Learning to Bow has been heralded as one of the funniest, liveliest, and most insightful books ever written about the clash of cultures between America and Japan. With warmth and candor, Bruce Feiler recounts the year he spent as a teacher in a small rural town. Beginning with a ritual outdoor bath and culminating in an all-night trek to the top of Mt. Fuji, Feiler teaches his students about American culture, while they teach him everything from how to properly address an envelope to how to date a Japanese girl.
BRUCE FEILER is one of America's most popular voices on faith, family, and finding meaning in everyday life. He is the best-selling author of nine books, including WALKING THE BIBLE, ABRAHAM, and AMERICA'S PROPHET, and one of only a handful of writers to have four consecutive New York Times nonfiction bestsellers in the last decade. He is also the writer/presenter of the PBS miniseries WALKING THE BIBLE. His latest book, THE COUNCIL OF DADS, tells the uplifting story of how friendship and community can help one survive life's greatest challenge.
Bruce Feiler's early books involve immersing himself in different cultures and bringing other worlds vividly to life. These include LEARNING TO BOW, an account of the year he spent teaching in rural Japan; LOOKING FOR CLASS, about life inside Oxford and Cambridge; and UNDER THE BIG TOP, which depicts the year he spent performing as a clown in the Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus.
His recent work made him one of the country's most respected authorities on religion, politics, and the emotional issues of our time. WALKING THE BIBLE describes his perilous, 10,000-mile journey retracing the Five Books of Moses through the desert. The book was hailed as an "instant classic" by the Washington Post and "thoughtful, informed, and perceptive" by The New York Times. It spent more than a year and a half on the New York Times bestseller list, has been translated into fifteen languages, and is the subject of a children's book and a photography book.
ABRAHAM recounts his personal search for the shared ancestor of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. "Exquisitely written," wrote the Boston Globe, "100 percent engaging." The book was featured on the cover of TIME Magazine, became a runaway New York Times bestseller, and inspired thousands of grassroots interfaith discussions.
WHERE GOD WAS BORN describes his year-long trek retracing the Bible through Israel, Iraq, and Iran. "Bruce Feiler is a real-life Indiana Jones," wrote the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. AMERICA'S PROPHET recounts his unprecedented journey through American history - from the pilgrims to the founding fathers, the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement - exploring how the Exodus is America's greatest story and Moses is our true founding father. Both were New York Times bestsellers.
In 2006, PBS aired the miniseries WALKING THE BIBLE that received record ratings and was viewed by 20 million people in its first month. "Beguiling," wrote the Wall Street Journal. "Mr. Feiler is an engaging and informed guide."
Bruce Feiler has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and Gourmet, where he won three James Beard Awards. He is also a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, CNN, and Fox News. He has been the subject of Jay Leno joke and a JEOPARDY! question, and his face appears on a postage stamp in the Grenadines.
His latest book, THE COUNCIL OF DADS: My Daughters, My Illness, and the Men Who Could Be Me, describes how he responded to a diagnosis of cancer by asking six men from all passages of his life to be present through the passages of his young daughters's lives. "I believe my daughters will have plenty of opportunities in their lives," he wrote these men. "They'll have loving families. They'll have each other. But they may not have me. They may not have their dad. Will you help be their dad?"
A native of Savannah, Georgia, Bruce Feiler lives in New York with wife, Linda Rottenberg, and their twin daughters. For more information, please visit www.brucefeiler.com.
