The Triumph of Normal: Why Societies Return to Common Sense

Summary

One of the most talked about conservative thinkers in America asks: If we’re patient, won’t the preferences of ordinary people always prevail?

Many Americans believe that we have finally entered a “post-normal” age in which ancient structures like the family and organized religion are fading relics of an unrecoverable past. If that’s true, why do we still love having our cousins over for the Superbowl, singing Christmas songs about Jesus, taking pictures of the cookies we made, and arguing over school-board decisions? Don’t most people yearn for the same things we’ve always been obsessed with?

In The Triumph of Normal, Sohrab Ahmari compares our current politics and the failed utopian dreams of the past—from Shakers to Maoists—to explain how society always defaults to a middle-of-the-road interest in family, politics, religion, and creativity. Today a relentless anti-normality campaign seeks to destroy the faith, family structures, and local traditions that built our communities. But history consistently proves that radical social engineering of every kind always fails.

Blending the wisdom of ancient thinkers like Aristotle and Aquinas with the insights of modern ones like Freud and Christopher Lasch, Ahmari convincingly argues that man’s desire for faith, family, and creative order is biological and divine. The loudest voices usually have the worst ideas, but even when they seize power, they can’t outrun the inertia of normal.