The Road to Character opens with a distinction David Brooks returns to throughout the book and that has since become genuinely widely referenced: resume virtues, the skills and achievements that build a career, versus eulogy virtues, the deeper character qualities, kindness, courage, honesty, the capacity for love, that people actually get remembered for at their own funeral. Brooks, a longtime New York Times columnist writing here with unusual personal candor about his own perceived deficiencies in the eulogy department, argues that contemporary culture, oriented heavily toward self-promotion, achievement, and personal branding, has become highly skilled at cultivating resume virtues while genuinely neglecting the harder, slower work of building character, and he develops this argument not through abstract moralizing but through a series of detailed biographical portraits, including Dwight Eisenhower, Dorothy Day, and Frances Perkins, of people who wrestled seriously and often painfully with their own moral formation, using their examples to illustrate what Brooks calls the crooked timber of humanity from which real character is built.
Resume Virtues Versus Eulogy Virtues
Brooks's foundational and genuinely influential distinction, resume virtues that build a career against eulogy virtues that define who someone actually was, gives the book its central organizing framework and has become a widely referenced shorthand well beyond the book itself.
Biographical Portraits as Moral Case Studies
Rather than abstract moral philosophy, Brooks builds his argument through detailed biographical portraits of historical figures, including Dwight Eisenhower, Dorothy Day, and Frances Perkins, giving readers concrete, specific examples of character formation rather than purely theoretical guidance.
The Crooked Timber of Humanity
Brooks's recurring theme, borrowed from Kant's observation that from the crooked timber of humanity no truly straight thing was ever made, frames character development as a lifelong struggle against genuine personal flaws rather than a smooth path toward moral perfection.
Brooks's Own Candid Self-Assessment
The book's genuinely unusual personal candor, with Brooks openly discussing his own perceived shortcomings in cultivating eulogy virtues over his career, gives the book real credibility and humility rather than a lecture delivered from a position of moral superiority.
The Little Me Versus the Big Me
Brooks's framework contrasting a humbler little me, focused on inner character and service, against a more self-promotional big me culture he argues increasingly dominates contemporary life, connects the book's historical portraits to genuinely current cultural criticism.
Dorothy Day and the Discipline of Commitment
The book's extended treatment of Dorothy Day, the Catholic Worker Movement founder, and her genuine struggle toward disciplined commitment and service, offers one of the book's more spiritually serious and demanding portraits of character formation through sustained sacrifice.
Eisenhower's Self-Mastery and Restraint
Brooks's portrait of Dwight Eisenhower's genuine lifelong practice of self-mastery and emotional restraint, developed specifically to counter his own naturally hot temper, illustrates the book's argument that character is actively built through consistent practice rather than simply possessed.
A Genuinely Countercultural Argument
The book's core argument, that humility, restraint, and sustained moral struggle matter more than self-promotion and achievement, runs genuinely countercultural to much contemporary self-help and career advice, giving it distinctive intellectual weight.
Who Should Read This Book
The Road to Character is most valuable for readers wrestling with questions of purpose and legacy beyond career achievement, as well as readers who appreciate biography and history as a vehicle for exploring genuinely serious moral and philosophical questions.
The Premium Hardcover Edition
This hardcover edition is well-produced and suited to a book that has become a significant, frequently discussed voice in contemporary conversations about character and moral formation, with binding quality appropriate for a title many readers revisit.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Resume virtues versus eulogy virtues framework offers a genuinely influential, widely applicable distinction
- Detailed biographical portraits give concrete, specific examples rather than abstract moral philosophy
- Brooks's own candid self-assessment gives the book real humility and credibility
- Little me versus big me framework connects historical portraits to current cultural criticism
- Genuinely countercultural argument offers real intellectual weight against self-promotion culture
Cons:
- Some biographical portraits assume general historical familiarity readers may need to supplement
- The book's moral seriousness and demanding tone may feel heavy for readers wanting lighter self-help
- Certain historical figures profiled may feel less immediately relatable to some contemporary readers
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the resume virtues versus eulogy virtues distinction mean?
Resume virtues are the skills and achievements that build a career, while eulogy virtues are the deeper character qualities, kindness, courage, honesty, that people actually get remembered for after death.
Is this book religious in nature?
Some profiled figures, like Dorothy Day, had strong religious commitments, but Brooks's overall framework is intended to apply broadly across religious and secular readers interested in character formation.
Is this a self-help book or a history book?
It combines both, using detailed biographical portraits of historical figures as concrete case studies for a broader argument about character development and moral formation.
Does the book criticize modern career-focused culture?
Yes, it argues contemporary culture has become skilled at cultivating resume virtues while neglecting the harder work of building eulogy virtues and genuine character.
Final Verdict
The Road to Character delivers a genuinely influential, countercultural argument for prioritizing eulogy virtues over resume virtues, built through detailed, carefully chosen biographical portraits of figures who wrestled seriously with their own moral formation. David Brooks's unusual personal candor gives the book real humility rather than lecture-like moralizing. This premium hardcover is substantive, genuinely valuable reading for anyone wrestling with questions of purpose and legacy beyond career achievement alone.
Rating: 8.7/10