Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Lincoln and the Fight for Peace by John Avlon

A groundbreaking, revelatory history of Abraham Lincoln’s plan to secure a just and lasting peace after the Civil War—a vision that inspired future presidents as well as the world’s most famous peacemakers, including Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. It is a story of war and peace, race and reconciliation.

As the tide of the Civil War turned in the spring of 1865, Abraham Lincoln took a dangerous two-week trip to visit the troops on the front lines accompanied by his young son, seeing combat up close, meeting liberated slaves in the ruins of Richmond, and comforting wounded Union and Confederate soldiers.

The power of Lincoln’s personal example in the closing days of the war offers a portrait of a peacemaker. He did not demonize people he disagreed with. He used humor, logic, and scripture to depolarize bitter debates. Balancing moral courage with moderation, Lincoln believed that decency could be the most practical form of politics, but he understood that people were more inclined to listen to reason when greeted from a position of strength. Ulysses S. Grant’s famously generous terms of surrender to General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox that April were a direct expression of the president’s belief that a soft peace should follow a hard war.

While his assassination sent the country careening off course, Lincoln’s vision would be vindicated long after his death, inspiring future generations in their own quests to secure a just and lasting peace. As US General Lucius Clay, architect of the post-WWII German occupation, said when asked what guided his decisions: “I tried to think of the kind of occupation the South would have had if Abraham Lincoln had lived.”

Lincoln and the Fight for Peace reveals how Lincoln’s character informed his commitment to unconditional surrender followed by a magnanimous peace. Even during the Civil War, surrounded by reactionaries and radicals, he refused to back down from his belief that there is more that unites us than divides us. But he also understood that peace needs to be waged with as much intensity as war. Lincoln’s plan to win the peace is his unfinished symphony, but in its existing notes, we can find an anthem that can begin to bridge our divisions today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

100,000 First Bosses: My Unlikely Path as a 22-Year-Old Lawmaker by Will Haskell

The underdog story of Will Haskell, who became a Democratic state Senator in 2018 at age twenty-two—taking on an incumbent who had been undefeated for Haskell’s entire life and earning an endorsement from President Obama—and is determined to pave the way for his peers to transform government from the bottom up.

President Obama left office with these parting words for Americans: “If you’re disappointed by your elected officials, grab a clipboard, get some signatures, and run for office yourself.” Twenty-two-year-old Will Haskell decided to do just that. If he ran for office and won, he would become the youngest state Senator in Connecticut history.

For years, Haskell’s hometown had reelected the same politician who opposed passing paid family leave, fought increases in the minimum wage, and voted down expansions of voting rights. Haskell’s own vision for Connecticut’s future couldn’t be more different, and he couldn’t stand the idea of an uncontested election. In 2018, he would be a college grad looking for his first job. Why not state Senator?

When Haskell kicks off his campaign in the spring of his senior year, he’s an unknown college kid facing a popular incumbent who’s been in office for over two decades—as long as Haskell’s been alive. Haskell’s campaign manager is his roommate and his treasurer is his girlfriend’s mom. He doesn’t have any professional experience. But he does have a powerful message: there’s no minimum age to being on the right side of history.

Six months later, Haskell’s shocking upset victory gives him a historic seat in the state Senate and the responsibility to serve the 100,000 constituents in his district. Like any first job, his first term as a legislator is filled with trial and error. Creating a program that funds free tuition at Connecticut’s community colleges—nice work. Falling asleep on the senate floor—needs improvement.

In the tradition of Pete Buttigieg’s Shortest Way Home and Greta Thunberg’s No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, 100,000 First Bosses is the story of how one twentysomething candidate waged the campaign of his young life, fought for change at the state capitol, and proved that his generation is ready to claim a seat at the table.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Learning America: One Woman’s Fight for Educational Justice for Refugee Children by Luma Mufleh

It was a wrong turn that changed everything. When Luma Mufleh—a Muslim, gay, refugee woman from hyper-conservative Jordan—stumbled upon a pick-up game of soccer in Clarkston, Georgia, something compelled her to join. The players, 11- and 12-year-olds from Liberia, Afghanistan, and Sudan, soon welcomed her as coach of their ragtag but fiercely competitive group. Drawn into their lives, Mufleh learned that few of her players, all local public school students, could read a single word. She asks, “Where was the America that took me in? That protected me? How can I get these kids to that America?”

Learning America traces the story of how Mufleh grew a group of kids into a soccer team and then into a nationally acclaimed network of schools for refugee children. The journey is inspiring and hard-won: Fugees schools accept only those most in need; no student passes a grade without earning it; the failure of any student is the responsibility of all. Soccer as a part of every school day is a powerful catalyst to heal trauma, create belonging, and accelerate learning. Finally, this gifted storyteller delivers provocative, indelible portraits of student after student making leaps in learning that aren’t supposed to be possible for children born into trauma–stories that shine powerful light on the path to educational justice for all of America’s most left-behind.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Shawnee Harle Olympic Coach – Mental Toughness Coaching

Shawneeharle.com

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Making History: The Storytellers Who Shaped the Past by Richard Cohen

A fascinating, epic exploration of who gets to record the world’s history—from Julius Caesar to William Shakespeare to Ken Burns—and how their biases influence our understanding about the past.

There are many stories we can spin about previous ages, but which accounts get told? And by whom? Is there even such a thing as “objective” history? In this lively and thought-provoking book, Richard Cohen reveals how professional historians and other equally significant witnesses, such as the writers of the Bible, novelists, and political propagandists, influence what becomes the accepted record. Cohen argues, for example, that some historians are practitioners of “Bad History” and twist reality to glorify themselves or their country.

Making History investigates the published works and private utterances of our greatest chroniclers to discover the agendas that informed their—and our—views of the world. From the origins of history writing, when such an activity itself seemed revolutionary, through to television and the digital age, Cohen brings captivating figures to vivid light, from Thucydides and Tacitus to Voltaire and Gibbon, Winston Churchill and Henry Louis Gates. Rich in complex truths and surprising anecdotes, the result is a revealing exploration of both the aims and art of history-making, one that will lead us to rethink how we learn about our past and about ourselves.