Two veteran journalists with vastly different political views have a new book coming out titled “The Civility Book: A Guide to Building Bridges Across the Political Divide.” 

In their book, Stephen Henderson and Nolan Finley — both One Detroit contributors — encourage people to find value in their disagreements.   

“This book … is about our experiences together,” Finley said. “We are not two people who in today’s world should be friends or as close as we’ve become.” 

He explained the two have had passionate disagreements but learned to have them without destroying their long-standing friendship. It’s important to be able to hold a civil, meaningful discussion with people on the other side of the aisle without bitterness or anger, he said.   

Often, people want to convince others to believe the same as they do. 

“Instead, we talk about trying to extract value from the differences in the way we think and feel and not think about winning or losing the conversation,” Henderson said.  “We talk about listening … and investing in the other person’s ideas.” 

Finley and Henderson will discuss the book at the 2025 Mackinac Policy Conference, and conference attendees will receive a copy. They talked with One Detroit contributor Zoe Clark ahead of the conference about their approaches to civility and how their friendship has grown over the years despite differences of opinion.