Chicago / University of Chicago

Brooks is a graduate of the University of Chicago where he believes his education was close to what he calls "the humanistic ideal" where books were taught to invite reflection on life's big questions and where character development was a major goal (194, 193).

Manhattan

Brooks's great grandparents settled in Manhattan and opened a kosher butcher shop after leaving Eastern Europe. Brooks likens his family's experience to an Exodus of sorts since they had a journey through the wilderness and arrived in a new land (245).

Ghana

Ghana is the native, African country of one of Brooks's friends, Fred Swaniker, who embraced his vocation of giving back to his homeland by forming the African Leadership Academy to train a leadership class for many African nations.

The (former) Soviet Union

The Soviet Union is where British writer and essayist George Orwell felt his vocation to write most forcefully...