David Von Drehle

media release: When a veteran Washington journalist David Von Drehle moved to Kansas, he met a new neighbor who was more than a century old. Little did he know that he was beginning a long friendship—and a profound lesson in the meaning of life. Charlie White was no ordinary neighbor. Born before radio, Charlie lived long enough to use a smartphone. When a shocking tragedy interrupted his idyllic boyhood, Charlie mastered survival strategies that reflect thousands of years of human wisdom.

The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable Life of a 109-Year-Old Man might best be described as Mitch Albom meets David McCullough, and like those works, this one has universal messages—ones especially relevant to a nation that is suffering from collective trauma. Can you learn grit? How do you say optimistic in the face of tragedy? How do you live a meaningful life? The answers are all there. 

In conversation with David Maraniss.