Rick Santorum made his name in the 2012 presidential race with his principled conservatism. To understand Santorum's worldview and vision for America, there is no better source than his New York Times best-selling book, It Takes a Family. It Takes a Family is one of the most profound and comprehensive books of political thought ever written by a politician. Santorum offers a penetrating look at the social, political, and economic shifts that have hurt American families—and a principled, genuinely conservative plan for reversing this slide. Here Santorum explains his core beliefs, laying out a humane vision that he believes must inform public policy if it is to be effective and just. Politicians of both parties, he shows, fail to address the way Americans truly live their lives: in families, neighborhoods, churches, and communities. It Takes a Family is animated by an appreciation for the civic bonds that unite a community -- an appreciation that lies at the heart of genuine conservatism. This book, writes Santorum, "is an attempt to sketch the past forty years of American history in light of our founders' vision for the pursuit of the common good in a civil society. Are we still the country we were born to be? How did we arrive at this state? Where is our destination if we do not change? And how can we reclaim our rich inheritance from generations past and with it build up a society our founders would revere?" It Takes a Family is an indispensable source for understanding not merely the 2012 presidential election but also the past, present, and future of American society. - Publisher.