Andrew Carroll
Encyclopedia
Andrew Carroll is an American
author
, editor, activist
, and historian
. He is best known as the author of the 1999 New York Times best-selling
Letters of a Nation: A Collection of Extraordinary American Letters and the 2001 New York Times best-selling book War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars, which was later turned into an episode of the television program
American Experience
.
, to Thomas Edmund and Marea Grace Carroll on September 27, 1969. He attended Columbia University
in New York City
, receiving his bachelor's degree
in history in 1993. In May 1992, while a junior at Columbia, Carroll was inspired by a lecture by the Joseph Brodsky
(the Nobel Prize
-winning Poet Laureate of the United States
) to found the American Poetry and Literacy Project (APLP). Meeting in a Greenwich Village
café
in late 1992, Carroll and Brodsky decided that the APLP would distribute poetry books for free to members of the public. Carroll, APLP's executive director, persuaded the Book-of-the-Month Club to donate thousands of copies of poetry books to the APLP. The books were distributed in hotels, hospitals, and homeless shelters and aboard airlines. By 1994, more than 12,500 poetry books had been distributed. Another 15,000 books were given away in 1997. Carroll went on a nationwide tour sponsored by the Academy of American Poets
in 1998, promoting the APLP and distributing 100,000 free poetry books at truck stop
s, hospital waiting room
s, train station
s, and jury rooms in courthouses. Volkswagen
later paid APLP to put 40,000 poetry books in the glove boxes
of its cars in April 1999, and Target Corporation
paid APLP for 300,000 books to give away to their customers. Another 100,000 copies of poetry books were distributed at the 2002 Winter Olympics
in Salt Lake City. In early 1998, he edited the poetry anthology
101 Great American Poems.
During this period of his life, Carroll also wrote two books about volunteering
. He co-wrote a 1991 book (Volunteer USA) about ways to become a volunteer, and followed it up in 1994 with a book on volunteering opportunities for senior citizen
s.
, author of the popular "Dear Abby
" advice column
, and asked her to write a column requesting that people preserve any letters they had received from loved ones who were away at war and send them to the Legacy Project. Carroll's letter was published in the "Dear Abby" column on Veterans Day
in 1998. Within a year, Carroll had received more than 15,000 letters—some of them originals, and some dating as far back as the American Revolution
. News about the Legacy Project caught the attention of former CBS News
correspondnet Harry Smith
. Smith subsequently produced a documentary about war correspondence, Dear Home: Letters From World War II, which aired on the History Channel in 1999. Six of the World War II letters collected by the Legacy Project were put on display that same year at the Smithsonian Institution
's National Postal Museum
. By the fall of 2002, the Legacy Project had received 70,000 letters, and some of them were reprinted in The New York Times.
In 1999, Carroll edited the book Letters of a Nation: A Collection of Extraordinary American Letters, a collection of more than 200 letters from famous and not-so-famous Americans from the past 350 years. It became a New York Times best-seller. Letters of a Nation was read by Senator
Robert Torricelli
, who later contacted Carroll and suggested that he compile a book of influential American speeches as well. A year later, Carroll and Torricelli collaborated on In Our Own Words: Extraordinary Speeches of the American Century, an edited volume of 150 important American addresses.
In 2001, Carroll edited the book War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars, based on the wartime correspondence collected by the Legacy Project. Scribner's
publishers gave Carroll a $500,000 advance
for the book (money Carroll donated to veterans' groups). The book became a New York Times best-seller, debuting at #13 on the best-selling nonfiction list. It rose as high as #10 two weeks later. Director
Steven Spielberg
heard about some of the letters, and several were included in Spielberg's short documentary
The Unfinished Journey (which screened in front of the Lincoln Memorial
on the National Mall
in Washington, D.C.
, on December 31, 1999, as part of the millennial celebrations). The book was turned into "War Letters," a 2001 episode of television program
American Experience
directed by Robert Kenner
. A play based on the book was produced in Los Angeles
in 2002. The Legacy Project spawned a second collection of war letters, Behind the Lines: Powerful and Revealing American and Foreign War Letters—and One Man's Search to Find Them, in 2006.
In 2002, Carroll used a $50,000 corporate donation to print 100,000 copies of four new Armed Services Editions
books given away for free to active-duty American military personnel serving in combat zones overseas.
In 2004, the National Endowment for the Arts
(NEA) commissioned Carroll to edit a collection of military writings, which became the book Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front, in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families
. The NEA held 20 writing workshops at military bases around the nation, and Carroll edited the servicemembers' works into the new book. The book was published in May 2008. A second collection of poems, short stories, essays, and letters by military personnel who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, titled Above and Beyond, was announced in 2005 but has not been published as of June 2009.
Grace Under Fire: Letters of Faith in Times of War, another book of collected war letters which focused on the role of religion and spiritual belief in wartime, was edited by Carroll and published in March 2007.
. The project is an all-volunteer effort to photograph and document historic locations in the United States.
of the Literacy Volunteers of America
. He is also an active Advisory Board member of Carolina for Kibera
, a charity founded by a U.S. Marine that prevents violence and provides basic health care in the Kibera
slum of Nairobi
, Kenya
. He was named a "Person of the Week" by ABC's World News Tonight
and received the Iona Senior Services President's Award, both in 1994.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, editor, activist
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
, and historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
. He is best known as the author of the 1999 New York Times best-selling
New York Times Best Seller list
The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication...
Letters of a Nation: A Collection of Extraordinary American Letters and the 2001 New York Times best-selling book War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars, which was later turned into an episode of the television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
American Experience
American Experience
American Experience is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service Public television stations in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American history...
.
Early life and poetry initiative
Carroll was born in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, to Thomas Edmund and Marea Grace Carroll on September 27, 1969. He attended Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, receiving his bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in history in 1993. In May 1992, while a junior at Columbia, Carroll was inspired by a lecture by the Joseph Brodsky
Joseph Brodsky
Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky , was a Russian poet and essayist.In 1964, 23-year-old Brodsky was arrested and charged with the crime of "social parasitism" He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1972 and settled in America with the help of W. H. Auden and other supporters...
(the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
-winning Poet Laureate of the United States
Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress
The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress—commonly referred to as the United States Poet Laureate—serves as the nation's official poet. During his or her term, the Poet Laureate seeks to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of...
) to found the American Poetry and Literacy Project (APLP). Meeting in a Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
café
Café
A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...
in late 1992, Carroll and Brodsky decided that the APLP would distribute poetry books for free to members of the public. Carroll, APLP's executive director, persuaded the Book-of-the-Month Club to donate thousands of copies of poetry books to the APLP. The books were distributed in hotels, hospitals, and homeless shelters and aboard airlines. By 1994, more than 12,500 poetry books had been distributed. Another 15,000 books were given away in 1997. Carroll went on a nationwide tour sponsored by the Academy of American Poets
Academy of American Poets
The Academy of American Poets is a non-profit organization dedicated to the art of poetry. The Academy was incorporated as a "membership corporation" in New York State in 1934...
in 1998, promoting the APLP and distributing 100,000 free poetry books at truck stop
Truck stop
A truck stop is a commercial facility predicated on providing fuel, parking, and often food and other services to motorists and truck drivers...
s, hospital waiting room
Waiting room
A waiting room is a building, or more commonly a part of a building where people sit or stand until the event they are waiting for occurs.There are generally two types of waiting room. One is where individuals leave one at a time, for instance at a doctor's office or a hospital, or outside a school...
s, train station
Train station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
s, and jury rooms in courthouses. Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
later paid APLP to put 40,000 poetry books in the glove boxes
Glove compartment
A glove compartment or glovebox, also known as a little cupboard, is a compartment built into the dashboard, located over the front-seat passenger's footwell in an automobile, often used for miscellaneous storage. The name derives from the original purpose of the compartment, to store gloves...
of its cars in April 1999, and Target Corporation
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
paid APLP for 300,000 books to give away to their customers. Another 100,000 copies of poetry books were distributed at the 2002 Winter Olympics
2002 Winter Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event that was celebrated in February 2002 in and around Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Approximately 2,400 athletes from 77 nations participated in 78 events in fifteen disciplines, held throughout...
in Salt Lake City. In early 1998, he edited the poetry anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
101 Great American Poems.
During this period of his life, Carroll also wrote two books about volunteering
Volunteering
Volunteering is generally considered an altruistic activity, intended to promote good or improve human quality of life, but people also volunteer for their own skill development, to meet others, to make contacts for possible employment, to have fun, and a variety of other reasons that could be...
. He co-wrote a 1991 book (Volunteer USA) about ways to become a volunteer, and followed it up in 1994 with a book on volunteering opportunities for senior citizen
Senior citizen
Senior citizen is a common polite designation for an elderly person in both UK and US English, and it implies or means that the person is retired. This in turn implies or in fact means that the person is over the retirement age, which varies according to country. Synonyms include pensioner in UK...
s.
Legacy Project initiative
On November 11, 1998, Carroll founded the Legacy Project, a national, all-volunteer project to seek and preserve wartime correspondence. Carroll was inspired to create the Legacy Project after his family home in Washington, D.C., burned down in 1992 and destroyed most of his and his family's personal correspondence. Carroll then wrote to Abigail Van BurenJeanne Phillips
Jeanne Phillips is an advice columnist who writes the advice column Dear Abby.She is the daughter of Pauline Phillips, who founded "Dear Abby" in 1956, and her husband, Morton Phillips. In a Dear Abby column on December 12, 2000, Pauline introduced Jeanne as co-creator of Dear Abby. They began to...
, author of the popular "Dear Abby
Dear Abby
Dear Abby is the name of the advice column founded in 1956 by Pauline Phillips under the pen name Abigail Van Buren and carried on today by her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, who now owns the legal rights to the pen name....
" advice column
Advice column
An advice column is a column in a magazine or newspaper written by an advice columnist . The image presented was originally of an older woman providing comforting advice and maternal wisdom, hence the name "aunt"...
, and asked her to write a column requesting that people preserve any letters they had received from loved ones who were away at war and send them to the Legacy Project. Carroll's letter was published in the "Dear Abby" column on Veterans Day
Veterans Day
Veterans Day, formerly Armistice Day, is an annual United States holiday honoring military veterans. It is a federal holiday that is observed on November 11. It coincides with other holidays such as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day, which are celebrated in other parts of the world and also mark...
in 1998. Within a year, Carroll had received more than 15,000 letters—some of them originals, and some dating as far back as the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
. News about the Legacy Project caught the attention of former CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
correspondnet Harry Smith
Harry Smith (television)
Harry Smith is an American television journalist. He hosted the CBS News morning programs, The Early Show and its predecessor, CBS This Morning, for 17 years...
. Smith subsequently produced a documentary about war correspondence, Dear Home: Letters From World War II, which aired on the History Channel in 1999. Six of the World War II letters collected by the Legacy Project were put on display that same year at the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
's National Postal Museum
National Postal Museum
The National Postal Museum, located opposite Union Station in Washington, D.C., USA, was established through joint agreement between the United States Postal Service and the Smithsonian Institution and opened in 1993. The museum is located across the street from Union Station, in the building that...
. By the fall of 2002, the Legacy Project had received 70,000 letters, and some of them were reprinted in The New York Times.
In 1999, Carroll edited the book Letters of a Nation: A Collection of Extraordinary American Letters, a collection of more than 200 letters from famous and not-so-famous Americans from the past 350 years. It became a New York Times best-seller. Letters of a Nation was read by Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Robert Torricelli
Robert Torricelli
Robert Guy Torricelli , nicknamed "the Torch," is an American politician from the U.S. state of New Jersey. Torricelli, a Democrat, served 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives before being elected to the U.S. Senate...
, who later contacted Carroll and suggested that he compile a book of influential American speeches as well. A year later, Carroll and Torricelli collaborated on In Our Own Words: Extraordinary Speeches of the American Century, an edited volume of 150 important American addresses.
In 2001, Carroll edited the book War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars, based on the wartime correspondence collected by the Legacy Project. Scribner's
Charles Scribner's Sons
Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing a number of American authors including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Stephen King, Robert A. Heinlein, Thomas Wolfe, George Santayana, John Clellon...
publishers gave Carroll a $500,000 advance
Advance against royalties
In the field of intellectual property licensing, an advance against royalties is a payment made by the licensee to the licensor at the start of the period of licensing which is to be offset against future royalty payments.For example, a book's author may sell a license to a publisher in return for...
for the book (money Carroll donated to veterans' groups). The book became a New York Times best-seller, debuting at #13 on the best-selling nonfiction list. It rose as high as #10 two weeks later. Director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
heard about some of the letters, and several were included in Spielberg's short documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
The Unfinished Journey (which screened in front of the Lincoln Memorial
Lincoln Memorial
The Lincoln Memorial is an American memorial built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The architect was Henry Bacon, the sculptor of the main statue was Daniel Chester French, and the painter of the interior...
on the National Mall
National Mall
The National Mall is an open-area national park in downtown Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The National Mall is a unit of the National Park Service , and is administered by the National Mall and Memorial Parks unit...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, on December 31, 1999, as part of the millennial celebrations). The book was turned into "War Letters," a 2001 episode of television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
American Experience
American Experience
American Experience is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service Public television stations in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American history...
directed by Robert Kenner
Robert Kenner
Robert Kenner is an American film and television screenwriter, television director, film director, film producer, and television producer.His career began in 1971 as an assistant cinematographer, and produced his first motion picture, 3:15 - The Moment of Truth, in 1984...
. A play based on the book was produced in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in 2002. The Legacy Project spawned a second collection of war letters, Behind the Lines: Powerful and Revealing American and Foreign War Letters—and One Man's Search to Find Them, in 2006.
In 2002, Carroll used a $50,000 corporate donation to print 100,000 copies of four new Armed Services Editions
Armed Services Editions
Armed Services Editions were small, compact, paperback books printed by the Council on Books in Wartime for distribution within the American military during World War II. This program was in effect from 1943 to 1946. The ASEs were designed to provide entertainment to soldiers serving overseas,...
books given away for free to active-duty American military personnel serving in combat zones overseas.
In 2004, the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
(NEA) commissioned Carroll to edit a collection of military writings, which became the book Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front, in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families
Operation Homecoming (book)
In 2004, bestselling authors traveled to U.S. military bases all over the world, looking for literary talent on behalf of the National Endowment for the Arts. These authors, including Tom Clancy and Brad Pitt, held 50 on-base workshops for American troops and their families, inspiring them to write...
. The NEA held 20 writing workshops at military bases around the nation, and Carroll edited the servicemembers' works into the new book. The book was published in May 2008. A second collection of poems, short stories, essays, and letters by military personnel who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, titled Above and Beyond, was announced in 2005 but has not been published as of June 2009.
Grace Under Fire: Letters of Faith in Times of War, another book of collected war letters which focused on the role of religion and spiritual belief in wartime, was edited by Carroll and published in March 2007.
Here Is Where project
In June 2009, Carroll founded the "Here Is Where" campaign in association with National Geographic TravelerNational Geographic Traveler
National Geographic Traveler is a magazine published by the National Geographic Society in the United States. It was launched in 1984. Local-language editions of National Geographic Traveler are published in Armenia, Belgium/the Netherlands, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Latin America,...
. The project is an all-volunteer effort to photograph and document historic locations in the United States.
Other roles and awards
Since 1994, Andrew Carroll has also served on the board of directorsBoard of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
of the Literacy Volunteers of America
ProLiteracy Worldwide
ProLiteracy is an international nonprofit organization based in Syracuse, N.Y., that supports the people and programs that help adults learn to read and write.-History:...
. He is also an active Advisory Board member of Carolina for Kibera
Carolina for Kibera
Founded in 2001 by Rye Barcott, Salim Mohamed, and the late Tabitha Atieno Festo, Carolina for Kibera is a 501 international non-governmental organization based in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. CFK has an office and youth center in Kibera, as well as support services based at the Center for...
, a charity founded by a U.S. Marine that prevents violence and provides basic health care in the Kibera
Kibera
Kibera is a division of Nairobi Area, Kenya, and neighbourhood of the city of Nairobi, located from the city centre. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, and the second largest urban slum in Africa...
slum of Nairobi
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
. He was named a "Person of the Week" by ABC's World News Tonight
World News with Charles Gibson
ABC World News is the flagship daily evening program of ABC News, the news division of the American Broadcasting Company television network in the United States. Currently, the weekday editions are anchored by Diane Sawyer and the weekend editions are anchored by David Muir. The program has been...
and received the Iona Senior Services President's Award, both in 1994.