Mark Kennedy Shriver will pen a book about his late father Robert Sargent “Sarge” Shriver Jr., to be published next May by Henry Holt and Company. A Good Man: Rediscovering My Father, Sarge Shriver, will celebrate a man widely praised by family, friends and presidents alike as a warrior for peace, and as a devoutly spiritual person whose guiding principles in life were unwavering faith, hope and love; principles that shaped Mark more than he realized until his father’s recent death. 
In this book, Mark looks back at his early years growing up in a famous family, and seeks to apply his father’s principles to his own life and work. As he paints an intimate picture of his father, he reveals a vital father-son relationship, and offers readers special access to the moral guidance of an American icon.  

Sarge Shriver died early 2011 at age 95 after a 10-year battle with Alzheimer’s. His son Mark, the fourth of his five children with Eunice Kennedy Shriver, battled the ravages of the disease at his father’s side. After Sarge’s death, thousands of tributes poured in from friends and strangers worldwide to extoll the daily kindness and humanity of “a good man,” moving Mark far more than those that lauded Sarge as “a great man,” for his worldly accomplishments and fame.
 
Among the many accomplishments in Sarge’s life, he created the Peace Corps; was the architect of President Johnson’s War on Poverty creating such programs as Head Start, Job Corps, Legal Services, Foster Grandparents and Vista; he served as U.S. Ambassador to France from 1968 through1970; and in the 1970s he ran for Vice President and later President. Behind the public service work, Sarge was a devoted husband, father, uncle, family advisor and mentor.
 
Mark knew his father was singular in his commitment to family and society, but his view of him as a man had become blurred by the strains of his final years and the stresses of Mark’s fast-paced life. After he eulogized him in January, Mark wanted to know what made his father “tick.” He found the answers in the simple and poignant gestures over a lifetime – in the frequent notes and daily talks, trips and prayers together – all based in Sarge’s unwavering devotion to his family (he and Eunice were married for 56 years); his devout Catholicism, which included attending daily Mass; his innate sense of duty and service to his country (he served and was wounded in World War II); and his unending belief in mankind ability’s to do good work in one’s lifetime. 
 
In learning about his father, Mark discovered much about himself, as a father and a husband and in his work as a social justice advocate. Mark came to a profound realization that, as much as we learn from our parents when we are children, we can also learn from them by exploring and understanding their lives, even after they have passed.
 
“Mark’s book will be a heartfelt appreciation of a father’s legacy by his son,” said Rubin. “Sargent Shriver led an extraordinary life guided by a code we should all observe, and he did so with a wellspring of love for family, friends and country. The book will appeal to every person who looks at his or her parent with wonderment and awe over what they have given them.”