• Complain

John Kerry - Every Day Is Extra

Here you can read online John Kerry - Every Day Is Extra full text of the book (entire story) in english for free. Download pdf and epub, get meaning, cover and reviews about this ebook. publisher: Simon & Schuster, genre: Non-fiction. Description of the work, (preface) as well as reviews are available. Best literature library LitArk.com created for fans of good reading and offers a wide selection of genres:

Romance novel Science fiction Adventure Detective Science History Home and family Prose Art Politics Computer Non-fiction Religion Business Children Humor

Choose a favorite category and find really read worthwhile books. Enjoy immersion in the world of imagination, feel the emotions of the characters or learn something new for yourself, make an fascinating discovery.

No cover
  • Book:
    Every Day Is Extra
  • Author:
  • Publisher:
    Simon & Schuster
  • Genre:
  • Rating:
    3 / 5
  • Favourites:
    Add to favourites
  • Your mark:
    • 60
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5

Every Day Is Extra: summary, description and annotation

We offer to read an annotation, description, summary or preface (depends on what the author of the book "Every Day Is Extra" wrote himself). If you haven't found the necessary information about the book — write in the comments, we will try to find it.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
John Kerry tells the story of his remarkable American lifefrom son of a diplomat to decorated Vietnam veteran, five-term United States senator, 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, and Secretary of State for four yearsa revealing memoir by a witness to some of the most important events of our recent history.
Every Day Is Extra is John Kerrys candid personal story. A Yale graduate, Kerry enlisted in the US Navy in 1966, and served in Vietnam. He returned home highly decorated but disillusioned, and testified powerfully before Congress as a young veteran opposed to the war.
Kerry served as a prosecutor in Massachusetts, then as lieutenant governor, and was elected to the Senate in 1984, eventually serving five terms. In 2004 he was the Democratic presidential nominee and came within one stateOhioof winning. Kerry returned to the Senate, chaired the important Foreign Relations...

John Kerry: author's other books


Who wrote Every Day Is Extra? Find out the surname, the name of the author of the book and a list of all author's works by series.

Every Day Is Extra — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Every Day Is Extra" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make

Thank you for downloading this Simon & Schuster ebook.


Get a FREE ebook when you join our mailing list. Plus, get updates on new releases, deals, recommended reads, and more from Simon & Schuster. Click below to sign up and see terms and conditions.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

Already a subscriber? Provide your email again so we can register this ebook and send you more of what you like to read. You will continue to receive exclusive offers in your inbox.

We hope you enjoyed reading this Simon & Schuster ebook.


Get a FREE ebook when you join our mailing list. Plus, get updates on new releases, deals, recommended reads, and more from Simon & Schuster. Click below to sign up and see terms and conditions.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

Already a subscriber? Provide your email again so we can register this ebook and send you more of what you like to read. You will continue to receive exclusive offers in your inbox.

A LSO BY J OHN K ERRY


This Moment on Earth: Todays New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future (with Teresa Heinz Kerry)

A Call to Service: My Vision for a Better America

The New War: The Web of Crime That Threatens Americas Security

Every Day Is Extra - image 1

Every Day Is Extra - image 2

Simon & Schuster

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

Copyright 2018 by John Kerry

Lyrics from The Times They Are A-Changin 1963, 1964 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1991, 1992 by Special Rider Music. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Reprinted by permission.

The opinions and characterizations in this book are those of the author and do not necessarily represent positions of the United States Government.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Simon & Schuster Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition September 2018

SIMON & SCHUSTER and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or .

The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

Interior design by Paul Dippolito

Jacket design by Jackie Seow

Front jacket photograph George Butler/Contact Press Images

Back jacket photograph 2018 by Kelly Campbell

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-5011-7895-5

ISBN 978-1-5011-7896-2 (ebook)

To my grandchildrenAlexander, Allegra, Astrid, Isabelle, Jack, Livia and Sloanto their parents, to my wife, Teresa, and to the future

Authors Note

Every Day Is Extra is not just a statement of fact; its an attitude about life. It is an expression that summarizes how a bunch of the guys I served with in Vietnam felt about coming home alive. It is the recognition of a gift and a mystery. It is a philosophy lived by people who could have died on any given day but didnt when far too many good men did. It is an expression of gratitude for survival where others did not make it. It is a pledge accepting responsibility to live a life of purpose. And it is the recognition that those of us who survived when so many others didnt had better live our extra days in ways that keep faith with the memory of brothers whose days were cut tragically short. Finally, every day is extra means living with the liberating truth of knowing there are worse things than losing an argument or even an electionthe worst thing of all would be to waste the gift of an extra day by sitting on the sidelines indifferent to a problem.

This book is the story of my journey trying to keep faith with the gift of my extra days.

Theres a battle outside and it is ragin

Itll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls

For the times they are a-changin

Bob Dylan, The Times They Are A-Changin

CHAPTER 1
Childhood

W ONDERFUL, MY FATHER said in a soft, hoarse but somehow satisfied whisper, his eyes closed, savoring a bite of the Swiss chocolate he and I both loved since wedecades apartwere young boys in Swiss boarding schools under very different circumstances, young boys who found that rich and sinful indulgence helped fill a void.

It was the last mouthful of chocolate Pa would ever taste.

For nine years, the cancer had been a constant aggressor, but now, in late July 2000, after doctors promised him he would die of something else and advised a watch and wait response to his prostate cancer, it had relentlessly, cruelly found its way into his bones. The pain was agonizing. All we could do was liberally pump palliative morphine into his body to bring some measure of comfortor the next best thing: numbness.

My brother, Cameron, and my sisters, Peggy and Diana, and I were wandering through our childhoods as our father was slipping away, high in a tower of Massachusetts General Hospital, facing the Charles River and the playing fields of the park below. It was a warm, blue-sky July day. I could see a light breeze rippling the trees, while small sailboats dotted the Charles River basin in front of MIT. There was a part of me that yearned to be outdoors, feeling the summer warmth, far away from the reality that my father was about to die. But of course, reality has its harsh way of dragging you back to earth. Coincidentally, just days before, President Clinton had landed his helicopter in the fields below us during a visit to Boston. I had watched from the twenty-first floor while the world of the living, which had no inkling of the personal drama playing out in our lives, went on below. I was one of three finalists under consideration to be Al Gores running mate. It hit me that my father would never know the outcome of that decision. It was strange to juxtapose what I thought was important with the intimacy and finality of our world in that room.

Pa slipped deeper and deeper into sleep. His breathing became heavier and labored. Now we were just waitingmy sisters, brother and I sitting vigil at his bedside, the day after his eighty-fifth birthday. His breaths grew increasingly shallow. While we were cloistered, quietly and somberly, at Massachusetts General Hospital, our eighty-seven-year-old mother, his wife of more than sixty years, was resting at home, unable to wait with us the long hours for the inevitable. She had said her goodbye a day earliera painful bedside farewell in which her last words to him were Ill see you tomorrow. All of us in the room knew she wouldnt, and the tears in her eyes told us she knew it too. I wondered how you say goodbye like that to someone youve lived with for more than six decades, and I felt enormous pain for my mother, who was clearly overwhelmed by the moment.

I know I was lucky to have parents who lived as long as mine did, and grateful too for all of us to be able to be present to say our goodbyes, but Ive learned over time that no matter how old one is, no matter how much longevity there is to celebrate, when a parent dies, we are all of us, no matter what age, still children. Mothers and fathers fall into different categories altogether. Age and illness reverse the role of caretaker. And so it was with us. It fell to the four of usRichard and Rosemarys adult childrento helplessly wait for our father to die. At one point, we asked one another: Were we really certain he wanted to go? Did he want us to do something, anythingtake extra and more extreme steps, however futile they might beto give him a few more days? Was he really ready to take his leave?

Next page
Light

Font size:

Reset

Interval:

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Every Day Is Extra»

Look at similar books to Every Day Is Extra. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.


Reviews about «Every Day Is Extra»

Discussion, reviews of the book Every Day Is Extra and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.