The international bestselling author is bck with a page-turning tale of the origins of the peaceful warrior In the heart of nineteenth century Tsarist Russia an orphaned boy born of both Jewish and Cossack blood desperately seeks to find a place in a dangerous world. Sergei Ivanov’s (Socrates’) journey from a military academy to America is a spellbinding and tragic odyssey of courage and love. This riveting novel reveals how a boy became a man, how a man became a warrior, and how a warrior discovered peace. From his birth, this boy―Sergei Ivanov―is destined to become the peaceful warrior and sage who changed the life of Dan Millman and millions of readers worldwide. “Millman’s 1980 novel, Way of the Peaceful Warrior , first introduced the character of Socrates, the all-night gas station attendant who first sets the author on his journey toward self-enlightenment. In this third series installment (after Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior ), readers learn about the elusive philosopher’s upbringing in tsarist Russia. Born Sergei Ivanov, Socrates goes from being an orphan to struggling as a cadet at the military academy, from knowing nothing of his past to meeting his grandfather, learning that he is part Jewish and part Cossack, suffering a devastating loss, and fleeing the academy on a quest. Fans of the other books will be pleased with this prequel to the word-of-mouth best seller they have come to know and love. Satisfying both in its execution and in its attempt to add another piece to the puzzle, Millman’s latest is recommended for popular and New Age fiction collections.” - Library Journal “Fans will be pleased. Satisfying both in its execution and in its attempt to add another piece to the puzzle.” - Library Journal “Millman’s autobiographical Way of the Peaceful Warrior (1980) and 94-year-old gas-pump-jockey Socrates, the young Millman’s guru in it, are fixtures in the canon of New Age self-actualization literature, thanks to 2.5 million copies sold. This prequel provides an adventurous backstory for Socrates. It begins in czarist Russia with orphaned Sergei fleeing the Nevskiy military academy. He survives in the mountainous wilderness by fashioning a lean-to against the face of a cave near a waterfall on a stream that hosts salmon, trout, and a beaver dam, and by hunting and drying food for the winter. By his second year as a mountain man (1890), he has turned 18 and become part of the wild, high country. A close call with a hungry bear in 1891 drives him to St. Petersburg, where he hopes to verify his grandfather’s promise of buried treasure and use it to escape to America. Millman’s smoothly written text recounts a spiritual journey while it tells a creditable survival-adventure-coming-of-age story. Way-farers will want to join the journey.” - Booklist “Way-farers will want to join the journey.” - Booklist “Millman’s fluid storytelling makes this an easy read.” - Publishers Weekly Over the years, since publication of my best-known and bestselling book, Way of the Peaceful Warrior , numerous readers, curious about my old mentor, the man I called Socrates, asked me whether he was ever married or had children, and who were his teachers.  This question of lineage has always seemed important to me.  Teachers, guides, and wisdom-bearers and sharers rarely emerge fully-developed at birth (although many claim so).  We each stand on the shoulders of others, and often wisdom is hard-earned. I decided to share the story of the life of my old mentor -- this was the first impulse that eventually, after four years of intensive literary labor, would become The Journeys of Socrates . And on a personal level, I liked the challenge -- I wanted to stretch and test myself, to see if I could write a quality story that would engross and even move readers to deep emotion. As Herman Melville wrote, "Two write a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme." Knowing a story and telling it are two different things. The theme that took shape in the writing summarizes, in a way, the course of the book:  "How a boy became a man; how a man became a warrior; and (most important), how a warrior found peace."  I didn't know it would become an archetypal story of conflict resolution -- a way to end the cycles of revenge and retribution (no matter how apparently justified) that plague our world today.  This is a story about love, family, trauma, courage, and the tempering of a man's wisdom and spirit -- the making of a peaceful warrior. The Way Begins . . . Sergei was three when the soldiers took him. At fifteen he fled into the wilderness, with nothing to cling to but the memories of a grandfather who called him Socrates and the promise of a gift buried near St. Petersburg. Thus begins The Journeys of Socrates -- an odyssey that forged the character of Sergei Ivanov, whose story would one day change the lives of millions of readers worldwide. This saga of courage and faith, of love and loss, reveals the arts of