The Death of Common Sense
How Law Is Suffocating America
America is drowning: in law, legality, bureaucratic process. Abandoning our common sense and individual sense of responsibility, we live in terror of the law, in awe of procedure, at war with one another. Philip K. Howard has written the explosive manifesto for liberation – one of the most talked about sociopolitical treatises of our time. Citing dozens of examples of bureaucratic overkill – everything from the labeling of window cleaner as a toxic substance to the U.S. Department of Defense spending $2 billion on travel and $2.2 billion processing the paperwork for that travel – The Death of Common Sense shows how far we have wandered, how we got into this mess, and how we can – and must – get out.
Random House, 1995. Re-Released in 2010 with a new afterword.
Reviews & Endorsements
“One of the most important, thought-provoking books I’ve read in years, and it will grip you from the first page. Every doctor and teacher frustrated by paperwork, every judge frustrated by mandatory sentencing guidelines, every banker and businessman tied in regulatory knots, every manager terrified to fire someone for doing a poor job – every taxpayer – will find The Death of Common Sense a blood-boiler. What makes it important, though, is not its (amazing) anecdotes, but that it so elegantly synthesizes them…and points to solutions.”
– Andrew Tobias
“A brilliant diagnosis…forceful, trenchant, and eloquent.”
– Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
“Challenges fundamental and usually unexplored assumptions and points out that the Enlightenment’s promise of wisdom through reason is far from being achieved.”
– Los Angeles Times
“The delights of this policy prose poem lie in its perfect details, its civilized tone, its sure sense of where the ill-made legal shoe pinches.”
– Wall Street Journal
“Mr. Howard’s argument is fresh, reflecting an impressive combination of wisdom, wry humor, and quiet passion….When we think about ‘reinventing government,’ it’s a good place to start.”
– New York Times Book Review
“What Mr. Howard is trying to do with this thoughtful little book is drive us all sane.”
– New York Times
“Excellent.”
– Washington Post