The Idea of America

Reflections on Inequality, Democracy, and the Values We Share

Darren Walker has lived the promise of America.

Born to a single mother in a Louisiana charity hospital, the pride of Head Start and public schools in rural East Texas, Walker serves today as the tenth President of the Ford Foundation, among the largest private foundations in the United States. Since 2013, he has overseen more than $7 billion in grantmaking, while transforming philanthropy and inspiring conversations about and commitments to democratic values and institutions around the world. As Walker writes, “I have lived on both sides of American inequality. And I know, all too personally, that the distance between the two has never been greater.”

In The Idea of America: Reflections on Inequality, Democracy, and the Values We Share, Walker argues that we can narrow our widening divides by rediscovering our common aspirations and common good. With an original foreword by President William Jefferson Clinton, this prescient, timely compendium introduces us to an essential leader of and for our moment—in his own words—through his most essential reflections, essays, and speeches.

Across 97 selected pieces, many published here for the first time, Walker shares from his:

• Uniquely American story and extraordinary life's journey
• Bold leadership of the Ford Foundation, whose efforts and assets he marshaled to uproot inequalities of all kinds
• Audacious vision for a philanthropy that prioritizes justice beyond generosity—and that practices a new Gospel of Wealth for our new gilded age
• Lifelong passion for arts and culture, wellsprings of empathy and of social change
• Trailblazing advocacy for a more democratic capitalism, which ensures that where markets lead, justice follows
• Urgent reaffirmation of America's enduring promise—that from many, we are one, and that all deserve dignity, fairness, and opportunity

Ultimately, Walker calls for courageous, moral leadership from us all—challenging us to step back from the extremes, to lean into nuance and complexity, and to build longer bridges.

“Hope,” Walker affirms, “is the oxygen of democracy.” The Idea of America gives powerful testimony to all that is possible “if we renew our fidelity to the values that bind us, both despite and because of our differences.”

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