Fallen Leaves

The final and most personal work from Pulitzer Prize–winningauthor and historian Will Durant—discovered thirty-two years after his death—isa message of insight for everyone who has sought meaning in life or the councilof a wise friend in navigating life’s journey. From 1968 to 1978, Will Durant made four public allusions tothe existence of Fallen Leaves. One, in 1975, hinted at its contents: “anot very serious book that answers the questions of what I think aboutgovernment, life, death, and God.” And in 1975: “I propose…to answer all theimportant questions, simply, fairly, and imperfectly.” Even into his nineties,he worked on the book daily, writing it out on legal notepads. Upon his deathin 1981, no one, not even the Durant heirs, knew if he had completed it, oreven if it still existed. Thirty-two years later, in a granddaughter’s attictrunk, the manuscript was discovered. Fallen Leaves is Will Durant’s most personal book. Itis precisely as he described: twenty-two short chapters on everything fromyouth and old age, religion and morals, to sex, war, politics, and art. Theculmination of Durant’s sixty-plus years spent researching the philosophies,religions, arts, sciences, and civilizations from across the world, FallenLeaves is the distilled wisdom of a gifted scholar with a renowned talentfor rendering the insights of the past accessible. In its preface Durantmentions that over the course of his career he received letters from “curiousreaders who have challenged me to speak my mind on the timelessquestions of human life and fate.” With Fallen Leaves he accepted theirchallenge. It contains strong opinions, elegant prose, and deep insights intothe human condition as only Will Durant could provide, as well as his revealingconclusions about the perennial problems and greatest joys we face as aspecies.