Onward!

the long version

"Far from being a tired truism, the commencement address can be a thoughtful, heartfelt epistle, a dispatch from the front lines of adulthood to the fresh recruits of the newly graduated. In Onward! Twenty-Five Years of Advice, Exhortation, and Inspiration from America's Best Commencement Speeches, Smith has culled what the best minds (and hearts) have imparted to college graduates and in the process has created both a remarkable social history and a stirring celebration of the human spirit.". "Arranged by year (and introduced with a recap of each year's cultural trends and events), the excerpts in Onward! spring from people with a wide array of talent, experience, and perspective: presidents and novelists, actors and news anchors, scientists and comedians. Their wisdom - much of it surprising, all of it compelling - will inform, delight, and inspire."--BOOK JACKET.