THE CALL TO SERVE

Use power to help people. These five simple words were in former president George H.W. Bush's inaugural speech in the winter of 1989. A short phrase accompanied by a prayer is how he officially started off his presidency until 1993. Simple words, but not a simple proposition, and from a man who straddled the line between Republican and Democratic, fierce in his beliefs despite the bipartisan politics. Of course, politics isn't a simple vocation to wade through in any era.

Greater than his desire to win was president George H.W. Bush's desire to do right by the people. As we approach the centennial anniversary of his birth - June 12, 2024 - this milestone is the perfect occasion to look back at memories, perceptions, and actions that have shaped the U.S. in the past century. Bush navigated the Cold War and the conflict in the Middle East during his presidency, but he also served in World War II in his younger years, and he was familiar with political unrest. He embraced compromise even during a time where extremists from his party were gaining larger ground, where media was shifting to give voice to louder opinions. Where Bush believed America could be kinder and gentler, as a nation it wasn't proving to be.

New York Times bestselling author and political biographer extraordinaire, Jon Meacham returns with a close examination of George H.W. Bush's life and legacy to illuminate a man who was much more than his politics. With over 450 photographs, many never-before-published, documents, and narration adapted from Meacham's 2015 DESTINY AND POWER: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush (Random House, 2015), THE CALL TO SERVE is a timely account of the former president's life of service and offers a view of how much the world has changed since then.

Jon Meacham is a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer. He is he is a distinguished visiting professor at Vanderbilt University, a contributing writer for The New York Times Book Review, and a fellow of the Society of American Historians. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers AND THERE WAS LIGHT: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle (RH, 2022); HIS TRUTH IS MARCHING ON: John Lewis and the Power of Hope; THE SOUL OF AMERICA: The Battle for Our Better Angels (RH 2018); THE HOPE OF GLORY: Reflections on the Last Words of Jesus; DESTINY AND POWER: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush; THOMAS JEFFERSON: The Art of Power (RH 2012); AMERICAN LION: Andrew Jackson in the White House (RH, 2008), AMERICAN GOSPEL: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation (RH, 2007), FRANKLIN AND WINSTON: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship (RH, 2003). Jon Meacham has also co-authored handfuls of additional titles and has written for dozens of ooks and bperiodicals throughout his industrious and impressive career. The author lives in Nashville with his family.