Leading Lives That Matter

"Leading Lives That Matter" draws together a wide range of texts - including fiction, autobiography, and philosophy - offering challenge and insight to those who are thinking about what to do with their lives. Instead of giving prescriptive advice, Mark Schwehn and Dorothy Bass approach the vocational process as an ongoing conversation. Happily, they include in this conversation some of the Western tradition's best writings on human life - its meaning, purpose, and significance - ranging from ancient Greek poetry to contemporary American fiction. Including Leo Tolstoy's novella "The Death of Ivan Illych" as an extended epilogue, "Leading Lives That Matter" will help readers clarify and deepen how they think about their own lives. It includes works by Aristotle, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Frederick Buechner, Willa Cather, Dorothy Day, Annie Dillard, Robert Frost, Abraham Heschel, Thomas Lynch, John Milton, Martha Nussbaum, Theodore Roosevelt, Dorothy Sayers, Amy Tan, William Butler Yeats, and many more.