Published June 2021

Growing up, Stanford Education Professor William Damon believed his father had died in World War II. His father actually chose not to return, and established a new life and family for himself overseas. Over the years, there were clues that the family line about a deceased father was not true, but Damon chose to ignore them until a decade ago when his daughter called to share news of discoveries she had made when researching family history. That phone call led Damon to pursue the truth about his father. He details the process of his research in A Round of Golf with my Father.

Damon is best known for his work on moral purpose. Although one might imagine A Round of Golf with My Father as a departure from his previous books, he actually uses his family story as an opportunity to detail the process of “life-review” and how this psychological method for examining one’s life story can clarify issues of purpose and character. Rather than a straightforward account of Damon’s family story, the book unfolds with details about his father as examples of the concepts Damon has spent his career researching. It is a readable primer on the relationship between purpose, character, regret and gratitude that models a process of self-discovery through an engaging personal narrative.