James Patterson hopes to 'get people thinking' beyond 'themselves' with 'American Heroes'
James Patterson says in these politically divided times, Americans have "never needed heroes as much as they do right now.”
The best-selling author is bringing readers stories of bravery in his new book with Matt Eversmann, "American Heroes."
The book, which hits shelves on Monday, features interviews with military veterans or those close to them discussing their experiences and inspiring acts of valor that earned them recognition such as the Medal of Honor.
The project, Patterson acknowledged, is "not going to turn the tide," in the polarized country, but could help to "get people thinking about 'we,' rather than themselves."
"It's a totally selfish kind of approaches to things — 'All I really care about is my pocketbook,'" Patterson, 77, said.
"Obviously a lot of people have good reason to worry about their pocketbooks, but there's something bigger than that. Democracy, it's a big deal," Patterson said.
"I'm not being political, because you can go on both sides of the aisle and sort of be in favor of democracy, but we really need to take that seriously right now," he said.
Some of the "American Heroes" stories include that of Master Sgt. Earl Plumlee.
Holding a grenade while his base "was being overrun in Afghanistan," Plumlee "literally ran to the sound of gunfire," Eversmann said. The Green Beret "almost single-handedly stopped ISIS from taking over an entire [Forward Operating Base,]" added Eversmann, who served in the Army for 20 years and has penned four other books with Patterson.
Plumlee was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Biden in 2021.
From World War II to the Iraq War, in "all these battles across history," Eversmann said he and Patterson found the heroic soldiers were the "same guys and gals cut from the same cloth."
The real-life accounts from soldiers who "serve us all" are "politically agnostic," Eversmann said.
"We should all work hard to be just a little bit more like these men and women," he said.
Patterson encouraged readers to regift "American Heroes” after they’re done with it: "Give it to the teenagers and give it to the college kids... People of a certain generation will talk about sacrifice, but I don't think a lot of younger people really understand the sacrifices that have been made."
While stating he was "not going to get political" because he doesn't appreciate when entertainers weigh in on politics, Patterson said, "Anybody who talks about people like this as 'losers,' that's just bad. That's just terrible."
"It's a terrifying thing. And I would think that military families would also agree that, no, that's just out of bounds. That's over the line. You just can't do that," he said.
In 2020, The Atlantic reported that former President Trump referred to a cemetery in France where more than 2,200 U.S. soldiers who fought in World War I are buried as "filled with losers." Trump's former chief of staff, John Kelly, later corroborated the reporting. Trump has repeatedly denied making the remarks.
Without naming Trump, Patterson called it "crazy talk" to disparage soldiers.
"These men and women are unbelievable, what they do," he said, "and they really are heroes."
Patterson, who's been called the "most popular storyteller of our time," is in an increasingly rare position of being a public figure who maintains across-the-aisle relationships. Trump referred to the prolific scribe as a friend when he gave him the National Humanities Medal in 2019, while former President Clinton has written two novels with Patterson.
Patterson chalked up the friendships to "human to human" experiences, recalling how Clinton once called to invite him and his wife, Susan, to dinner.
"[Clinton] said, 'Sue, look at me on your phone.' And he was with his grandkids, and he was wearing a head-to-toe tiger suit," Patterson said.
"And you go, OK, here's a human being," the writer said.
On the other end of the political spectrum, Patterson remembered when Susan helped resolve some toy trouble for Eric and Lara Trump.
"At one point, their kid had lost their sock puppet and they couldn't find it. It was their kid's favorite toy. And Sue knew where they were made, so we went and got a sock puppet."
"Just human stuff," Patterson said. "I really won't talk to any of them about who you vote for, what's going on. I just don't do it."
While Patterson has spoken out against book bans, he said the outcome of the presidential election would be unlikely to directly affect the issue.
"The main stuff there has to happen locally. It's not going to happen in the White House," he said, adding, "people just have to use a lot of common sense."
"I don't want a stranger telling the people in my family what they should and shouldn't read," Patterson said. "You take care of your family. I'll take care of my family. I think that's a reasonable approach to a lot of things."
Asked if he could write a political thriller as wild as this unprecedented election year, he quipped, "I got a big imagination."
"I remember Philip Roth saying at one point he was going to quit writing fiction because he said the stuff that's going on in the world, I can't compete with it. And we're kind of getting there to some extent," Patterson said.
"It's like, oh my god, what could I write that would be more thrilling, in a bad way, than some of the things that are going on now? So it's a challenge."