The Hearts and the Fist shares one man’s story of extraordinary leadership and service as both a humanitarian and a warrior. In a life lived at the raw edges of the human experience, Greitens has seen what can be accomplished when compassion and courage come together in meaningful service.
As a Rhodes Scholar and Navy SEAL, Greitens worked alongside volunteers who taught art to street children in Bolivia and led US Marines who hunted terrorists in Iraq. He’s learned from nuns who fed the destitute in one of Mother Teresa’s homes for the dying in India, from aid workers who healed orphaned children in Rwanda, and from Navy SEALs who fought in Afghanistan. He excelled at the hardest military training in the world, and today he works with severely wounded and disabled veterans who are rebuilding their lives as community leaders at home.
Greitens offers each of us a new way of thinking about living a meaningful life. We learn that to win any war, even those we wage against ourselves; to create and obtain lasting peace; to save a life; and even, simply to live with purpose requires us—every one of us—to be both good and strong.
As a kid growing up in Missouri, I loved reading stories about heroes like King Arthur, George Washington, and Pericles. Their lives were full of action and courage, and I wanted to capture that same sense of adventure in my own life. As I grew older, great mentors and friends have shown me that the path to adventure and purpose can be found in a life of service to others.
These friends and mentors have come from many different backgrounds. I’ve been blessed to work with volunteers who taught art to street children in Bolivia and Marines who hunted al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq. I’ve learned from nuns who fed the destitute in Mother Teresa’s homes for the dying in India, aid workers who healed orphaned children in Rwanda, and Navy SEALs who fought in Afghanistan. As warriors, as humanitarians, they’ve taught me that without courage, compassion falters, and without compassion, courage has no direction. They’ve shown me that it is within our power, indeed the world requires of us — every one of us — to be both good and strong.
I hope the stories recounted in The Heart and the Fist will inspire you as these people have inspired me. They have given me hope and shown me the incredible possibilities that exist for each of us to live our one life well.
--Eric Greitens
From Publishers Weekly
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. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Eric Greitens was born and raised in Missouri, where he was educated in the public schools. He was an Angier B. Duke Scholar at Duke University, where he studied ethics, philosophy, and public policy. Selected as a Rhodes and a Truman Scholar, he attended the University of Oxford from 1996 through 2000. There he earned a master's degree in 1998 and a Ph.D. in 2000. His doctoral thesis, Children First, investigated how international humanitarian organizations can best serve war-affected children. He has worked as a humanitarian volunteer, documentary photographer, and researcher in Rwanda, Cambodia, Albania, Mexico, India, Bosnia, and Bolivia.
Eric also served as a United States Navy SEAL officer and deployed four times during the Global War on Terrorism to Afghanistan, Southeast Asia, the Horn of Africa, and Iraq. He served as the Commander of a Mark V Special Operations Craft Detachment, Commander of a Joint Special Operations Task Unit, and as Commander of an al Qaeda Targeting Cell. In 2005, he was appointed by the President to serve as a White House Fellow, and in 2011 the Association of the United States Navy named him the Navy Reserve Junior Line Officer of the Year. His military awards include the Navy Achievement Medal, the Joint Service Achievement Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Combat Action Ribbon, the Purple Heart, and the Bronze Star.
After returning from Iraq in 2007, Eric donated his combat pay to found The Mission Continues, a national nonprofit organization that challenges veterans to serve and lead in communities across America. As CEO, Eric has been recognized as one of the most innovative leaders in America. The Manhattan Institute for Social Entrepreneurship recognized him as one of the five leading social entrepreneurs in America. Major League Baseball and PEOPLE Magazine named Eric an "All-Star Among Us", the National Conference on Citizenship named him its "Citizen Soldier of the Year", and in 2008 the President personally presented Eric with the President's Volunteer Service Award in recognition for his inspiring national leadership.
A photographer and writer, Eric is the author of two books. Strength and Compassion is a collection of photographs and essays that was recognized as ForeWord Magazine's Photography Book of the Year, and as the Grand Prize Winner of the 2009 New York Book Festival. His second book, The Heart & the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL, relates Eric's story of leadership and service as a humanitarian and a warrior, and was a 2011 New York Times Bestseller.
Eric teaches as a Senior Fellow at the Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri and at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis. His work has been covered by national media outlets including NPR, CNN, NBC Nightly News, Fox, CBS, MSNBC, The Colbert Report, the TODAY Show, USA Today, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.
Eric is a sub-3 hour marathon runner and the winner of the Shamrock Marathon at Camp Fallujah, Iraq. As a boxer, he won two Oxford Boxing Blues and the Gold Medal at the BUSA National Boxing Championships. He holds a Black Belt in Taekwondo, and lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his wife, Sheena.
This book should be required reading for anyone with an interest in service--from the Peace Corps to the Marine Corps. It is a riveting true life tale of a modern day renaissance man. From humanitarian intervention in post-genocidal Africa to hunting al Qaeda in coastal villages in the Philippines, The Heart and the Fist explores the depths of our world and a young man who has served it in many ways.
"The world needs many more humanitarians than it needs warriors, but there can be none of the former without enough of the latter," are the words of this Rhodes Scholar and Oxford PhD as he makes his decision to join the US Navy SEAL Teams. Rhodes Scholars are meant to contribute to "the world's fight", and none have demonstrated a willingness to do so more than Eric Greitens. Described elegantly and with integrity in Greitens' memoir are his humanitarian missions to Rwanda, the Balkans, India, Gaza, and many other of the world's most oppressed and unfortunate regions. These pursuits of the heart are juxtaposed poignantly against SEAL training and four combat deployments with Naval Special Warfare.
Greitens lives the life of a humanitarian and a warrior, and for both roles he is able to extract unique insights by virtue of his extensive study of Greek philosophy, American history, and modern-day saints like Mother Teresa. It is a defining work for our next generation of heroes.
I am really NOT into books about soldiers and war. However, I thought I would read this book, then pass it on to my nephew, who wants to join the Navy Seals. I was totally surprised by how well this book is written, and the remarkable and gripping story Eric Greitens tells.
While going to college then grad school, Greitens spends his summers helping others in China, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Bolivia. His eyes are opened by the great need of others around the world, and how by helping those in need, he could not prevent people from being victime of ethnic cleansing and other violence. Therefore he becomes a warrior by joining the Navy Seals.
Greitens has a very gripping account of the Seal training and Hell Week, as well as some remarkable photos of it. He then relates how he used this training to serve and survive in Kenya, Thailand, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The entire book is gripping to read, and very remarkable in how much the author has done before he turned 30. It is quite refreshing to read of a life lived to serve and protect others.
This is the story of someone who accomplished more by the time he was 28 than most people do in a lifetime. I had not read anything about the book, and just by the cover, I was expecting it to be "just another Iraq/Afghanistan story". . . but it's SO much more than that. Greitens, a smart, outgoing guy who is well-educated, has already been to suffering places like Rwanda and India before he started his SEAL training. Though he could have taken a much easier road, he decides to take-on the challenge of the U.S. military instead. Very inspiring book. It will leave you wanting to be a better person.
I HIGHLY recommend watching the series "Surviving the Cut" to have a better idea of what he went through during his training. Click the link below and you will see all six episodes, available for download through Amazon.com.
