Finished reading: The Politics of Gratitude by Mark T. Mitchell 📚

The prose was a little formulaic at points and Mitchell was given to some broad generalizations. I had the sense that he was trying to squeeze his entire political philosophy into the book, which made it a little unwieldy.

Nevertheless, it’s certainly a useful book. Mitchell argues for a “politics of gratitude” rooted in four key concepts: creatureliness (which implies limits), gratitude, human scale, and place. In many ways, Mitchell is projecting a religious/metaphysical vision of reality that ought to inform one’s understanding and practice of politics. It is certainly quite a ways upstream from policy discussion and the like. Whether you view that as a strength or weakness will likely depend on how much you resonate with his theological vision of political life.