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Watch: Keeping Faith in Democracy

Marilynne Robinson's new book,, has been acclaimed by critics as "unflinching," "an exquisite novel of spiritual redemption and love," and "a book whose grandeur is found in its humility."
Bill Moyers
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Managing Editor, Moyers & Company

Managing Editor, Moyers & Company
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Previously published on BillMoyers.com.

Marilynne Robinson's new book, Lila, has been acclaimed by critics as "unflinching," "an exquisite novel of spiritual redemption and love," and "a book whose grandeur is found in its humility."

This week, it was nominated for the National Book Award, the latest of a series of books she set in a fictional Iowa town that began with the Pulitzer Prize-winning Gilead, published in 2004. In addition to her fiction, Robinson is also an accomplished essayist, and on this week's show, Bill talks with her about her fervent belief in the power of grace and faith and her devotion to democracy, which she fears "we are gravely in danger of losing."

She tells Moyers, "Democracy has been meant to remove the artificial constraints, poverty is the huge artificial constraint on human thought and action. In this country, there have been attempts to moderate that entrapment and we've abandoned that."

Moyers & Company airs weekly on public television. Explore more at BillMoyers.com.

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