About the Book
This is a story of a successful businessman, Bruce McEver, the founder of Berkshire Capital and a global pioneer of investment banking, who is devastated by the sudden and unexpected death of his wife of thirty years, a beautiful and talented opera singer who shared that life with him and gave it meaning. The day following her death, Christmas morning, in a barn yard on the farm where he and his wife lived together, Bruce experiences a hierophany-a physical manifestation of the holy and sacred. Unbelieving its veracity, the revealing of his vision to his minister sets Bruce off on a journey spanning the world, Harvard Divinity School, Joseph Campbell lectures, summer poetry workshops, professorships, new loves and loves lost, health crises and new business.
Many Paths is heartfelt, honest, unflinching, and charged on every page with humor and grace. It takes an under represented view of traditional autobiography, charting a full and unique life that weaves entrepreneurial, spiritual, intellectual, philanthropic and artistic paths together. In this way, Many Paths follows in the tradition of Augustine's Confessions, J.R. Moehringer's The Tender Bar, and Jack Welch's Jack: Straight from the Gut.
About the Author :
Bruce McEver received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and an M.T.S. (Religion and Literature) from Harvard Divinity School. He's an investment banker, philanthropist, and Poet; his poems have appeared in Ploughshares, Atlanta Review, and The Cortland Review, and he has 3 collections with C&R Press.
Review :
"Many Paths is the astonishing record of a lifetime of quests that are - to put it mildly - rare for a successful international entrepreneur. Responding to his muses and spiritual guides as well as to the intricacies of banking, mergers and acquisitions, Bruce McEver has written sheaves of well-observed poetry and taken a master's in theology to go with his master's in business administration. Along the paths he has suffered grievous hurts and betrayals yet has been able to surpass these to take joy in life and love, and to express it all in this inspiring autobiography."
--Tom Shachtman, author of The Founding Fortunes: how the wealthy paid for and profited from America's revolution; and Skyscraper Dreams: the great real estate dynasties of New York; and The Day America Crashed.
"In Many Paths Bruce McEver candidly traces the warp and weft of his life's journey, from his boyhood in Georgia to the boardroom in Manhattan, around the world many times and back again. His is a remarkable life, sustained by knowledge, art, literature, poetry, nature, music, faith, and love. You won't forget this testament to finding the ties that bind."
--Lisa Bayer, Director, University of Georgia Press
"Bruce's gifts for telling vivid stories and writing evocative poems coalesce in this delightful memoir about a fascinating life and the adventures that made it such. Like the carvings on the totem pole that signify the paths of his life, Bruce's poems, peppered throughout the book, stand as colorful markers of the events and people that collectively give life meaning and purpose."
--Bob Chapman, Chairman & CEO of Barry-Wehmiller, co-author of Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family.
"It's said that it takes a rich and varied life to produce a robust soul, and that few meet the challenge. Bruce McEver has, and with wings on. As detailed in his gripping autobiography Many Paths, in one lifetime he has not only successfully explored the world of finance as a pioneer of investment banking but has also ventured deep into the world of the spirit. He has known triumph and personal tragedy, war
and peace, and makes what he has seen and the lessons he has learned vividly available in a book that, once read, won't be forgotten."
--Jeff Zaleski, Editor and Publisher, Parabola
"Many Paths begins with a wrenching account of loss, then becomes something somehow even more affecting and profound: a search for truth and meaning in every facet of a life fully lived. Measured in the full conscience and grace of a gifted writer, thinker, and business visionary, McEver succeeds, at every stage of his life, as his own idiosyncratic and true self. Yes, as Many Paths attests, McEver was "in the room when it happened." But what will surprise, and always reward, readers who have not yet discovered his writing and work is the power of his insights and lyricism. McEver's voice is bright, curious, charming, authentic, funny, and humble. Many Paths is a book to be savored for all that it can teach us."
--John W. Evans, The Phyllis Draper Lecturer in Non-Fiction, Stanford University
"From Eagle Scout to philanthropist, from naval officer to entrepreneur, from Wall Street dealmaker to poet and spiritualist, my friend Bruce McEver has lived a rich, colorful and fascinating life. In these pages he tells his own story, with feeling, fidelity and, yes, poetry."
--James Grant, Editor, Grant's Interest Rate Observer
"Bruce McEver's story is proof that focus and discipline can accomplish anything. He has built a global and well-respected financial firm, become a published poet and established an unmatched legacy with his work to create better understanding among religions. McEver evokes in his writing, a tangible s
