This book attempts to accomplish two feats at once. First, it attempts to provide leadership lessons, and second, it tries to highlight the life history of Robert Carter III. (Ironically, the author and the biographical subject share the same last name. In this review, the author will be referred to as Dr. Carter while the subject, as just Carter.)
Carter was a 18th-century Virginian planter who amassed great wealth around the time of the Revolutionary War. Like most Virginian aristocrats, he own many slaves, around 500. However, later in his life, he experienced a religious conversion around the First Great Awakening. Unlike George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, he did not choose the path of national leadership as a slaveowner. Instead, he chose to legally free all his slaves in the largest act of emancipation in America before Abraham Lincoln.
Most people do not know Carter even though recent historical scholarship has begun to explore his life. Despite not receiving great recognition in Carter’s lifetime, Dr. Carter believes him to be a great founding father and makes the case in this short book. Dr. Carter attempts to vault Carter’s legacy by casting him as a forerunner of history. Only Carter courageously resolved the innate tension between slavery and freedom, despite political obstacles. Washington and Jefferson instead chose to ascend in political power.
Interestingly, Dr. Carter does this by extracting 11 leadership lessons from Carter’s life. Clearly, Dr. Carter believes that moving the long arc of history towards justice is a true aim, not just short-term fame. His leadership lessons (like “Diversify your interests” or “Remain humble”) secure their grounding from the historical unfolding of Carter’s life. Because Dr. Carter is an Army Colonel, these leadership lessons are also borne out by both Carter’s and Dr. Carter’s life experiences.
To be honest, I’ve read leadership books, and I’ve read biographies. However, I’ve never read one that tries to accomplish both texts in one short book. Leadership books tend to be about the author’s success stories, not someone else’s. Because this book is organized into one chapter per lesson, the biographical snippets fall out of sequential order. Therefore, the biography’s timeline comes off as non-linear (though, thankfully, Dr. Carter has provided a linear timeline in an appendix). I’m concerned that by attempting to do two things at once well, Dr. Carter might not achieve either one completely. The leadership lessons are good and inspirational, and the history is good and inspirational, too. It’s just a tad hard to follow when glued together.
A Man Named Robert: Lessons from the Life of America’s First Great Emancipator
By Robert Carter III
Copyright (c) 2022
Cartier & Beaufort Press
ISBN13 9788218002589
Page Count: 124
Genre: Leadership, Biography
www.amazon.com