for National Review – back when it was Conservative.

He’s a frequent TV guest, speaking for the Right, on shows from Charlie Rose, to Real Time with Bill Maher.

Ross Douthat Books

The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success

Decadence isn’t all that its cracked up to be.

Diving deep into our society and culture, Ross Douthat details how our society has grown to be incredibly wealthy, but also pushed us into an era of luxurious yet depressing stagnation.

Somehow Western culture has evolved to be simultaneously rich, powerful and technologically amazing, but at the same time filled with social collapse, political deadlock and a lack of economic growth. As a result, we’re better off than we ever have been, but fundamentally we’re not very happy about it because the future is without risk or reward. The frontier has been won and the only thing left is to become a cog in the machine.

Douthat calls this era “sustainable decadence” and warns that it could be with us for a long, long time.

From this emerges a social trend based around an apocalyptic vision. We fear what could go wrong, but secretly we also long for it.

Is the solution some major breakthrough that changes our world? Or is it a catastrophe? Douthout has answers for both.

Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics

America was founded on the principles of institutional Christianity and it needs that foundation to survive.

That is the basis of Ross Douthat’s compelling book Bad Religion, in which he calls out the fake Christianity of the modern day and calls for a return to traditionalist roots.

While Christian ideas are everywhere and used as guiding principles, Douthat argues that the real errors of modern society aren’t a turning away of true Christian religion, but a perversion of it. From the social justice warriors to inclusivity, these concepts make us feel good but actually make us worse overall. Greedier. More self-absorbed. Filled with self-righteous contempt.

A call to traditional Chrstianity, this book outlines what it is, and why we need it.

To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism

One of the most controversial Pontiffs ever, Pope Francis is fawned over by some and detested by others. The reason: he’s fighting to make changes to the Catholic Church, an institution that has defined change for two thousand years.

A balanced approach for both sides, Ross Douthat explores how these proposed changes risk fracturing the Church at a time when it, and all of Western society, are in a perilous place.

The Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness and Discovery

A shockingly powerful book, Ross Douthat’s memoir tells the story of his sudden chronic illness, while exploring the human condition and society at the same time.

Driven by pain and with no answers from science and medicine, Douthat makes the desperate decision to explore alternatives, including the desperate move of self-mediation and experimentation. Through this process he discovers that those who he would have judged as being crazy before, might actually be right. And that solutions to his pain lie in unusual places, while the conventions of modern medicine can only do so much.

Throughout his memoir Douthat shows that sickness is a gift, because it shows you just how amazing a simple thing like being healthy is, while revealing to yourself your own strength, ingenuity, persistence and the importance of being your own advocate. And maybe more than anything, that there is always hope.

Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream

Written during the rise of the Tea Party movement but well before the populism of Donald Trump, co-authors Ross Douthat and Reiman Salam propose a version of the Republican party that looks a lot more like what we have today.

This book lays down a foundational change for the GOP, refocusing it using true Conservative values but in order to win back working class voters.

More than a theoretical call to action, the book outlines specific plans of action on everything from health care to immigration, and of course, taxes.

Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class

One of several books on the topic of what’s gone wrong at America’s universities, from authors like Peter Theil and Ben Shapiro, Ross Douthat take a personal approach.

Part memoir and part social critique, Douthat details his time at Harvard and tackles not just the political indoctrination but the larger error being made – that America’s centers of educational excellence have abandoned their true calling and have instead succumbed to societal stepping stones.