The 22 essays in this collection were originally presentations given during the conference on Civility and Democracy in America held in Spokane, Washington in March 2011. They address the complicated and frequently counterintuitive relationships between civil behavior and democratic governance from a variety of humanistic-based approaches, including history, philosophy, religion, art and architecture, and evolving media. Editors are Clayton (political science, Washington State U.) and Elgar (Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service, and doctoral candidate, political science, Washington State U.). Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)