cover image American Spirit: Profiles in Resilience, Courage, and Faith

American Spirit: Profiles in Resilience, Courage, and Faith

Taya Kyle and Jim DeFelice. Morrow, $27.99 (346p) ISBN 978-0-06-268371-7

Kyle follows up American Wife, about her Navy SEAL husband Chris Kyle (author of American Sniper), with this moving and passionate collection of essays in which she shares her experiences with people she has met as a public speaker. At events, she writes, strangers told her “stories about the good things their neighbors are doing, accounts of how they were helped or inspired by others.” Kyle focuses on 30 of those “tales of heroism” in an effort to show the power of the American spirit and “brighten a sometimes very dark world.” Writing with DeFelice, who coauthored both her and her husband’s previous books, Kyle includes stories from a young girl suffering from cancer whose idea of raising money for research by having a lemonade stand in her hospital led to a million-dollar foundation for childhood cancer; a blind veteran whose work with disabled bike riders inspired a volunteer organization that takes blind bikers on rides through New York City; and another vet whose individual efforts to help the homeless led to the formation of a California nonprofit. Once again, Kyle and DeFelice inspire with touching stories of compassion. [em](Apr.) [/em]