Fulghum, author of All I Really Need to Know I Learned In Kindergarten, turns his inspirational ponderings to the rituals that fill and inform our daily lives, from brushing our teeth to the grand rituals responding to birth, life, and death.


From Publishers Weekly
In this free-form meditation, former Unitarian minister Fulghum (All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten) examines how people impart meaning and structure to their lives through public rituals-weddings, funerals, high school reunions, church services-as well as myriad private and interpersonal rituals that mark events and preserve memories. Ritual, in his broad discussion, includes the repetitive yet crucial chores of parenting, learning to drive a car, walking home alone from school for the first time, one's first sexual encounter, prayer and thousands of "little deaths and little rebirths," such as partings and reconciliations. Fulghum movingly describes his recent reunion with his long-lost daughter, whom he and his fiancee had secretly placed with an adoption agency in small-town Texas in 1958. He writes with the calm wisdom and gentle reassurance that marked his previous bestsellers. First serial to Good Housekeeping, Modern Maturity and Penthouse; Literary Guild main selection; author tour. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

FROM OUR EDITORS

America's beloved essayist draws from his ministerial background to celebrate those ritual moments that mark our changing from moment to moment, day to day, year to year, and from one stage of life to another. Teaching us how to address our personal transformations with dignity, love, and acceptance, Fulghum shows how public rituals and everyday habits and routines are sacred and enriching ceremonies, bringing us a renewed sense of humanity and community. Filled with unforgettable anecdotes and practical advice, this book is a treasure to cherish, savor, and return to again, all the days of our lives.

ANNOTATION

America's most beloved philosopher and essayist draws from his ministerial background to celebrate "the unnameable wonder and mystery of life, " teaching readers how to create their own personally meaningful ceremonies while being gathered in a universal and ebullient embrace. Illustrations.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Here is the book of a lifetime: a celebration of our everyday lives. Births, weddings, reunions, funerals: These are some of the events that Robert Fulghum explores in this powerful new work. How we change - yet remain constant - from moment to moment, year to year, from one stage of life to another, is Fulghum's memorable theme in From Beginning to End. Here, America's most beloved philosopher and essayist teaches us how to address our personal transformations, large and small, with dignity, love, and acceptance. Whether they are public rituals, anything from weddings to sales meetings; private rituals, such as the saying of grace at a family dinner; or secret passages, such as one's personal greeting of the day, these habits and routines are sacred, as they bring structure and meaning to daily life, enriching who we are both individually and collectively. "Structure gives us a sense of security," Fulghum writes. "And that sense of security is the ground of meaning." In this book, Fulghum prepares us for the whole range of meaningful and spiritual journeys that we take from childhood to old age. Filled with unforgettable anecdotes and practical advice, and replete with Fulghum's signature wit, wisdom, and sagacity, From Beginning to End is a book to cherish, savor, and return to again and again for all the days of our lives.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly