We Need to Build: Field Notes for Diverse Democracy

by Eboo Patel, Vikas Adam (Narrator)

“You don’t create societies by burning things down, You create societies by building things.”

From the former faith adviser to President Obama comes a fresh manifesto for those who seek to promote positive change and build a more diverse and just democracy

The goal of social change work is not a more ferocious revolution; it is a more beautiful social order. It is harder to organize a fair trial than it is to fire up a crowd, more challenging to build a good school than it is to tell others they are doing education all wrong. But every decent society requires fair trials and good schools, and that’s just the beginning of the list of institutions and structures that need to be efficiently created and effectively run in large-scale diverse democracy.

We Need to Build is a call to create those institutions and a guide for how to run them well.

In his youth, Eboo Patel was inspired by love-based activists like John Lewis, Martin Luther King Jr., Badshah Khan, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Thich Nhat Hanh. Their example, and a timely challenge to build the change he wanted to see, led to a life engaged in the particulars of building, nourishing, and sustaining an institution that seeks to promote positive social change—Interfaith America. Now, drawing on his twenty years of experience, Patel tells the stories of what he’s learned and how, in the process, he came to construct as much as critique and collaborate more than oppose.

His challenge to us is those of us committed to refounding America as a just and inclusive democracy need to defeat the things we don’t like by building the things we do.

Genres: Nonfiction, Audiobook, Politics

Audible Audio

Published September 22, 2022

About the author

Named by US News & World Report as one of America’s Best Leaders of 2009, Eboo Patel is the Founder and President of Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), a Chicago-based organization building the global interfaith youth movement. Author of the award-winning book Acts of Faith, Eboo is also a regular contributor to the Washington Post, USA Today and CNN. He served on President Obama’s inaugural Advisory Council of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships and holds a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University, where he studied on a Rhodes scholarship.

Reviews

[Tyler Critchfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall a good message - building is harder than criticizing. I didn't really like Patel's broad assumption of his readers' political views. I was also hoping for more of a focus on interfaith cooperation and religious pluralism (besides Patel's personal history which is covered in Acts of Faith). This is probably very helpful for some people, but personally I would recommend listening to his Interfaith America podcast instead, which is fantastic.

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated this book for distinguishing pluralism from democracy and instigation vs bridge building. His reflections around his experience as a community organizer were educational for me. But, I rated the book 3/5 because I would have appreciated a more critical lens of religious institutions and academia. Yes, these can be pluralistic environments that foster diversity, but/and they’re also assimilationist, patriarchal, and supremacist (white supremacist), silencing diversity they don’t find acceptable (by their arbitrary/hierarchical/normative standards). Overall good book, but it was hard to overlook the lack of critical consideration of these institutions a bit more.

[Sara Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very difficult book for me to read. It is obvious that the author is well educated and I found myself looking up many of the words. I really liked the way that he stated that more people need to act on what they believe in and be the change that they want to see in the world. My heart goes out to him and so many others that feel that they are not as good as others at least in the eyes of the world around them. I felt that he spoke as if all whites were against any people of color but I’m sure that it just the way I read into what was being said. I feel that everyone on this planet has had issues at least at one point or another that they don’t feel like others see them as equals due to one reason or another. What I have come to embrace is that I am not like everyone or anyone else. I am me and that in itself is what makes me special. I have difficultly fitting in just as much as the next person and I feel that it is up to me to be the difference and do what I can to make everyone around me feel like they are welcome and more than worthy to peruse anything that they like. I am really torn on how I feel about the book overall as I believe that the concept of building the good that we want to see is an excellent point but I felt that simply by pointing out that people of color are discriminated upon was somewhat stating that all people not of color discriminate.

[Frida Dillenbeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS BOOK SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR ALL HIGH SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY COURSES! What a direct, step by step, open arms embracing of all humankind. Once I started reading, I could not put this book down.

Eboo Patel writes vividly of his own missteps along the path of changing our country and the world. He recounts multiple significantly embarrassing occasions in his life which he turns around and states how he could have behaved or acted in a much better way to gain by-in from those around him. One of his stories (page 12-13) is about being in college as an activist he thought his only job was to criticize so that what he did but thankfully his professor suggested that giving constructive feedback on how to do it better, “why hadn’t I offered constructive suggestions?”

Chapter 17 is about constructive engagement and understanding all the facts not just part of them and then making blanket assumptions.

This book is a guidebook for building a better future for ourselves and our children!

Highly recommend!!

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Eboo's books. He covers the intersection of interfaith pluralism and democracy in a way that resonates and educates anyone who wants to see our diverse democracy succeed (or at least not fail). What I love about his style is that he leads with his mistakes. He is not being self-deprecating for effect. His style is genuine, leading the reader to a point that he has learned through experience. I only have Acts of Faith left and I will have read all of his books on pluralism.

[Amy Egbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book is really important. It is unimposing and does not make me feel guilty but does make me want to do better.

I see the need for righteous anger that Patel maybe doesn't, and I don't agree with all the ideas presented, but I love the potluck and the examples of how to build bridges.

Also I think I wish the audio was read by the author. It's too personal to be read by someone else, even though the reader was good.

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eboo was amazing and inspiring on a podcast we listen to so I couldn't wait to get into the book. It's well written and very accessible. There's some solid advice and a relatable journey. But it didn't inspire or light me up like I'd hoped it might.

[Abi Dauber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Patel has an amazing way with words. This book serves as an important call to build rather than to critique. Sure critiqueing can be important, but building and development is a much better way to change the world!

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful read providing a balanced view of discrimination and the truth of its impacts. Ebo gives examples that illustrate the duality of human beliefs and pride. All are geared to create a society that celebrates and respects all people!

[Mary Wells · Rating 5 out of 5]

i read this book because i listened to the author’s interview and thought “wow i agree with everything he’s saying” and then i read his book and confirmed. some really valuable things that i think every young woke college educated human should take into consideration

[M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a good read.

[Sam Hutchisson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice to read something so positive. Highly reccomend for any pluralists out there

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

More writings from Eboo whom I wish more were aware of. As with Acts of Faith examples of a life well lived (in many diverse ways) are helpful in the guidance of my own life. Thank You!

[Jess Erhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for a class. I didn’t love it, but it had some insightful thoughts.

[Barrett Gough · Rating 1 out of 5]

a prodigious turd salad

[Stephanie Zahrbock]

Phi Beta Kappa first years reads list 09/2025

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good messages throughout.

[Abhinav · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspiring. Writing a review about this book after a few months because I want all my 2025 books to have one. Very simple read and it follows the story of Eboo Patel in building Interfaith America. It is a story of converting social issues and inequalities into actionable structures to work towards a solution. As I was reading this book the imagery of the author’s interactions with the public, religious groups, outcries were felt and it was an engaging read. This book, however, might have an implied American defined leftist lense on a lot of social topics which is respected but not all inclusive to those who might have other angles or rationales. It was also a little exhausting towards the end, there wasn’t too much of a plot, it felt like going down a biography that just went through a tunnel. A tunnel without much turns or bangs. That being said, this book was quite inspiring in motivating me to endeavour in all my life projects with passion and structure.

[One Kind Act a Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the founder of Interfaith America, the largest interfaith group in the United States, Dr. Eboo Patel knows a lot about building. In this very honest guidebook Dr. Patel shows through his journey how easy it is to tear things down and how important yet difficult it is to build something of substance in its place. This is an important book for many people to read. If you are working for an organization, not even one that is striving for social change but any organization, this book is helpful. If you are looking for how to have more pluralism in our country, this book is helpful. If you are looking for how to be kinder and create more connections in our increasingly divided and cynical world, this book is helpful.