The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL

Dear Amazon Readers:

As a kid growing up in Missouri, I loved reading stories about heroes like King Arthur, George Washington, and Pericles. Their lives were full of action and courage, and I wanted to capture that same sense of adventure in my own life. As I grew older, great mentors and friends have shown me that the path to adventure and purpose can be found in a life of service to others.

These friends and mentors have come from many different backgrounds. I’ve been blessed to work with volunteers who taught art to street children in Bolivia and Marines who hunted al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq. I’ve learned from nuns who fed the destitute in Mother Teresa’s homes for the dying in India, aid workers who healed orphaned children in Rwanda, and Navy SEALs who fought in Afghanistan. As warriors, as humanitarians, they’ve taught me that without courage, compassion falters, and without compassion, courage has no direction. They’ve shown me that it is within our power, indeed the world requires of us — every one of us — to be both good and strong.

I hope the stories recounted in The Heart and the Fist will inspire you as these people have inspired me. They have given me hope and shown me the incredible possibilities that exist for each of us to live our one life well.

PRAISE FOR The Heart and the Fist

“Eric Greitens is the best of the best. He has the best mental capacity and physical stamina I’ve ever seen in a human being. His story teaches us about how to have a heart and a fist to get the most out of life. Along the way, Eric did the most anyone can possibly do for his country. What a story! It should inspire us all to live our lives with purpose and meaning.”—Max Cleland, former U.S. senator

“If you worry that America is no longer a home of heroes, come read this riveting tale of a young man’s adventures as a boxer, a thinker, a warrior, and ultimately a humanitarian. He writes admiringly of the Greek notion of phronesis, practical wisdom—‘the ability to figure out what to do while at the same time knowing what is worth doing.’ Mr. Greitens has plenty of phronesis.”—David Gergen, director, Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School, CNN senior political analyst

“The Heart and the Fist is a vitally important, powerful book, a seminal, paradigm-shifting work that should be mandatory reading for every citizen who cares about helping others, with our military or with our humanitarian efforts, in a world filled with starvation, suffering, tyranny, oppression and genocide.”— Lt. Col. Dave Grossman (ret.), author of On Combat and On Killing

“Eric Greitens is exactly the kind of citizen-warrior that America needs to fight our wars abroad and to win our battles at home. A man wise enough to lead, courageous enough to fight, and compassionate enough to care, he has written a glorious book about how to live with purpose that should be required reading for every American.”—Bobby Muller, founder of Veterans for America and cofounder of the Nobel Peace Prize–winning International Campaign to Ban Landmines