Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons

Tim Russert, the best in the biz when it comes to political interviewing, has shown his softer side again with this book. The book will draw out all emotions from the reader. Happiness, sadness, nostalgia, and much more are just some of the things you'll experience when you read this one. Russert stays out of the way for most of the book, but his introduction is brilliant. Tim loves his dad and his son. It's evident from this book. I guarantee, you'll find your dad in this book.

Regardless of what one thinks of Tim Russert (I happen to think he is a quality journalist and very simply, a good man), WISDOM OF OUR FATHERS is an incredibly touching, diverse, and fulfilling book. Russert's previous effort, BIG RUSS AND ME, was superb also. Russert fields and publishes the letters he received as a result of those reading BIG RUSS. These letters are personal, intimate portraits of readers' relationships with their fathers. Whether it was what your father told you, the lessons learned, a touching moment, or just the great times, the outpouring of emotion and storytelling from readers of BIG RUSS is moving. Russert has indicated in many of his interviews that readers saw BIG RUSS as an invitation to tell the story of their dad, and the avalanche of those telling those stories was daunting. This abundance of interest was what pushed Russert to publish the letters in an effort to share these moving, sad, and funny stories. This book is not just for fathers, it is for all to read and enjoy. There are a number of lessons applicable to all in all walks of life. I am not going to share any of the stories in this review because I cannot do the letters justice. I would strongly suggest this book as a gift for most anyone, but more than that, I would suggest that everyone get a copy of this book and read it. I rarely recommend a book this strongly, but I certainly do recommend this one.

In fact, have 2! The book is an easy read. Every story makes a great point to be shared for generations. I'm sure it wasn't easy for Mr. Russert to select from the 60,000 letters/emails. Only another man with great character could recognize stories with great lessons. This is a great gift not only for Father's Day but for anyone that needs a little comfort that they are doing ok as a father. I purchased the book for a friend, a young father, with equal integrity and character. A gift to let him know that he can stop worrying if he is being a good father. He and his wife are great parents and are good enough to be in that book. I used the intro page to let him know just that! Great idea Mr. Russert ... great book.

Ok a book like this may seem sappy, but trust me there are enough stories and variety to speak to everyone. Personally I loved his chapters on fathers titled Forgiveness, The Protector, Baseball, Mr. Mom and Daddy's Girl. Reminded me a great deal of Tom Brokaws book from people who wrote him after his excellent book The Greatest Generation which is also a must read book in my opinion. Mr. Russert is such a gifted writer. The kind that you pray will write another book, and then another. There are enough stories of such a wide variety that the book will appeal to males as much as it will to females. Great gift for Dads as well as their kids. Though provoking and so much wisdom that one comes away a wiser person. A wiser parent. Mr. Russert and his wife Maureen have one son but having read Big Russ and Me: Father and Son--Lessons of Life and then this book, one comes away wishing a dozen more had been dropped on their porch.

This book by "The Grand Inquisitor" of Meet the Press, is largely what you would expect - a variety of touching vignettes from sons and daughters throughout America written about both big and little moments with their fathers that became big life lessons for them. Most of them are largely positive - a father telling his daughter that he would marry her if he could to help her get over a break-up with her boyfriend, the touching response of another father to his son telling him that he was gay, one son even using memories of learning to shave with his dad as a child to get over the post-traumatic stress of being a crime victim - specifically the scars from the attack that he saw on his face each morning as he was shaving. However, don't let that make you shy away from this book even if your father was not a great person. There are other letters where the writer has had a terrible role model, such as one man whose father was largely absent from his life due to his chronic drug addiction who ultimately died in a hotel room of an overdose when the man was still a child. The lesson that this son got from his father - "My father missed out on getting to know a terrific son". Thus, there really is something in this book for everyone no matter what your relationship with your father is or was. I highly recommend it, especially if you liked Russert's book about his relationship with his own father - "Big Russ and Me", since it was the publishing of that book that caused all of the people with stories in this book to write to Russert describing their own experiences with their fathers.