BOOK
A More Just Future
Psychological Tools for Reckoning with Our Past and Driving Social Change
“This is one of the most moving and important behavioral science books of the last decade.”
— KATY MILKMAN
What we owe each other when the past is harder than we were taught.
Most of us learned a tidy version of history — the kind that's easier to feel proud of than to actually face. When the fuller story shows up, something in us flinches. We change the subject. We get defensive. We tell ourselves it was a long time ago.
This book asks for something braver. Not guilt, and not despair, but a kind of love that's willing to look squarely at the hard parts and stay. Dolly calls it gritty patriotism — caring about something enough to do the unglamorous work of making it better, not just the comfortable work of admiring it.
“A welcome, and urgent invitation" to explore the emotional relationship we have with our country's complicated and whitewashed history so that we can build a better future.”
Angela Duckworth (#1 NYT bestselling author of Grit)
“Required reading for all patriots who love their country enough to see its wounds—and heal them.”
Kenji Yoshino (Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law, NYU)
“Expertly provides readers with indispensable practical and evidence-based tools to overcome the psychological barriers that impede us from truly reckoning with injustice.”
Uché Blackstock, MD (founder of Advancing Health Equity)
“Grounded in solid research and lived experience, but also in empathy. Absolutely everyone who reads it will find useful advice on how to be a better person.”
Celeste Headlee (PBS host and award-winning journalist)
“A vulnerable, compassionate, and pragmatic psychological guide to facing the darkest corners of America's past.”
Kirkus Reviews
“Marked by its authenticity and sense of encouragement, this is a welcome look at how the average person can help fulfill America's promise.”
Publishers Weekly
RESOURCES
A More Just Future
Book Club Discussion Guide
A More Just Future
Instructors’ Guide
RELATED MEDIA
U.S History Has Good and Bad. Let’s See Both.
The Wall Street Journal
Can We Love a Country with a Complicated Past?
SXSW
The Psychology of Good People
Phil in the Blanks with Dr. Phil
About the Author
Dr. Dolly Chugh is an award-winning behavioral scientist at the NYU Stern School of Business where she studies the psychology of good people. With her trademark blend of science and soul, she helps individuals become the leaders, colleagues, citizens, and people they aspire to be (while trying to do the same herself). Before becoming a professor, she worked in investment banking, consulting, and media, and earned her MBA and PhD from Harvard University. She is the author of The Person You Mean to Be and A More Just Future.