Notice that I said one or two books. A well balanced person, whether having gone far in the education system or not, could usually point to one or two books (beside the Bible) that had a large part in shaping their character and providing inspiration. By inspiration I do not mean the spiritual mumble jumble that so many freak fake books peddles today. By inspiration I mean that often one's career, vocation or special interest in a "cause" to pursue comes from exposure to one or two books that really spoke to you. It's not the same as being a literature snob (I know a lot of them) who pride themselves on reading a lot of books. And it's not the same as finding some spiritual "answer book." I know too many of that type. Rather, I mean that a normal person reads a number of good books and one or two of them have a seminal influence in shaping for the better that person's character.
The greatest example that is a giant in American history is the book by Harriet Beecher Stowe, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," which is an anti-slavery novel that was published in 1852. It became the best selling novel of the 19th century. Let me repeat that so you grasp how huge that was: Stowe's anti-slavery novel, published before the Civil War, became the best selling novel in the hundred years between 1800-1900! It is one of the reasons the public agreed with the government to go to war-the Civil War-as the Union opposed the continuation of slavery in the USA as advocated by the Confederate states. The only book to outsell Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in the 19th century was the Bible.
Several generations of Americans were moved by this book and had their character formed accordingly. For many people this was the only novel they read at all during that century. It's impact was enormous and many unsung heroes had their character and morality shaped by having read that book.
A second example is "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair. Sinclair is a huge socialist and the irony is that he wrote this expose of the dirt and corruption in the food processing business, specifically Chicago meat packing business, in order to trash capitalism and promote socialism. But it resonated in a way that he never imagined and was a sensation that revolutionized food and drug cleanliness and quality standards in the USA. After reading this book the public demanded some protection from the government and in 1906 the "Pure Food & Drug Act" and the "Meat Inspection Act" were passed. We literally would not have the quality of food and drug we have today (such as it is lately, but that's another problem) and the Food and Drug Administration without this book having been written. Ha, ha, instead of producing lots of little socialists, Sinclair's book produced the first generation of food and drug consumer advocates.
John Steinbeck's book "The Grapes of Wrath," published in 1939, is a mainstay of literature classes. But I mention it because it informed many of your grandparents in terms of their consciousness of the agricultural crisis in the depression produced in large part by poor and exploitative farming practices. This is an example of a novel about poor people during this time in history that informed many of your grandparents who became the first generation of those who understood the need for good land management and stewardship. During the dust bowl and the Depression farmers were not doing even the most rudimentary activities to protect and renew the very soil that they planted, things that are taken for granted today in a large part because of this book. "The Grapes of Wrath" was also a landmark book in looking at rural poverty. In a way Steinbeck wrote a book like Dickens did about industrial urban poverty in England.
My generation was hugely influenced by John Howard Griffin's book "Black Like Me," published in 1961. It caused a sensation as the author, a white man, disguised himself as a black man and documented what he experienced. This book more than any other book informed the character of the white people who read the book or who saw coverage of it on the news. Americans tend to not react to militant exposes and manifestos, but they sure understand a raw deal to an average guy when they see it from "the inside." The author was vilified by many racists for bringing the truth into the public eye in a way that could not be ignored, marginalized or denied.
On the other extreme, here is a quiet little book that was constantly checked out and read in my high school libary. "Cheaper by the Dozen," written in 1948 by husband and wife Frank Gilbreth, Jr and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, was about a loving household with a dozen children. What resonated with so many of my peers in the late 1960's about this book is that both authors were scientists, but also having a large calling to have children! It is too bad that books like this were overrun by militant feminism who made it a "career or children" choice in the public square. It became more of a joke, or even source of embarrassment, to have many children at all, and the message of this fine book has been lost today. Now women brag about their "careers" as stand alone accomplishments, done by "deferring" having children. This book was so charming and it was no novel, it was real.
These are a few examples from my personal experience and observation about how one or two books that are honest and written with integrity can not only influence the social agenda of the day, but reach thousands or millions of people and contribute to their formation of character.
I recommend that you, dear young people, take some of the time away from the recreational or self-help/so called spiritual guru reading and ask people you admire what books shaped their character. I think your grandparents would love being asked that question, and might even faint in amazement. Do some research and read books such as the ones I mentioned here and see how they resonate. Avoid the self serving political and agenda driven books of today until you have read some of the classics that you identify as being good for you. This way you have a quality standard for more modern works that you might read.
Then you'll understand why I'm disgusted with most of the fiction and non-fiction of today LOL. It's all agenda driven rather than purposeful. Good and true authors write with a purpose, noble if possible (even if as Sinclair did, it went in a different direction tee hee), but not to manipulate the readers. Good authors point and report, and their fine work speaks for itself. Agenda driven writers try to manipulate perception and that is a horror to both truth and character development (by character I mean the reader's character, not book's characters). Most literature today, both fiction and non-fiction, tries to shape your ability to perceive the facts. They try to create a perception and a mood and manipulate that. The great quality literature does not do that.
If you read a few quality classics, such as those I mentioned in this post and others, plus through your own asking of people you know, you will have a new clean baseline of what true authorship that is purposeful but not agenda driven is like. Even if these books are out of date, if they make you feel, "Wow, this was big" and you feel a new thoughtfulness inside of you, that is a great gift. A truly great book gives you a thoughtfulness that is not manic depressive. A truly great book may show a hugely troubled situation, as those about slavery, racism, dirty food, and the depression did, but you don't want to hang yourself afterwards. You also don't come away from a book thinking you now know who is the "guru" and who is "wrong." Instead, you come away feeling mature and thoughtful. You feel transformed and like you've had a glimpse inside the truth of a situation, not because you are manipulated into what to think and how to feel, but because the author takes you authentically inside of a situation and allows you to "see." You can then come to your own "all grown up" conclusions and perceptions. This can be done through either fiction or non-fiction, if it is of the highest quality.
One book that did this for me is the set of letters that George Washington wrote to the US Congress while he was the General of the Revolutionary army. I have (in storage) two volumes published in the early 1800's (so just a few years after he died, as I recall) that reprint all the letters that he wrote to Congress during his conduct of the war. Remember, the USA did not exist yet, so there were no government offices or procedures in place. If Washington needed some gun powder in the middle of an actual battle, he had to write to Congress and ask them for the funds and the supplies. The first letters in this book are written as he sits in New York City sweating out losing the battle because he does not have enough supplies. This is not a guy who was writing letters hoping they'd be made into a movie someday so he can be rich or look good. When you read his letters you come away realizing how close we came to having no country at all, and how literally several thousand people carried the weight on their shoulders, as it happened. I thought you'd like hearing this example of the type of book I'm talking about that "did it for me."
I hope you find this helpful. If each of you finds one or two classic books that really speak to you and form your character, you will have a golden ruler of discernment that will never tarnish. You will always be able to pick up a book, or watch a film, and immediately detect its authenticity and quality. You can join me in being really disappointed a lot ha ha. But at least you won't be fooled and manipulated, and if we are lucky, you'll produce different works yourself that are a throwback to purposeful, truthful and quality authorship. The world really needs it, now more than ever, as it wallows in its shallowness and fakeness crisis.
