The best books about commitment, courage, and perseverance against overwhelming odds

Did you know John Gilbert Winant was an American ambassador to Great Britain during World War II? I didn’t, until I read this engaging chronicle about three Americans’ tireless efforts to gain U.S. support for England during the bleak years preceding the attack on Pearl Harbor. Edward R. Murrow, urbane international radio correspondent, was better known; as was W. Averell Harriman, suave, wealthy head of Lend-Lease. Steadfast in their commitment to the brave island nation and her sturdy people, they championed England’s cause when America Firsters held FDR at bay. My favorite was idealistic Gil Winant, endearing himself to the Brits as he walked the streets of London after an air raid. In this very human story, Lynne Olson recounts the various intrigues, love affairs, and personal struggles of each man. For all their foibles, they kept faith with England.

This was a book that I couldn’t put down. Amor Towles proves once again to be that rarity, a writer of beautifully crafted fiction that is compulsively readable. The gentleman in question, Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, is an aristocrat who is sentenced in 1922 by a Bolshevik court to indefinite house arrest in the attic of the Metropol Hotel, an elegant establishment near the Kremlin. Never having worked for a living or been denied anything, Rostov finds himself deprived of the bare necessities. I laughed out loud at scene after captivating scene, and shed a tear at some of the more poignant episodes. Count Alexander manages to fashion an expansive world within the confines of his prison. You can’t help but admire this endearing gentleman’s perseverance in his struggle to create a meaningful life.

I fell in love with Ishi, the ageing bull elephant, who is the narrator of this saga. If ever you doubted that elephants were sentient creatures, this book will change your mind. After fifty years as a captive, shipped overseas, mistreated in a circus, and landing in a zoo, by miraculous serendipity, Ishi finds himself back in Africa, hundreds of miles from the animal sanctuary where he was raised. Making a final desperate journey to reach the human family that rescued him as a baby, when his mother and entire herd were killed by ivory poachers, our hero encounters one peril after another. A highly emotional tale, it speaks of good and evil. Ishi’s story will have you contributing to every campaign to save these noble beasts.

Who believes men alone have redrawn the maps of the world? Gertrude Bell, beautiful adventurer, mountaineer, archaeologist, writer, linguist, and self-taught photographer, championed Arab self-rule, advising the British military in creating the nation of Iraq after World War I. Thwarted in love, this Victorian debutante set forth on a life as colorful as Lawrence of Arabia, with whom she became a close friend. I marveled at her courage, traveling alone in the vast desert of Arabia with a few native guides, dining with Bedouin chiefs who had never deigned to receive a woman before. It’s impossible to describe her life in a few sentences, but it was a revelation to me that a woman of the Victorian era could accomplish what few men had, while remaining a correct English lady.

I read this book for research for my own book. The White Rose is the tragic story of Hans and Sophie Scholl and their friends, German students who defied Hitler, forming the underground movement known as The White Rose. I was thrilled at the terror of the brother and sister taking chances, distributing anti-Nazi leaflets right under the eyes of the Gestapo. Handsome Hans, heartthrob of his female medical classmates, was the leader of the group, while serious, pious Sophie was his loyal lieutenant. Written by their sister, this account shows there were good people who opposed Hitler, risking everything. I had chills, imagining the terrible price the two siblings paid for their bravery. And my heart ached for their mother, who lost two children to Himmler’s archaic method of punishment—the guillotine.