Lessons from a Father to His Son

Ashcroft's book celebrates the simple, the quiet and the routine. Ashcroft, Republican senator from Missouri, shares several personal vignettes that reveal the many lessons he learned from his father, J. Robert Ashcroft. As Ashcroft tells his own story, from his failure in his first bid for Congress to his successful campaign for governor of Missouri, he reflects on the lessons he learned. One lesson is that, through the ups and downs of failures, we become better people; as we become better people, God calls us to bigger jobs. Ashcroft illustrates this lesson by describing his rise from state auditor to attorney general of Missouri. Another lesson he describes is that of delayed gratification, putting off something so that you can experience something even better in the future. Ashcroft holds up his relationship with his own father as a model for sons and fathers to emulate in America today. (May)