Character Counts: Leadership Qualities in Washington, Wilberforce, Lincoln, and Solzhenitsyn Book

Os Guinness is one of my favorite authors. His insights into the culture are profound yet somewhat obvious for the thinking person. Perhaps it is the lack of character and critical thinking skills so apparent in the current pop culture that makes this book yet relevant, however, I believe it is a message that can be reiterated in every culture in order to avoid the consequences of George Santayana's warning to people who forget the past. It is to that end that I write this review.

In his Introduction, Guinness begins with what he says is the first postmodern president, Bill Clinton. He opines that Clinton is a consequence of the decline of the 20th century ideas. He says that if we follow that path, "panderer rather than leader", the consequences cannot be good. Twenty something years later, we see that Guinness was prophetic in his understanding of Richard J. Foster's claim that 'ideas have consequences' and for our culture today we see that those consequences can be dire.

Guinness explains that although some think that this is a loss of American 'values' it really goes much deeper. He says that character is much deeper than values and that it must be developed and honed in order to be effective. Guinness then presents essays, written by Alonzo Mc Donald, Paul Boller, Jr., J. Douglas Holladay, John Pollock, Elton Trueblood and Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, which tell the stories of four different men in whose lives good character was a primary feature.

Section One is George Washington, a legend in and of himself, whose stands on liberty and bigotry are famous. Section Two is William Wilberforce whose work forever changed Britain's view of slavery. Section Three is Abraham Lincoln whose character epitomizes what most people remember about him. Finally, Section Four deals with Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, a Russian dissident whose life is characterized by imprisonment for his ideals. Those ideals did not leave him and his legacy should be a warning to those who would 'go along to get along' in the climate of pop culture today.

All in all, a great and easy read. As I said earlier I like Guinness as he is profound yet simple and his writings are timeless. People are always people regardless of the passage of time. The timeless idea of good character will determine whether a society thrives or falls.