A RECOMMENDED READING LIST FOR MY SON IN THESE TIMES OF PANDEMIC AND TRANSFORMATION

This blog was inspired by a recent conversation with my 31-yr. old son who works on the West Coast. He had just learned that his stay at home job could keep him working in his small apartment for another 6 months through October. I think he was feeling a bit overwhelmed and knew he would have to find new and creative ways to stay sane and healthy by revising his omnipresent work schedule.

I gave him the typical parental advice: get outside and walk or ride your bike, take an on-line course, learn tai chi or a foreign language, etc. Later I realized, as is usually the case in parental conversations with their kids, that this response only touched the tip of the iceberg of what possibilities for growing and learning exists in these times for my son. Ideally this is what I should have said:

Davy,

While I call myself a "futurist" for my commitment to planning that is more future-oriented than history-oriented, in these desperate times of pandemic, economic depression and uncertainty it strikes me that a look backward might be most educational.

Certainly, we can agree that world and U.S. history has been filled with similar times where the future seemed very bleak and dark. Yet what has often emerged from these periods was a transformational energy and leadership from citizens that helped us survive and grow into a new and improved world. Our history books are filled with stories of these great people who have dealt with revolution and pandemic death (at the same time), national growth and westward expansion, north-south war and divisions, reconstruction, extreme racism, gender and economic inequality of massive proportion, world wars, a devastating world-wide depression and the threat of nuclear annihilation.

I have gone through my library at home and would like to recommend some books (especially for these times of pandemic) that motivated me in my life. Most of them are historical biographies. I believe a well-written historical biography has the ability to transport a reader to a new and unknown world, not as a fantasy would to mesmerize and forget, but to a very real practical reality where one's mettle, commitment and resilience can be tested against the ancestors.

Though some of these books might appear to feature one historical person (often a U.S. President), in fact they are also stories about the history surrounding that individual and thus offer windows into the lives of many other men, women and families who gave their transformational energy and service to the world. I hope you can find a deep and profound connection with some of the creative sparks of energy and inspiration found in these books that you might be able to practically apply as you work to transform your own work and world. Please choose one that sounds interesting and dig in.

I think this quote from the introduction to Lin-Manuel Miranda's book Hamilton the Revolution

captures the opportunity for all of us to draw on the lessons of history in our own areas of specialty, "The widely acclaimed musical that draws from the breadth of America's culture and show what we share, doesn't just dramatize Hamilton's revolution: it continues it." This list is not ordered by importance but by basic historical period.

1. The Soul of American History: The Battle for our Better Angels by Jon Meacham

2. The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by H.W. Brands

3. John Adams by David McCullough

4. Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

5. Hamilton the Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter

6. Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham

7. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

8. Grant by Ron Chernow

9. The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin

10. The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt by Douglas Brinkly

11. Black Elk: The Life of an American Visionary by Joe Jackson

12. Gandhi: An Autobiography-My Experiments with Truth

13. FDR by Jean Edward Smith

14. Truman by David McCullough

15. Merton: A Biography by Monica Furlong

16. Stride Towards Freedom: The Montgomery Story by Martin Luther King Jr.

17. The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Passage to Power by Robert A. Caro

Don't be intimidated by the size of many of these books, you may find at the end you will be wishing for more. Love, Dad