Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life
by John McCain, Marshall Salter
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Book Summary Information
Author: John McCain, Marshall SalterEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-07-15
ISBN: 0345513347
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780345513342
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life
Book Review: John McCain Changes Feelings On Courage
Summary: 4 Stars
In John McCain's Why Courage Matters (Random House Inc, 2004, 209 pages), the popular Senator from Arizona promotes a new way to look at the concept of courage and what it means. John McCain is not only the senior Senator from his state, but was looked at as one of the most powerful and influential members of the GOP in the Senate when this book debuted. Though he has earned the reputation of being a moderate conservative who has not always following party lines and who has called out fellow Republicans for wrong-doings, Senator McCain's service to the nation began when he followed in his father's (and grandfather's) footsteps by becoming an officer in the United States Navy. During his service in Vietnam as a Navy pilot, his aircraft was shot down, and McCain was captured by enemy personal that housed and tortured him for over five years. After Senator McCain retired from the Navy in 1981, he was first elected to Congress in the House of Representatives in 1982, and has since been serving in our nation's capital (mccain.senate.gov). Despite the heroic actions this man has performed, the humbling tales of other individuals daring feats are the basis of the book; actions which are truly heroic. John McCain's Why Courage Matters invigorates readers to question how we define courage.
Rather than being a political book that divides readers based off political philosophy, McCain's goal for this book is to draw in a larger audience that reaches across party lines to grow new support for his personal beliefs. With the election of 2008 already passed, Americans now know that McCain had every intention of running for his party's nomination to be elected President. Prior to 2007 however, this wasn't absolutely proven, and one of the things the Senator needed to do was draw extra support, and raise additional money in order to get his party's nod. With this book being released in 2004, the timetable was set perfectly. President Bush had just been reelected, and before political interest completely died down, this book hit the shelves and generated interest. Though this book was only a contributing factor towards John McCain's run for the nation's highest elected position, it surely had a positive impact, and by March 2008, Senator McCain secured the Republican Party's Presidential Nomination. Why Courage Matters isn't reserved for a certain political or social/economic group, and instead has mass appeal to all audiences: young or old, rich or poor, blue collar or white collar, red or blue, male and female. As Susan Brink of the U.S News & World Report puts it, "Why write about courage now? After [the 9/11 terrorist attacks], people were afraid to leave their homes, to get on a plane, even to go shopping. The enemy has forced us into a world of fear. This is a perfect time to display courage."
While broadening political support may by an underlining issue, the book's main purpose is to prove that the word "courage" should be reserved for actions that truly deserve that title. As early as page 14 of Why Courage Matters, McCain points out the overuse of the term to describe somewhat ordinary actions when he decries, "We say it takes courage to be different from the mainstream in our preferences in fashion, music, the length and color of our hair." He then goes on to say, "They may be steps along the way to acquiring courage. But of themselves, these acts, admirable though they are, are not sufficient proof of courage." McCain doesn't want to take away from positive actions, but rather would like to remind people that courage itself stands for extraordinary actions that can't be described in any other way. McCain's most touching story (and there are many told), is his very first one of a US Army Special Forces commando that young infantry and special operations recruits first learn of while going though Advanced Infantryman Training at Fort Benning, Georgia. Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez' actions in Vietnam earned him the nation's highest military honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor, for actions "above and beyond the call of duty." His actions were so extraordinary that as McCain points out in the end of the first section of the book, "The navy named a ship after him and the army a building. His hometown erected a statue. But Hollywood never made a movie about him. No one would have believed it." Kevin Lang, a former US Army Sergeant that served in Afghanistan as an Infantry Paratrooper still remembers the lasting impact of when he first learned of Master Sergeant Benavidez when Lang was just a private. In a phone interview, Lang says this Medal of Honor story "set the standard for my expectations in the Army. If he lived through that, I can make it through whatever training event I was participating in." Lang, like so many other young men aspiring to serve in the harsh world of the military combat arms jobs, was motivated from early in his military career by such stories that McCain goes onto outline in his book.
In addition to battlefield valor, the book sparks interest in courageous acts by civilians, and insures readers will not take the word "courage" lightly in the future. A young mother named Angela Dawson from Baltimore who battled with the gangs and drug-lord's that controlled her neighborhood, an explorer named John Wesley Powell who was told he couldn't survive creating the first maps of America's growing West, a young Jewish woman named Hannah Senesh that served as a paratrooper-spy for the British in WWII, and other unrecognizable names all appear, and create a heightened sense for the appreciation of human sacrifice and what a single individual might be able to accomplish. These stories change the audience's outlook on what is or is not truly courageous. Stories of everyday people that perform such extraordinary acts, you try to figure out why major movies haven't been made about them before, until you realize that just like Sergeant Benavidez, they almost wouldn't be believable. As book critic Jim Wright of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram puts it ("John McCain's profiles in courage offer inspiration" April 2004), "A few of the book's protagonists seem impervious to the normal, annoying apprehensions that most people feel." Why Courage Matters engulfs the audience into the best of human actions. Military and civilian actions so phenomenal, they sit on the edge of what is or is not possible to be accomplished by a single individual are reviewed and analyzed. By bringing these stories to light, McCain shows how much a single person may affect their surroundings, even when faced with seemingly impossible odds.
By the end of Why Courage Matters, readers realize they've read a motivation book that not only inspires them to have a new outlook on what is or is not an act of courage, but a book that influences them to make a difference in the world they're living in. Whether it be their neighborhood, state, country, or world, positive actions help to better the world we live in, and the actions of individuals captured in the book prove the difference a single person can make. If Senator McCain's Presidential election strategy revolved more around the idea of this book, to gain a larger audience and bring more people together, he just might have won on November 4th, 2008. By instilling pride and hope in all people in the human race, McCain's competitor was able to capitalize on the fundamentals that make Why Courage Matters so intriguing and great for all audiences, and as a result, won the election. Regardless, Why Courage Matters is in no doubt a book of timeless stories that will humble and instill pride in the human race to any and all readers.
Work Cited
.: United States Senator John McCain :: Home :. 30 Apr. 2009 <http://www.mccain.senate.gov>.
Brink, Susan. "Encouraging Courage." U.S News & World Report 10 May 2004.
"Kevin Lang Interview." Telephone interview. 26 Mar. 2009.
McCain, John. Why courage matters the way to a braver life. New York: Random House, 2004.
Wright, Jim. "John McCain's profiles in courage offer inspiration." Fort Worth Star-Telegram [Fort Worth, TX] 21 Apr. 2004.
Summary of Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life
?Courage,? Winston Churchill explained, is ?the ?rst of human qualities . . . because it guarantees all the others.? As a naval officer, P.O.W., and one of America?s most admired political leaders, John McCain has seen countless acts of bravery and self-sacrifice. Now, in this inspiring meditation on courage, he shares his most cherished stories of ordinary individuals who have risked everything to defend the people and principles they hold most dear.?We are taught to understand, correctly, that courage is not the absence of fear but the capacity for action despite our fears,? McCain reminds us, as a way of introducing the stories of ?gures both famous and obscure that he ?nds most compelling?from the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to Sgt. Roy Benavidez, who ignored his own well-being to rescue eight of his men from an ambush in the Vietnam jungle; from 1960s civil rights leader John Lewis, who wrote, ?When I care about something, I?m prepared to take the long, hard road,? to Hannah Senesh, who, in protecting her comrades in the Hungarian resistance against Hitler?s SS, chose a martyr?s death over a despot?s mercy.
These are some of the examples McCain turns to for inspiration and offers to others to help them summon the resolve to be both good and great. He explains the value of courage in both everyday actions and extraordinary feats. We learn why moral principles and physical courage are often not distinct quantities but two sides of the same coin. Most of all, readers discover how sometimes simply setting the right example can be the ultimate act of courage.
Written by one of our most respected public ?gures, Why Courage Matters is that rare book with a message both timely and timeless. This is a work for anyone seeking to understand how the mystery and gift of courage can empower us and change our lives.
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