Gumption: Relighting the Torch of Freedom with America's Gutsiest Troublemakers

To millions of readers and viewers, Nick Offerman reminds them of what they love about American: Craggy features draped in verdant foliage. A healthy supply of fresh meat and deciduous hardwoods. This grizzly bear and the beaver. The persistent Breeze.

As a humorist, woodworker, and actor, Offerman aspires to remind us of our obligation to nurture those very American qualities that we adore. Liberty. Hard work. Decency. A love of creativity and telling it like it is. A reverence for the natural resources and beauty that surround all of us. And, of course, the pith required to stand up for those things.

As a reasonably flawed human being, Offerman relies upon the inspiration of great Americans to keep him on the straight and narrow. Twenty-one of them, to be precise. For example:

• George Washington's vocabulary and strapping muscle
• Benjamin Franklin's ingenuity, diplomacy, and thoughts on farting
• Frederick Douglass's self-education, erudition, and boat building
• Theodore Roosevelt's passion for the outdoors, face-punching, and resemblance to the Bull Moose
• Wendell Berry's venerable talent as a writer, moralist, farmer, and chuckle-smith
• Michael Pollan's intrepid social research on where to find good food and how to eat it, and also his nice teeth
• Yoko Ono's visionary artworks and unrelenting commitment to imagine peace
• Jeff Tweedy's beautiful face and equally lovely stance that creating art is the best defense against political malaise

Offerman's particular perspective on each subject, rendered with pork-fueled insight, mirth, and the knack for coming across impolitely without being rude makes for elucidating, amusing, and celebratory portraits of his esteemed troublemakers, suggesting to us in no uncertain terms that gumption is precisely the trait that all of us must foster - including America herself - if we ever hope to attain true greatness.