Doing the Right Thing

Tom Cooper combines the power of storytelling with analytical insight to help all of us - whether we are students, teachers or just curious readers - think more clearly about what it takes to make the best ethical decisions we can, even under difficult circumstances. A fascinating and inspiring read.

Tamar Schapiro,

Professor of Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tom Cooper's portraits of courage, an eclectic compendium of stories of leaders who faced monumentally difficult moral choices, remind us of the importance of the interplay of philosophy and history: Philosophical abstractions mean little outside the context of their application. Spanning 25 centuries, from Queen Esther and Socrates to Rachel Carson and John F. Kennedy, Doing the Right Thing takes 12 "ethics exemplars" and with grace and clarity -- and considerable insight -- transforms them into an original and compelling account of what it takes to "open your mind" and "open your heart."

Theodore L. Glasser

Professor of Communication, Stanford University

Moral courage of people in power is never irrelevant. But if ever there was a time in which it was so searingly relevant it surely is today. And Tom Cooper is the perfect chronicler to bring this to our rational attention, via a series of twelve portraits of great ethical movers of history. Deeply researched, keenly reasoned, colorfully written with memorable detail, Cooper's book will, with any luck, inspire and guide great moral leaders in our time and well into the future."

Paul Levinson,

Professor of Communication and Media Studies, Fordham University

I regard Tom Cooper as one of the world's leading contemporary communication ethics specialists. This, his latest book, carries all the passion, theoretical richness, and original insights which I associate with his work overall.

Richard Lance Keeble,

Professor of Journalism, University of Lincoln and Liverpool Hope University

This profound book teaches moral philosophy with ingenuity. Its stunning transformation of moral philosophy into public discourse is historic. Doing the Right Thing has the promise of becoming a twenty-first century classic.

Clifford Christians,

Research Professor of Communication, University of Illinois