The Good Life: Truths That Last in Times of Need

By: Peter J. Gomes

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Synopsis: "What do I need to be good? How can I truly be happy? To whom or to what dare I give my ultimate loyalty, my deepest love, my full and total service? Out of all this moral discourse and analysis, what can I find and use to make a life, and not just a living? More than thirty years as minister at Harvard University, Peter J. Gomes has given his share of advice to the "best and the brightest as they set sail into the world. Yet he has found that even these highly privileged students often run aground on the harsh realities of a life based in values that lead to ruin. "The Good Life is his distillation of years of observation and insight into what is wrong and how we can all set our minds and hearts on higher things. Gomes begins with the contemporary crisis of moral education in higher learning and subverts the prevalent assertion that the youth of today's colleges and universities are spoiled and lacking in the capacity and desire to become good people and good citizens. Impressed by the sharp moral curiosity of young people today, as well as their strong desire to know, to be, and to do good, Gomes sets out to reclaim the tradition of virtue he believes can make this "the greatest generation. In this search for a new nobility, he distinguishes between "the plausible lies that our culture tells us about the good life and "the fantastic truths that alone can bring true and abiding happiness.