CHRISTOPHER MCDOUGALL is the author of Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. He began his career as an overseas correspondent for the Associated Press, covering wars in Rwanda and Angola. He now lives and writes (and runs, swims, climbs, and bear-crawls) among the Amish farms around his home in rural Pennsylvania.
“A mash note to physical endurance. . . . McDougall redefines the
heroic ideal, establishing heroism as a skill set rather than a
virtue. . . . [And] schools the reader in the art of the champion.
. . . The essential narrative here, the twisty tale of a kidnapping
that incredibly goes right, is exciting. It is balanced out with
the journalistic account of McDougall’s entry into the world of the
hero. His personal quest to ‘rewild the psyche’ might seem an
awkward fit with war storytelling. But under McDougall’s sure hand
the combination improbably works. Kind of like kidnapping a German
general on an island swarming with Nazi troops.” —NPR Books
“Natural Born Heroes provides a blueprint of the essential ideas of
how to move, what to eat, and the spirit in which to approach our
everyday lives. I connected with this book on a primal, emotional,
and intellectual level, and have been profoundly inspired by
McDougall’s work.” —Laird Hamilton
“Fascinating. . . . Show[s] that heroism not only can be taught—it
can be mastered.” —New York Post
“A fast-paced, enlightening tale of everyday heroes. . . . A
victory lap for McDougall.” —Deseret News (Salt Lake City)
“McDougall traveled to Crete to examine the physical and mental
capacity of Greek war heroes [and] studied natural movement,
endurance, and nutrition to understand how regular people are
capable of extraordinary athletic feats. . . . We can all adapt the
tools of the athletes featured in McDougall’s new book.” —Real
Simple
“McDougall sets his rediscovery of fitness concepts against the
backdrop of a great tale of espionage, kidnapping, and harrowing
escapes. . . . The fascinating story provides anecdotal proof for
the theories and, perhaps, the encouragement you need to try them
in your life.” —Women’s Running
“A heady confection that encompasses, among other subjects,
military history, archaeology, Greek mythology, neat ways to kill a
man and ideas on health and fitness that might just change your
life. . . . [McDougall] constructs a fascinating edifice of ideas .
. . and eventually finds a modern-day hero of his own. But the
pleasures of the book are as much to do with the fascinating
panoply of characters, war heroes all, British, Commonwealth and
Cretan, whose exploits contributed so much to Hitler's downfall.”
—The Independent (London)
“In the thoroughly absorbing Natural Born Heroes, which tracks
heroism from the times of Zeus and Odysseus to the World War II
bravery of a motley crew of fighters, Christopher McDougall makes
it clear that . . . heroes, both ancient and modern, are not
somehow supernaturally endowed after all. Indeed, they may come by
their skills quite naturally. . . . His extensive knowledge of
fitness training, nutrition and physiology winds artfully around a
tale of superhuman resistance during the Nazi occupation of the
Greek island of Crete. . . . [McDougall] solves this mystery with a
witty eye for every detail, inspiring his own captive audience
along the way.” — BookPage
“Compelling . . . engaging . . . provocative . . . with inquiries
into the nature of heroism. . . . True heroism, as the ancients
understood, isn’t about strength or boldness or even courage. It’s
about compassion.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Riveting. . . . A well-done recounting of a truly heroic episode
of WWII. . . . In absorbing detail, McDougall describes how . . .
‘ordinary’ men who were far from stereotypically tough,
battle-hardened warriors . . . trekked across tortuous mountain
terrain while avoiding a massive German dragnet.” —Booklist
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