Non­fic­tion

The Heart and the Fist: The Edu­ca­tion of a Human­i­tar­i­an, the Mak­ing of a Navy SEAL

  • From the Publisher
February 24, 2014

The Heart and the First 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.

Read Eric Gre­it­en­s’s Posts for the Vis­it­ing Scribe

The Strength of Judi­asm. The Courage of Social Justice

Improv­ing Moral Vocabulary

Discussion Questions