Courage Is A Three Letter Word

by Walter Anderson

Part autobiography, part self-help book, part celebrity profile, part meditation on success and emotional health, Walter Anderson's Courage is a Three Letter Word has been an inspiration to countless people since it was first published in 1986. It begins with a famous interview question directed to John Ehrlichman, a former Nixon aide and disgraced player in the Watergate scandal. With uncommon but characteristic candor, Anderson asks Ehrlichman why he hasn't killed himself. Ehrlichman takes a deep breath and tells the story of what he went through in the face of national scorn and how he found the will to rebuild his life.

Ehrlichman's is only one of many personal narratives weaved through this book. Anderson interviews highly successful people such as John Glenn, Barbara Walters, Jerry Lewis, Carroll O'Connor and asks them the kind of direct questions that stir them to discuss the anxieties and insecurities that have plagued them and how they found the courage to overcome those anxieties and insecurities.

One of the best things about the book is the surprising way it interweaves different narratives. The point Anderson makes in his chapters is that anxiety and insecurity exist in all of us, prominent persons and ordinary citizens alike. But so does the courage to overcome that which holds us back. Perhaps the most touching tale of all is Anderson's own, which he relates through different intimate anecdotes over the course of the book. With remarkable frankness, Anderson tells how he went from being a high-school dropout to editor of Parade magazine. His story is how an ordinary man struggled to face his feelings of self-doubt and self-loathing and prevailed.

About the Author

Walter Anderson was born in a tenement house in Mount Vernon, New York. After dropping out of high school, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served in the Vietnam War. Anderson left the military in 1966 after attaining the rank of sergeant. Anderson earned his GED and then earned degrees from Westchester Community College and Mercy College, where he graduated magna cum laude. Anderson worked as an investigative reporter and journalist with the Associated Press and New York and Ring magazines. He won many awards for his writing and at the age of 36 became editor of Parade magazine.

Anderson's first book, Courage is a Three Letter Word, was published in 1986 and tells the story of how he and other people were able to overcome feelings of anxiety and insecurity to achieve success. He followed up with The Greatest Risk of All (1988) and Read With Me (1990). Anderson has become a champion of literacy and a national spokesman for the GED. He has won many awards for his writing and work, most notably the Horatio Alger award, which he was honored with in 1994 after being nominated by Norman Vincent Peale. Walter Anderson lives in White Plains, New York.

244 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 12, 1986