Worth the Fighting For

Infobox Book
name = Worth the Fighting For
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = John McCain with Mark Salter
illustrator =
cover_artist =
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language = English
series =
subject =
genre =
publisher = Random House
release_date = September 24, 2002
english_release_date =
media_type = Hardcover
pages = 396
isbn = ISBN 0-375-50542-3
preceded_by = Faith of My Fathers
followed_by =

"Worth the Fighting For" is a 2002 book by United States Senator John McCain with Mark Salter. Published by Random House, it is part autobiography, part mini-biographies of others.

The book picks up where McCain's first memoir, 1999's "Faith of My Fathers", left off, with his return to the United States following his release as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. It briefly covers the balance of his years in the United States Navy until his 1981 retirement. It then covers in more detail his political career, first in the U.S. House of Representatives and then in the United States Senate. It concludes with his unsuccessful 2000 presidential campaign and some mentions of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Interspersed with the autobiographical content are extended vignettes of various figures whom McCain has been inspired by, with treatments sometimes up to ten or more pages in length. These subjects range from historical presences such as Theodore Roosevelt, to more contemporaneous politicians such as Barry Goldwater, Scoop Jackson and Mo Udall, to people in other fields such as Billy Mitchell and Ted Williams. A few fictional creations, such as Marlon Brando's performance in "Viva Zapata!" and Robert Jordan, the protagonist of Ernest Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls", are included as well.

Janet Maslin's review of "Worth the Fighting For" for "The New York Times" called the interspersed format "curious" and said there was a lot of McCain "shooting from the hip ... in this unpredictable, outspoken memoir." She noted that McCain's treatment of himself frequently adopted a "confessional, self-flagellating tone" and that McCain was wistfully frank about the ambition behind his failed presidential bid. [cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F03E3DA1138F930A35753C1A9649C8B63 | title=Books of the Times: Toughness on One Hand, Frankness on the Other | author=Janet Maslin | publisher="The New York Times" | date=2002-10-03 | accessdate=2008-03-31]

The book was not the commercial success "Faith of My Fathers" had been, but did appear on the New York Times Best Seller list for one week in October 2002. [cite web | url=http://www.hawes.com/2002/2002-10-13.pdf | title=The New York Times Best Seller List | publisher=Hawes Publications | date=2002-10-13 | accessdate=2008-03-16] Royalties from the book were donated to charity.cite news | url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23930780/ | title=Beer heiress could be next first lady | author=Sharon Theimer | publisher=Associated Press for MSNBC.com | date=2008-04-03 | accessdate=2008-04-29]

"Worth the Fighting For" was published in paperback by Random House Trade Paperbacks on September 9, 2003 (ISBN 081296974X). This edition added a subtitle of sorts, "The Education of an American Maverick, and the Heroes Who Inspired Him", as well as a new afterward from McCain in which he discussed developments of the year since original publication, including the early stages of the Iraq War.

ee also

* "Character Is Destiny"

References