Outline
Brooks begins with Adam I and Adam II, two contradictory sides of human nature described in The Lonely Man of Faith by Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik. Adam I is the external, career-driven, ambitious side, which Brooks calls the "résumé" self. The subject of this book, [2] Adam II, is internal, humble and the "eulogy" self, the one who “wants to have a serene inner character.” [3]
The bulk of the book is eight chapters of biographical sketches. [3] Loosely one per chapter they are: Frances Perkins, Dwight D. Eisenhower with a page or two devoted to redefining sin for contemporary times, Dorothy Day, George Marshall, A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin who organized the March on Washington, the novelist George Eliot and her mate George Lewes, Augustine and his mother Monica, Samuel Johnson and Michel de Montaigne, winding up with sketches of Johnny Unitas and Joe Namath. Each chapter describes the personal weaknesses that the individual overcame. [3]
Brooks concludes with fifteen numbered points, a sort of CliffsNotes for those who would like the "condensed message of this book." [4]
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