From Wartime to Harvard
War, Sports and Science
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“Kovač’s compelling memoir reminds us that we find our best selves in the struggle to excel. Adversity hurts, but as Kovač ’s perseverance perfectly illustrates, that pain brings with it invaluable opportunities to discover new intellectual and spiritual horizons.”
– Jacob N. Shapiro is Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, author The Terrorist’s Dilemma andco-author of Small Wars, Big Data
“Dejan’s book reduces life’s entropy on the road to success by focusing on what is important – education and spiritual development.”
– Asim Ijaz Khwaja is the Director of the Center for International Development, Harvard Kennedy School
From Wartime to Harvard follows the life of Dejan Kovač from his years surviving war in Croatia to fulfilling his dream and winning prestigious researcher positions at Princeton University and Harvard University. In this book he describes his experiences during and after the war, which shaped his path from Croatia to the best universities in the United States.
The book is full of strong emotions as Dejan narrates his experiences and struggles: being a refugee, helping refugee families, surviving poverty, everyday bombardments, losing loved ones, and coping through his losses by conquering the world`s toughest ultramarathons from Atacama to the Gobi Desert. In recounting his memories, Dejan narrates a crucial set of moments in his life after the war: his soccer career, transition from sports to science, his presidential campaign and through his political experience unravels the hidden mechanisms that undermine democracy in Croatia.
From Wartime to Harvard has a large number of stories, anecdotes and inspiring takeaways in several domains: political economy, war, sports and science, all intertwined around a set of values—freedom, courage, and hope. It is more of a memoir of virtues, values and emotions than it is a memoir of events.
This is not only a book about the war, losing loved ones, rebuilding a postwar society, competing at the highest levels in sports and science, presidential campaign experience or surviving the world`s toughest ultramarathons.
This is a book about reaching success no matter what curveballs life throws at you. It is about having faith in your own abilities when no one else does. It is about having hope when all hope is gone.
DEJAN KOVAČ 