Lessons in Liberty: Thirty Rules for Living from Ten Extraordinary Americans

America is full of inspiring heroes.

Greatness is not a chance—it is a choice. George Washington didn’t simply wake up as one of the greatest men in human history. His greatness was the sum of a lifetime of difficult and consequential choices.

In Lessons in Liberty, Jeremy S. Adams distills inspiring advice from the lives of extraordinary Americans from our past.

• George Washington’s lifelong struggle to conquer his temper makes him a model for self-help and self-improvement.
• Daniel Inouye was a beloved Japanese American senator who carried out daring missions in World War II, despite being subjected to discrimination by the very nation he decided to defend.
• Eleven-year-old Clara Barton’s role in nursing her injured brother back to health instilled the courage and ferocity that would later empower her to pioneer new nursing techniques during the Civil War.

Adams has been an educator for more than a quarter century. Teaching a new generation of students who suffer with anxiety, passivity, and a cynical view of their own nation and its principles has convinced him that a change is urgently needed: The recovery of national greatness requires that we passionately study our heroes. Lessons in Liberty is the first step to discovering the better angels of our nature by restoring the possibilities of individual freedom.

In this beautifully written, proudly patriotic, and deeply researched ode to American heroes from a rich variety of eras and backgrounds, Adams reclaims the power of the American story, discovering thirty different and surprising lessons that will inspire modern Americans to lead better and more substantive lives.