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Right thing, right now : good values, good character, good deeds / Ryan Holiday.

by Holiday, Ryan.

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Portfolio/Penguin, c2024.

Conduct of life -- Philosophy.

9780593191712 (hc.)

Alternate title:

Good values, good character, good deeds

xxiv, 338 p. ; 19 cm.

"It goes by many names, but we know it when we see it and we see it all too rarely these days: Moral character. Decency. Honor. Integrity. Nothing is worth achieving in this life if it compromises these virtues, if it forces us to abandon honesty, kindness, and fairness. Certainly some manage to succeed without ethics, but the road to greatness is paved by goodness, in selflessness and sacrifice and personal rectitude. Are these not the people we admire most? The ones who are called to do what others are too busy, too scared, too weak to do? We have to do the righ thing. Tomorrow? No, right now. Today." --Back cover.

"Holiday has developed a cottage industry popularizing Stoicism via a newsletter, store, and books like this, the latest in a series on “Stoic virtues.” Here, the author focuses on justice, with chapters stressing the importance and merits of old-fashioned verities like honesty, forgiveness, social engagement, and more. All respectable ideas, and Holiday has mastered a tone to deliver them that’s firm but compassionate, somewhere between New Age concepts and Jordan Peterson–esque moral scolding. Still, for a book purportedly rooted in the teachings of the ancients, Holiday gives surprisingly little attention to Stoic standard-bearers like Cato the Younger, Marcus Aurelius, and Epictetus. Instead, many of his examples come from the annals of the Greatest Generation, particularly President Harry S. Truman, who is presented as an underrated, rock-ribbed ethical figure. (To bolster the point, the author notes Truman’s deep admiration of Aurelius.) The parade of mid-20th-century eminences—Martha Graham, Gandhi, Clarence Darrow, Rosa Parks, Albert Schweitzer—is relevant, though it has the curious effect of making all of this justice seeking feel distant from the present moment. Stray examples of contemporary ethical leaders like NBA coach Gregg Popovich or former German chancellor Angela Merkel are exceptions that prove the rule. More interesting in some ways than Holiday’s delivery of unimpeachable examples of good behavior is an afterword about how he has managed hiccups in his business in terms of ethical sourcing, co-workers’ bad behavior, and readers resenting his engagement in politics: “It’s a test we face in a world driven by algorithms—do we tell people what they want to hear? Or do we say and do what we think needs to be done?” Fresher examples might better sell the philosophy as fit for the current moment."--Kirkus Reviews.

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