Fish Out of Water: A Search for the Meaning of Life
Learn how Eric Metaxas became the thought leader he is today. Now in paperback!

What Happens When One of America’s Most Admired Biographers Writes His Own Biography?

For Eric Metaxas, the answer is Fish Out of Water: A Search for the Meaning of Life—a poetic and sometimes hilarious memoir of his early years, in which the Queens-born son of Greek and German immigrants struggles to make sense of a world in which he never quite seems to fit.

Renowned for his biographies of William Wilberforce, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Martin Luther, Metaxas is the author of five New York Times bestsellers, the witty host of the acclaimed Socrates in the City conversation series, and a nationally syndicated radio personality. But here he reveals a personal story few have heard, taking us from his mostly happy childhood—and riotous triumphs at Yale—to the nightmare of drifting toward a dark abyss of meaninglessness from which he barely escapes.

Along the way he introduces us to an unforgettable troupe of picaresque characters who join this quintessentially first-generation American boy in what is both bildungsroman and odyssey—and which underscores just how funny, serious, happy, sad, and ultimately meaningful life can be.
1137397449
Fish Out of Water: A Search for the Meaning of Life
Learn how Eric Metaxas became the thought leader he is today. Now in paperback!

What Happens When One of America’s Most Admired Biographers Writes His Own Biography?

For Eric Metaxas, the answer is Fish Out of Water: A Search for the Meaning of Life—a poetic and sometimes hilarious memoir of his early years, in which the Queens-born son of Greek and German immigrants struggles to make sense of a world in which he never quite seems to fit.

Renowned for his biographies of William Wilberforce, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Martin Luther, Metaxas is the author of five New York Times bestsellers, the witty host of the acclaimed Socrates in the City conversation series, and a nationally syndicated radio personality. But here he reveals a personal story few have heard, taking us from his mostly happy childhood—and riotous triumphs at Yale—to the nightmare of drifting toward a dark abyss of meaninglessness from which he barely escapes.

Along the way he introduces us to an unforgettable troupe of picaresque characters who join this quintessentially first-generation American boy in what is both bildungsroman and odyssey—and which underscores just how funny, serious, happy, sad, and ultimately meaningful life can be.
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Fish Out of Water: A Search for the Meaning of Life

Fish Out of Water: A Search for the Meaning of Life

by Eric Metaxas
Fish Out of Water: A Search for the Meaning of Life

Fish Out of Water: A Search for the Meaning of Life

by Eric Metaxas

Paperback

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Overview

Learn how Eric Metaxas became the thought leader he is today. Now in paperback!

What Happens When One of America’s Most Admired Biographers Writes His Own Biography?

For Eric Metaxas, the answer is Fish Out of Water: A Search for the Meaning of Life—a poetic and sometimes hilarious memoir of his early years, in which the Queens-born son of Greek and German immigrants struggles to make sense of a world in which he never quite seems to fit.

Renowned for his biographies of William Wilberforce, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Martin Luther, Metaxas is the author of five New York Times bestsellers, the witty host of the acclaimed Socrates in the City conversation series, and a nationally syndicated radio personality. But here he reveals a personal story few have heard, taking us from his mostly happy childhood—and riotous triumphs at Yale—to the nightmare of drifting toward a dark abyss of meaninglessness from which he barely escapes.

Along the way he introduces us to an unforgettable troupe of picaresque characters who join this quintessentially first-generation American boy in what is both bildungsroman and odyssey—and which underscores just how funny, serious, happy, sad, and ultimately meaningful life can be.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781684513819
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Publication date: 03/07/2023
Pages: 416
Sales rank: 975,214
Product dimensions: 5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

About The Author
Eric Metaxas is an author whose books have been translated into twenty-five languages. The host of a nationally syndicated radio show and the acclaimed conversation series Socrates in the City, he is a prominent cultural commentator whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the New Yorker, The Atlantic, and the Wall Street Journal. He lives with his family in New York City.

Table of Contents

Author's Note xv

Introduction xvii

Chapter 0 Omphalos 1

Chapter 1 I Am Born, Etc. 11

Chapter 2 School 25

Chapter 3 Our Trip to Germany: Summer 1971 37

Chapter 4 Transfiguration: 1971-1972 47

Chapter 5 Moving to America: 1972 61

Chapter 6 Assumption Church & Trip to Greece 73

Chapter 7 My American Idyll 85

Chapter 8 Broadview 97

Chapter 9 The Bicentennial 109

Chapter 10 "Because He's Your Father": Fall 1976 119

Chapter 11 Falling into the Future: Fall 1977 127

Chapter 12 "You Have Gell-Friend?": Spring 1978 137

Chapter 13 Senior Year: 1979 145

Chapter 14 Graduation: 1980 151

Chapter 15 Trinity College: Fall 1980 157

Chapter 16 "Summer of Destiny" 169

Chapter 17 National Socialism in Danbury 175

Chapter 18 The Meaning of Meaning: Fall 1982 191

Chapter 19 The Last Bladderball: Junior Year 1982 205

Chapter 20 The Game 213

Chapter 21 Bohemian Threnody: Summer 1983 221

Chapter 22 "I ang Leo…" 235

Chapter 23 Senior Year: 1983-1984 239

Chapter 24 Graduation from Yale: 1984 249

Chapter 25 Grand Tour, Einzer Schtück 257

Chapter 26 The Grand Tour, Zweiter Schtück 269

Chapter 27 Alone! 285

Chapter 28 Home, Eric 299

Chapter 29 Onion Skin and Nothingness 313

Chapter 30 Boston: Spring 1985 325

Chapter 31 The Opera House 333

Chapter 32 Backward to Greece: Summer 1987 343

Chapter 33 Lost at Home 349

Chapter 34 The Golden Fish 367

Chapter 35 As I Lay Dying 375

Chapter 36 I Am Born Again, Etc. 377

Epilogue 381

Appendix 387

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