NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the longtime CEO and chairman of Starbucks, a bold, dramatic work about the new responsibilities that leaders, businesses, and citizens share in American society today—as viewed through the intimate lens of one man’s life and work. What do we owe one another? How do we channel our drive, ingenuity, even our pain, into something more meaningful than individual success? And what is our duty in the places where we live, work, and play? These questions are at the heart of the American journey. They are also ones that Howard Schultz has grappled with personally since growing up in the Brooklyn housing projects and while building Starbucks from eleven stores into one of the world’s most iconic brands. In From the Ground Up, Schultz looks for answers in two interwoven narratives. One story shows how his conflicted boyhood—including experiences he has never before revealed—motivated Schultz to become the first in his family to graduate from college, then to build the kind of company his father, a working-class laborer, never had a chance to work for: a business that tries to balance profit and human dignity. A parallel story offers a behind-the-scenes look at Schultz’s unconventional efforts to challenge old notions about the role of business in society. From health insurance and free college tuition for part-time baristas to controversial initiatives about race and refugees, Schultz and his team tackled societal issues with the same creativity and rigor they applied to changing how the world consumes coffee. Throughout the book, Schultz introduces a cross-section of Americans transforming common struggles into shared successes. In these pages, lost youth find first jobs, aspiring college students overcome the yoke of debt, post-9/11 warriors replace lost limbs with indomitable spirit, former coal miners and opioid addicts pave fresh paths, entrepreneurs jump-start dreams, and better angels emerge from all corners of the country. From the Ground Up is part candid memoir, part uplifting blueprint of mutual responsibility, and part proof that ordinary people can do extraordinary things. At its heart, it’s an optimistic, inspiring account of what happens when we stand up, speak out, and come together for purposes bigger than ourselves. Here is a new vision of what can be when we try our best to lead lives through the lens of humanity. “Howard Schultz’s story is a clear reminder that success is not achieved through individual determination alone, but through partnership and community. Howard’s commitment to both have helped him build one of the world’s most recognized brands. It will be exciting to see what he accomplishes next.”—Bill Gates

A book without words, recounting a day in the life of an office worker, told completely in the symbols, icons, and logos of modern life. Twenty years ago I made Book from the Sky, a book of illegible Chinese characters that no one could read. Now I have created Book from the Ground, a book that anyone can read. —Xu Bing Following his classic work Book from the Sky, the Chinese artist Xu Bing presents a new graphic novel—one composed entirely of symbols and icons that are universally understood. Xu Bing spent seven years gathering materials, experimenting, revising, and arranging thousands of pictograms to construct the narrative of Book from the Ground. The result is a readable story without words, an account of twenty-four hours in the life of “Mr. Black,” a typical urban white-collar worker. Our protagonist's day begins with wake-up calls from a nearby bird and his bedside alarm clock; it continues through tooth-brushing, coffee-making, TV-watching, and cat-feeding. He commutes to his job on the subway, works in his office, ponders various fast-food options for lunch, waits in line for the bathroom, daydreams, sends flowers, socializes after work, goes home, kills a mosquito, goes to bed, sleeps, and gets up the next morning to do it all over again. His day is recounted with meticulous and intimate detail, and reads like a postmodern, post-textual riff on James Joyce's account of Bloom's peregrinations in Ulysses. But Xu Bing's narrative, using an exclusively visual language, could be published anywhere, without translation or explication; anyone with experience in contemporary life—anyone who has internalized the icons and logos of modernity, from smiley faces to transit maps to menus—can understand it.

Church Planting from the Ground Up is a visionary guide for the critical task of new church multiplication. Share in the wisdom of these field-tested veterans as you gain insight from their stories, practical ideas, and real-world experiences. Book jacket.

Herman Williams was on the verge of living his ultimate dream of becoming an orthopedic surgeon to elite athletes ? when his life took a shocking detour.'Herman!? screamed his beautiful fiancée, Jeannie, as he lay lifeless on a gymnasium floor. How could a healthy 31-year-old collapse during an afternoon basketball game with his fellow medical residents?No pulse!? they shouted. ?He's not breathing.'By the grace of God, Herman survived.That was 25 years ago.But this life-changing event killed the dream that he had worked so hard to achieve.Depressed and disabled, Herman refused to give up. So he reinvented himself.And thanks to the unwavering love of his wife, Jeannie, and later their son, Cole, Herman created a deeply fulfilling life and career that helps people.Now he's sharing his inspiring success formula to help you endure life's crushing blows, so that you find purpose, and cultivate peace and joy every day.'My message is that you have to embrace your current reality and decide that you'll make a positive difference for others,? says Herman. ?I want my story to inspire you to create your best life possible.'Dr. Augustus White, Herman's longtime mentor who is an Orthopedic Surgeon and a Harvard Medical School Professor, adds: ?I got engrossed in this story and could not put it down. The writing is excellent, concise, and moves along very nicely. This very impressive narrative about Herman's resilience is honest and not pretentious. It's a love story as well. Herman has a great message that will resonate with people and embolden them to get up, try again, and commit to helping others. It's awesome.'

In From the Ground Up: Local Efforts to Create Resilient Cities, design expert Alison Sant focuses on the unique ways in which US cities are working to mitigate and adapt to climate change while creating equitable and livable communities. Sant presents 12 case studies, drawn from research and over 90 interviews with people who are working in these communities to make a difference. These efforts show how US cities are reclaiming their streets from cars, restoring watersheds, growing forests, and adapting shorelines to improve people's lives while addressing our changing climate. From the Ground Up is a call to action. When we make the places we live more climate resilient, we need to acknowledge and address the history of social and racial injustice. Advocates, non-profit organizations, community-based groups, and government officials will find examples of how to build alliances to support and embolden this vision together.

Modern industrial agriculture is in crisis. The dream of global abundance promised by chemical and biological technology is becoming a nightmare of health risks, degraded land and ailing communities. There is mounting public distrust of conventional agricultural practices. From the Ground Up explores the fundamental principles which underlie the growth- at-any-cost thinking of modern society and highlights some of the most promising alternative ways of producing environmentally healthy food.

This indispensable textbook explores the ethics of issues from the interpersonal to the political. Expanding on the traditional approach, the editors bring together a range of new perspectives on ethics that reflect the real life experiences and interests of those who work in health and care. Rather than describing abstract ideas and applying them to situations, this authoritative new book uses the everyday situations that occur in health and care as its starting point to examine how we can use our understanding of the moral implications of these to improve practice, relationships and decisions making.