The ''Art of Mentoring'' series is a series of books published by

Basic Books Basic Books is a book publisher founded in 1950 and located in New York, now an imprint of Hachette Book Group. It publishes books in the fields of psychology, philosophy, economics, science, politics, sociology, current affairs, and history. H ...

from 2001 to 2008, beginning with

Alan Dershowitz Alan Morton Dershowitz ( ; born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and former law professor known for his work in U.S. constitutional law and American criminal law. From 1964 to 2013, he taught at Harvard Law School, where he was appoin ...

's ''Letters to a Young Lawyer'' and

Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British-American author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books (including five essay collections) on culture, politics, and literature. Born and educated in England, ...

' ''

Letters to a Young Contrarian ''Letters to a Young Contrarian'' is Christopher Hitchens' contribution, released in 2001, to the ''Art of Mentoring'' series published by Basic Books. Inspired by his students at The New School in New York City and "a challenge that was made to ...

''. The books were all titled in the form "Letters to a Young ____", in the spirit of

Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recogni ...

's book ''

Letters to a Young Poet ''Letters to a Young Poet'' (original title, in German: ''Briefe an einen jungen Dichter'') is a collection of ten letters written by Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) to Franz Xaver Kappus (1883–1966), a 19-year-old off ...

''. They were meant to be relatively short guides to various occupations or life paths for someone starting out in that field, from the point of view of an expert.

Creator

The series was the brainchild of John Donatich, who was the publisher at Basic Books from 1997 to 2003.

Books in the series

* ''

'' by

(2001) * ''Letters to a Young Lawyer'' by

(2001) * ''Letters to a Young Golfer'' by Carl Vigeland and Bob Duval (2002) * ''Letters to a Young Conservative'' by

Dinesh D'Souza Dinesh Joseph D'Souza (; born April 25, 1961) is an Indian-American right-wing political commentator, author, filmmaker, and conspiracy theorist. He has written over a dozen books, several of them ''New York Times'' best-sellers. In 2012, D' ...

(2002) * ''Letters to a Young Activist'' by

Todd Gitlin Todd Alan Gitlin (January 6, 1943 – February 5, 2022) was an American sociologist, political activist and writer, novelist, and cultural commentator. He wrote about the mass media, politics, intellectual life and the arts, for both popular an ...

(2003) * ''Letters to a Young Therapist'' by Mary Pipher (2003) * ''Letters to a Young Chef'' by

Daniel Boulud Daniel Boulud (born 25 March 1955 in Saint-Pierre-de-Chandieu) is a French chef and restaurateur with restaurants in New York City, Palm Beach, Miami, Toronto, Montréal, Singapore, the Bahamas, the Berkshires and Dubai. He is best known f ...

(2003) * ''Letters to a Young Gymnast'' by

Nadia Comăneci Nadia Elena Comăneci Conner (born November 12, 1961) is a Romanian retired gymnast and a five-time Olympic gold medalist, all in individual events. In 1976, at the age of 14, Comăneci was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10. ...

(2004) * ''Letters to a Young Catholic'' by

George Weigel George Weigel (born 1951) is a Catholic neoconservative American author, political analyst, and social activist. He currently serves as a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Weigel was the Founding President of the ...

(2004) * ''Letters to a Young Actor: A Universal Guide to Performance'' by

Robert Brustein Robert Sanford Brustein (born April 21, 1927) is an American theatrical critic, producer, playwright, writer, and educator. He founded both the Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, and the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Ma ...

(2005) * ''

Letters to a Young Mathematician ''Letters to a Young Mathematician'' () is a 2006 book by Ian Stewart (mathematician), Ian Stewart, and is part of Basic Books' ''Art of Mentoring'' series. Stewart mentions in the preface that he considers this book an update to G.H. Har ...

'' by Ian Stewart (2006) * ''Letters to a Young Journalist'' by

Samuel G. Freedman Samuel G. Freedman is an American author and journalist and currently a professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He has authored six nonfiction books, including ''Who She Was: A Son's Search for His Mother's Life'', a ...

(2006) * ''Letters to a Young Evangelical'' by

Tony Campolo Anthony Campolo (born February 25, 1935) is an American sociologist, Baptist pastor, author, public speaker and former spiritual advisor to U.S. President Bill Clinton. Campolo is known as one of the most influential leaders in the evangelical ...

(2006) * ''Treatment Kind and Fair: Letters to a Young Doctor'' by

Perri Klass Perri Klass (born 1958) is an American pediatrician and writer who has published extensively about her medical training and pediatric practice. Among her subjects have been the issues of women in medicine, relationships between doctors and patient ...

(2007) * ''A Time to Every Purpose: Letters to a Young Jew'' by

Jonathan Sarna Jonathan D. Sarna (born 10 January 1955) is the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History in the department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and director othe Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis Universit ...

(2008)Scholar Probes the Way (and Not the Why) of Judaism
Lana Gersten, ''

The Forward ''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ' ...

'', August 28, 2008

Similar titles

Other books, like

Wynton Marsalis Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, teacher, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has promoted classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Awar ...

's ''To a Young Jazz Musician: Letters from the Road'' (2004),

William Sloane Coffin William Sloane Coffin Jr. (June 1, 1924 – April 12, 2006) was an American Christian clergyman and long-time peace activist. He was ordained in the Presbyterian Church, and later received ministerial standing in the United Church of Christ. In h ...

's ''Letters to a Young Doubter'' (2005),

Hill Harper Francis Eugene "Hill" Harper (born May 17, 1966) is an American actor and author. He is known for his roles on ''CSI: NY'', ''Limitless (TV series), Limitless'' and ''The Good Doctor (TV series), The Good Doctor''. Early life and education Harpe ...

's ''

Letters to a Young Brother ''Letters to a Young Brother'' is a book written by actor Hill Harper, published April 2006. Harper wrote the book to help young black males get through life and not make the same mistakes he made at a certain age. The book was inspired by Rainer ...

'' (2006) and

Jonathan Kozol Jonathan Kozol (born September 5, 1936) is an American writer, progressive activist, and educator, best known for his books on public education in the United States. Education and experience Born to Harry Kozol and Ruth (Massell) Kozol, Jon ...

's ''Letters to a Young Teacher'' (2007), though they share the structure and naming style of the series, and may have been inspired by it, were not part of the Art of Mentoring series.

References

{{reflist

External links

Basic Books' ''Art of Mentoring'' page
Series of books Self-help books Basic Books books