Ryan Holiday is continuing his streak as one of the most prolific authors around — 12 books in 10 years?! absolutely bonkers — with the upcoming release of his latest work, Courage is Calling: Fortune Favors the Brave.

In what is planned to be the first in a four-book series on the cardinal virtues of Stoicism, Holiday has chosen to examine courage as the “most foundational virtue of all”:

Almost every religion, spiritual practice, philosophy and person grapples with fear. The most repeated phrase in the Bible is “Be not afraid.” The ancient Greeks spoke of phobos, panic and terror. It is natural to feel fear, the Stoics believed, but it cannot rule you. Courage, then, is the ability to rise above fear, to do what’s right, to do what’s needed, to do what is true. And so it rests at the heart of the works of Marcus Aurelius, Aristotle, and CS Lewis, alongside temperance, justice, and wisdom.

[…]

In a world in which fear runs rampant—when people would rather stand on the sidelines than speak out against injustice, go along with convention than bet on themselves, and turn a blind eye to the ugly realities of modern life—we need courage more than ever. We need the courage of whistleblowers and risk takers. We need the courage of activists and adventurers. We need the courage of writers who speak the truth—and the courage of leaders to listen.

We need you to step into the arena and fight.

Courage is such an important and admirable trait. Without it, the greatest things in life never come to us. History is rarely made by the cowardly. And yet, it's so hard to find when we need it most. Fear is a powerful enemy like that.

This book will be essential reading for those of you who want to actively cultivate this virtue, so that when the time comes, you will be able to do the right thing, to stand up and speak out, to be self-disciplined, and to stop listening to that little voice in your head that would tell you to sit down and keep quiet.

The book releases on September 28th, 2021. Pre-order it in these formats:

• Kindle ($14)
• Apple Books ($14)
• Hardcover ($21)
• Audible audiobook ($28)