From “shock-jocks” on the airwaves to shootings on the highways, the signs that civility in America is crumbling assail us. It is not only individuals who suffer. A democracy, more than any other society, is built on mutual trust and cooperation among strangers, on the street as well as in the meeting hall. Creating and sustaining such trust was an important public commitment of America’s early years, our authors write—one that we seem increasingly unable to make.