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Title details for The Heart and the Fist by Eric Greitens - Available

The Heart and the Fist

The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL

by Eric Greitens
Eric Greitens
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Like many young idealists, Eric Greitens wanted to make a difference. During college and afterward, he traveled to the world's trouble spots, working in refugee camps, serving the sick and the poor on four continents, from Gaza to Croatia to Mother Teresa's home in Calcutta, among others. Yet he could not prevent violence or save anyone from becoming a refugee; he could only step in afterward and try to ease the damage.


So Eric joined the Navy SEALs and became an elite warrior. In a moving and inspiring memoir, told with genuine humility, Eric offers something new in the history of military memoirs: a warrior who wanted to be strong to be good, only to discover that he had to be good to be strong. Throughout his SEAL training and deployments in Kenya, Thailand, Afghanistan, and Iraq, the lessons of his humanitarian work bore fruit. The result is a lesson for us all: the heart and fist together are more powerful than either one alone.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    April 11, 2011

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781452620961
      • File size: 311752 KB
      • Duration: 10:49:28

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Eric Greitens's drive to help those affected by war and poverty around the world led him to work in refugee camps, study as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, and, ultimately, become a Navy SEAL to try to alleviate suffering and build relations in strife-ridden areas. His intriguing memoir describes his varied experiences in countries from Bosnia to Bolivia to Iraq. Greitens himself narrates his work in an earnest manner that captures his idealistic and humanitarian vision. Though his accomplished resume is awe-inspiring, he conveys thoughtfulness and humility in his narration. S.E.G. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 28, 2011
      This book, by Greitens, a senior fellow at the University of Missouri and founder of the Mission Continues charity, confronts the same dilemma as the American military, which strives to be a strong deterrent against the evils of the world while protecting the sick and powerless. The concept of a mighty warrior with a good heart is not an original one, but the humanitarian soldier epiphany comes to an idealistic Greitens after stints in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Gaza, and Calcutta where he sees unspeakable carnage and suffering without end. He takes the words of philosopher John Stuart Mill as his credo: "The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature." The rigors of his Navy SEAL training are intensely depicted, as are his deployments in Kenya, Afghanistan, and Iraq, with Greitens slowly evolving into a balanced man with equal parts of compassion and warrior spirit. A glorious tale of humanity, resolve, and strength, Greitens's book reminds us of how many things we take for granted in our well-ordered lives.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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