Hodder acquires 'seminal work' on morality from Rabbi Lord Sacks

Hodder has acquired a new book from thought leader and rabbi Jonathan Sacks about the "outsourcing" of morality and what needs to be done to recover it.

In Morality, Sacks argues we have outsourced morality to the markets on the one hand and to government on the other. While demonstrating to readers why this isn't working, his aim is to show "how we can build a strong collective morality for the modern era".

The new book, publishing on 13th June 2019 in hardback, builds on interviews in Sacks' BBC Radio 4 series exploring morality in the 21st century, which broadcasts from Monday 3rd September with contributors including Jordan Peterson, Melinda Gates, Robert Putnam and Steven Pinker.

Ian Metcalfe at Hodder Faith acquired UK, Commonwealth (excluding Canada) and European rights to Morality from Louise Greenberg at Louise Greenberg Books.

The book's author is a former Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the UK & Commonwealth. He last published Not in God’s Name with Hodder Faith in 2015, which sold over 30,000 copies.

Metcalfe commented: "Not in God’s Name was a landmark publication for us and demonstrated Jonathan Sacks’ power to speak into our current situation with a message of challenge and hope, culminating in the award of the 2016 Templeton Prize. With Morality Sacks takes his arguments to another level, and we are delighted to be publishing what is guaranteed to be another seminal work."

Sacks said: "For the past 50 years the West has been eroding its shared moral code. This has led to the rise of populism, identity politics, the culture of victimhood, the rise of the far right and the far left, and many other rifts in our global society. It has also demonstrated that the free market and the liberal democratic state are not enough to ensure stability and prosperity. In this book, I hope to provide an analysis of how we lost our shared moral code, and what needs to be done to recover it and in doing so, accept moral responsibility for our own lives and the common good."