Bøger af Stuart H. Brody

We are living in a time when dishonesty and duplicity are common in our public institutions, our workplaces, and even in our personal relationships. But by recognizing and resisting the small, seemingly inconsequential ways we make moral compromises in our own lives, we can repair the tear in our social and moral fabric.The Law of Small Things begins with an IQ (Integrity Quotient) test designed to reveal the casual way we regard our promises and the misconceptions we have about acting truthfully. The book shows how most people believe that integrity is something we ';just have' and that we just do, like a Nike commercial. It depicts these and other deceptions we deploy to appear to act with integrity without actually doing so. The Law of Small Things also exposes how our culture encourages breaches of integrity through an array of ';permitted promise-breaking,' a language of cliches that equates self-interest with duty, and the ';illusion of inconsequence' that excuses small breaches with the breezy confidence that we can fulfill integrity when it counts. Brody challenges the prevailing notion that integrity is a possession you hold permanently. No one ';has integrity' and no one is perfect in practicing it. What we have is the opportunity to uphold promises and fulfill duties in each situation that faces us, large and small. Integrity is a practice and a habit of keeping promises, the ones we make explicitly and the ones that are implied in all our relationships. Ultimately, developing skill in the practice of integrity leads us to knowledge of who we are--not in the way the culture defines us, but in the way we truly know ourselves to be.

Ray Elias is a precocious but withdrawn sixteen-year-old growing up in an affluent suburb of New York in the early sixties. Numbed by the assassination of President Kennedy, Ray chances upon a TV documentary about the most recent presidential election and is drawn to the ebullient senator from Minnesota, Hubert Humphrey, who unsuccessfully challenged John Kennedy for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1960. With the senator as his newfound hero, Ray fashions a mission for himself: make Humphrey Lyndon Johnson‿s running mate in 1964. To the amazement of his friends and cynical father, Humphrey learns of Ray‿s plan to lobby the delegates and, impressed with his sincerity and ambition, takes Ray under his wing. Ray enters college as the senator is elected vice president, but the relationship unravels when Humphrey becomes an ardent public supporter of the Vietnam War, despite his personal belief in the war‿s futility. As the tension between them grows and their bond deteriorates, Ray is devastated by his loss of faith in Humphrey. However, he finds consolation for his disappointment in Ruth, a spirited classmate from the other side of the tracks who teaches him understanding and empathy. As Ray matures to young adulthood he reconnects with Humphrey‿who has by now achieved a political revival and is mulling a fresh run at the presidency‿and the two reconcile after Humphrey finally acknowledges his breach of Ray‿s trust, and Ray forgives his former mentor. Loosely based on the author‿s real-life relationship with Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Humphrey and Me portrays the often highly emotional journey that comes with embracing our heroes, while set against the backdrop of the tempestuous political eras of the 1960s and ‿70s.