The Heart and the Fist

The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL

By: Eric Greitens

Narrated by: Eric Greitens

Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Like many young idealists, Eric Greitens wanted to make a difference. During college and afterward, he traveled to the world's trouble spots, working in refugee camps, serving the sick and the poor on four continents, from Gaza to Croatia to Mother Teresa's home in Calcutta, among others. Yet he could not prevent violence or save anyone from becoming a refugee; he could only step in afterward and try to ease the damage. So Eric joined the Navy SEALs and became an elite warrior.

In a moving and inspiring memoir, told with genuine humility, Eric offers something new in the history of military memoirs: a warrior who wanted to be strong to be good, only to discover that he had to be good to be strong. Throughout his SEAL training and deployments in Kenya, Thailand, Afghanistan, and Iraq, the lessons of his humanitarian work bore fruit. The result is a lesson for us all: the heart and fist together are more powerful than either one alone.

©2011 Eric Greitens (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"This tale of [Greitens's] dual military/humanitarian effort could be paired with Rye Barcott's It Happened on the Way to War." ( Library Journal)

Captivating

Interesting perspecitive on the strategy of struggle. The balance of too much versus not enough is a complex and hard to comprehend topic that this author fights head on. Fantatstic book. Wish I had more time in the day while I was listening to the book.

COMPASSION AND AGGRESSION ; YIN AND YANG

The publisher's review explains the story but the author / narrator through sharing his story tells of self made opportunites to make a difference in the life of others by being the best he could be as a compassionate aide and an aggresive leader. Like the author the story is balanced in several ways. His life divided into two time frames, both of which are compelling listening. There is sadness and humour, friends and enemies, east and west, unity and division. The more I listened, the more I learnt about my self and my own values.
Not because the author asks that of us, but because his motivations and actions are stimulants to our sense of self worth.
The author is currently leading a path that I cannot wait to read about some time in the future. He has the heart of a warrior who was born to protect, always with the velvet glove of compassion but balanced by the fist of aggression.
As a narrator, the author is excellent. The self acknowledgement of his achievements is not boastful but realistic. At all times he balances those successes with his respect and love for those who shared his journey, especially his brothers in arms.
A story I could read or listen to again.

A superb book

Eric Greitens story is a must hear or read. Well written and poignant. Purposeful and well narrated by the author I was disappointed when the ride was all over.

The Heart and Fist also has a Soul

Eric Greitens is the person that all of us would like to be. No matter what he experiences in his life story he is always himself. -- He's honest, tough and always maintains his humility when being challenged. Eric shows us that having a big heart and and fighting for what's right goes hand-in-hand if you want to be succussful.
The next time I'm feeling down and want to give up I'll just remeber to ask myself, "what would Eric do?". This is one of the best books I've ever listened to on Audible yet!

Great story, wish he had had some coaching

If you could sum up The Heart and the Fist in three words, what would they be?

Honest, compelling, frustrating

What other book might you compare The Heart and the Fist to and why?

I often thought about an old Viet Nam era book I read called "Platoon Leader".

What didn’t you like about Eric Greitens’s performance?

His voice dropped off to be pretty much inaudible at the end of about half his sentences. It was so frustrating and distracting to try to figure out what he was saying that I had to stop listening a couple of times.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I listened in the car, and if he had enunciated all the words, I definitely would have finished it sooner.

Any additional comments?

The author seems like a really neat guy. I hope he does an autobiograhy soon or decides to write a book that inspires as well as explaining.

Great

it is so great to know that people like Mr. Greitens are still around and doing the right thing. He is currently running for Governor and I hope one day to vote for him as President. Fantastic story.

Eric Greitens is Inspiring

This is a great story of how a boy became a Rhodes Scholar and then a Navy Seal. Reading about Americans like this gives you hope for our future. Both of my teen age daughters read this book (yes, we all read it too), one of them has read it three times. I am grateful they have role models like this.

Lessons learned

Finding a purpose, feeling useful/needed, and solving problems on a human to human, boots on the ground, level are beautifully emphasized and portrayed. I could not agree more.

meaningful as the single word on this book

This book is about how to live and lead by example on leading a meaningful life where meaningful is judged not by oneself but by the outcomes of the lives of others served. It is definitely a book for my children to listen or read one day and challenge themselves at different frontiers of life

Interesting journey, highly recommend it!

The title is an excellent description. The story is even more memorable because it is performed by the author.