Jonathan Karp: As McCain's editor here's what I learned from poring over a decade's worth of the senator's manuscripts
In the past 10 years, I've edited five books by John McCain and his longtime aide and collaborator, Mark Salter. At my urging, McCain and Salter have written a children's book of virtues, "Character Is Destiny"; a meditation on bravery, "Why Courage Matters"; a portrait of the maverick life, "Worth the Fighting For"; and an examination of decision making, "Hard Call." (Their first book, "Faith of My Fathers," recently returned to the best-seller list, where it initially spent half a year beginning in 1999.) Together, the books have helped define McCain's persona, and they've sold more than a million copies.
Critics of McCain dismiss these works as an exercise in self-mythology and career advancement; they see in them certain ideals—about rabble-rousing and honor, for example—that they say McCain the candidate has abandoned. But I see them differently—as books in which McCain, as narrator and an occasional character, shows us the way to a nobler purpose. I know from personal experience that John McCain is honorable, kind and wise. (He's the only author I've worked with who has read all six volumes of Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" andHerman Wouk's "Youngblood Hawke.") Having read each of his books several times, I've noticed some themes—literary leitmotifs that may illuminate McCain's sensibility and world view:
He has long believed in the possibility of heroes, even imaginary ones. In "Faith of My Fathers," McCain writes of his boyhood love of tales of King Arthur's court. In "Worth the Fighting For," he describes his youthful fascination with two freedom fighters: Robert Jordan, a Montana professor who risks his life to battle Spanish fascists in Ernest Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls," and Marlon Brando's portrayal of Emiliano Zapata, in McCain's favorite movie, "Viva Zapata!" (The psychologically relevant dialogue: "It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.") McCain sees real significance in these heroes, even when they're fictional: "One man on a white horse cannot make history. He can make a difference. He can do justice. He can help force the moment when enduring change occurs, when history swings on its hinge toward a better world."
Things end badly for many of McCain ' s heroes, but their lives have lasting meaning. In "Why Courage Matters," he pays tribute to Hannah Senesh, an underground Jewish commando who endured torture and was executed rather than betray her comrades during the Nazi occupation of Hungary. "She made a choice to be heroic, but to be heroic in order to be true," McCain and Salter write. "Her purpose wasn't to die. She died for her life's purpose." While we were editing "Character Is Destiny," I had to ask the authors to rearrange the order of the chapters so the book wouldn't begin so darkly—with Thomas More's beheading, Joan of Arc's burning at the stake and Viktor Frankl's imprisonment at Auschwitz. They compromised by augmenting the first section of the book with profiles of Gandhi (who was assassinated) and Sir Ernest Shackleton (who survived a failed Arctic expedition). These were chapters in a children's book! In McCain's world, straight talk begins at an early age....
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Critics of McCain dismiss these works as an exercise in self-mythology and career advancement; they see in them certain ideals—about rabble-rousing and honor, for example—that they say McCain the candidate has abandoned. But I see them differently—as books in which McCain, as narrator and an occasional character, shows us the way to a nobler purpose. I know from personal experience that John McCain is honorable, kind and wise. (He's the only author I've worked with who has read all six volumes of Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" andHerman Wouk's "Youngblood Hawke.") Having read each of his books several times, I've noticed some themes—literary leitmotifs that may illuminate McCain's sensibility and world view:
He has long believed in the possibility of heroes, even imaginary ones. In "Faith of My Fathers," McCain writes of his boyhood love of tales of King Arthur's court. In "Worth the Fighting For," he describes his youthful fascination with two freedom fighters: Robert Jordan, a Montana professor who risks his life to battle Spanish fascists in Ernest Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls," and Marlon Brando's portrayal of Emiliano Zapata, in McCain's favorite movie, "Viva Zapata!" (The psychologically relevant dialogue: "It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.") McCain sees real significance in these heroes, even when they're fictional: "One man on a white horse cannot make history. He can make a difference. He can do justice. He can help force the moment when enduring change occurs, when history swings on its hinge toward a better world."
Things end badly for many of McCain ' s heroes, but their lives have lasting meaning. In "Why Courage Matters," he pays tribute to Hannah Senesh, an underground Jewish commando who endured torture and was executed rather than betray her comrades during the Nazi occupation of Hungary. "She made a choice to be heroic, but to be heroic in order to be true," McCain and Salter write. "Her purpose wasn't to die. She died for her life's purpose." While we were editing "Character Is Destiny," I had to ask the authors to rearrange the order of the chapters so the book wouldn't begin so darkly—with Thomas More's beheading, Joan of Arc's burning at the stake and Viktor Frankl's imprisonment at Auschwitz. They compromised by augmenting the first section of the book with profiles of Gandhi (who was assassinated) and Sir Ernest Shackleton (who survived a failed Arctic expedition). These were chapters in a children's book! In McCain's world, straight talk begins at an early age....