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Published May 2010
256 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
Bestselling author Bruce Feiler was a young father when he was diagnosed with cancer. He instantly worried what his daughters' lives would be like without him. "Would they wonder who I was? Would they wonder what I thought? Would they yearn for my approval, my love, my voice?"
Three days later he came up with a stirring idea of how he might give them that voice. He would reach out to six men from all the passages in his life, and ask them to be present in the passages in his daughters' lives. And he would call this group "The Council of Dads."
"I believe my daughters will have plenty of opportunities in their lives," he wrote to these men. "They'll have loving families. They'll have each other. But they may not have me. They may not have their dad. Will you help be their dad?"
The Council of Dads is the inspiring story of what happened next. Feiler introduces the men in his Council and captures the life lesson he wants each to convey to his daughters--how to see, how to travel, how to question, how to dream. He mixes these with an intimate, highly personal chronicle of his experience battling cancer while raising young children, along with vivid portraits of his father, his two grandfathers, and various father figures in his life that explore the changing role of fathers in America.
This is the work of a master storyteller confronting the most difficult experience of his life and emerging with wisdom and hope. The Council of Dads is a touching, funny, and ultimately deeply moving book on how to live life, how the human spirit can respond to adversity, and how to deepen and cherish the friendships that enrich our lives.
"Feiler tackles personal hardship with inquisitive and heartfelt eloquence." - Kirkus Reviews
"[I]t's hard not to get swept along and cheer Feiler on as he fights for his life and his daughters." - Publishers Weekly
This information about The Council of Dads was first featured
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Photo Credit: Andrew Feiler
Bruce Feiler is the New York Times bestselling author of Walking the Bible, The Council of Dads, Learning to Bow, Looking for Class, and Under the Big Top.
A frequent contributor to NPR's All Things Considered, and contributing editor for Gourmet he writes regularly about American music for The New York Times, The New Yorker, and other publications. He recieved international acclaim for his influential cover story in The New Republic, Gone Country. He also writes the "This Life" column about today's families for the Sunday New York Times.
He is the writer/presenter of the PBS series "Walking the Bible" and "Sacred Journeys with Bruce Feiler" (July 2014).
Bruce was named "Father of the Year" by the National Fatherhood Initiative.
A native of Savannah, Georgia, Feiler lives in ...
... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to Bruce Feiler's Website
Name Pronunciation
Bruce Feiler: fi-ler (first syllable rhymes with my)
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