Living on Borrowed Time (1943–1944)

Abstract

In an article published in the december 1942 issuE of Tomorrow, van Loon had expressed his concern about the younger generation who, in his view, felt lost because the older generation had failed to teach them the importance of ideals and had not sufficiently provided them with spiritual leadership and heroes who could serve as an example. Van Loon hoped, he wrote, that “the younger generation once more be shown the road to true happiness, let them be shown that the only lasting treasures are those things we have discarded, let them once more understand that life can be the most magnificent, the most glorious of all experiences.” That conviction was an important reason for him to sign a contract with Dodd Mead to produce a number of children’s biographies of heroes, which he called the Fighters for Freedom. The series would begin with Thomas Jefferson and Simon Bolivar was to follow. ¹