Handing One Another Along

Literature and Social Reflection

By Coles, Robert

Publishers Summary:
In this book on shaping a meaningful and ethical life, the renowned, Pulitzer Prize–winning author explores how character, courage, and human and moral understanding can be fostered by reflecting on the lives of others, through stories. Based on Robert Coles’ legendary course at Harvard, this provocative book addresses such questions as, “Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going?” It calls on us to become stronger and more aware, by reflecting on ourselves and others with the help of great literature and art.Dr. Coles shows how the work of writers, artists, and thinkers of the past two centuries can inspire our own reflections on the daily lives we lead. He offers a compelling call to venture outside of our own selves and lives and to listen, attentively and with growing humanity, to the way others get through life. Coles encourages us to examine our own character, kindness, and complexity by looking carefully at our perceptions of others, and by studying the wisdom of authors from Charles Dickens to Flannery O’Connor, from James Agee to George Orwell, and many others. In this influential conversation about empathy and engagement, Coles inspires us to seek out deeper meaning in our lives, and guides us toward achieving greater clarity, strength, and richness of understanding, amid the moral, psychological, and social complexities of the modern world.

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ISBN
978-1-40006-203-4
Publisher
Random


REVIEWS

Library Journal

Reviewed on July 1, 2010

In this volume, based on the "Literature of Social Reflection" course Coles (psychiatry & medical humanities, Harvard Medical Sch.; The Moral Intelligence of Children) has taught at Harvard for many years, so little is left to chance that Coles even tells us the specific Billie Holiday songs we should be listening to as we proceed. Yet if one is going to be guided through important, thought-provoking, consciousness-rais...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

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