Are We Going to Be OK?

The coauthor of the million-copy bestseller The Book of Joy offers an antidote to the epidemic of despair and shows us how to cultivate hope by applying the wisdom of some of the greatest visionaries of our time, including the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, and Jane Goodall, among others.The Book of Joy was the brainchild of literary agent Doug Abrams, whose work was fueled by the dream of working with his lifelong heroes and for whom Desmond Tutu was a father figure. Abrams engineered a series of meetings between Archbishop Tutu and His Holiness the Dalai Lama—the last time the two would meet before Tutu’s death in 2021—and the resulting book was a New York Times bestseller that went on to sell over 1.2 million copies and inspired people around the world to find lasting happiness in their lives. And yet, in the midst of the Covid lockdown, when Doug’s daughter asked him a simple question—“Are we going to be OK?”—Doug was at a loss for how to reassure her, and himself. It sent him on a quest to mine the relationships he forged with some of the most influential visionaries of our time to make a compelling and durable case for hope. From scientists like Jane Goodall and Stephen Hawking to spiritual leaders like the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu to political leaders like Nelson Mandela, Abrams arrives at a more hopeful and empowering view of the future of humanity, inspiring readers to live with more joy and meaning in their own lives. Read more