The Work: Searching for a Life That Matters

Wes Moore's remarkable bestseller The Other Wes Moore ends when Wes completes his journey from a fatherless delinquent to college graduate heading off to Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship. But then what happens? He traveled the world trying to discover what his life's work would be. More than finding a job, he sought out the work he was meant to do. For the next decade, Wes traced a path through some of the most fascinating and high-pressure workspaces in the world: an American student at Oxford after 9/11; a combat officer in Afghanistan during the most intense years of fighting; a White House fellow during the tumult of the late Bush years; an Obama organizer during that historic campaign; a Wall Street banker at the cusp of the financial crisis; and finally, back home to Baltimore, working to revitalize that troubled city. This is the story of how one young man traced a path through the world to discover the meaning of his life -- and how after a series of misdirections and lesson-teaching mistakes, he found that meaning in service. Wes weaves the episodes and moments of decision in his own life with those of a dozen other changemakers from every walk of life who confronted the question "what is my work?" and found their own answers, to help readers see how we can each find our own path to purpose and to creating a better world.