Canter Bridge

Rags to riches tales are an American phenomenon. From inside the system, it is easy to think that a lot of hard work, a good idea, and a little luck are all it takes for the down-and-out to pull themselves up any number of ladders, and that this is obvious everywhere. You only have to live beyond these shores for a little while to realize that this scenario is a quintessential chunk of Americana. Class, rigid economies, and 7th-grade decisions for a trade or university are strong brakes on the possibilities of moving up or even, for that matter, sideways.

Once upon a time, Sam Moore wasn’t called that. Salim Ziady—before a South Carolina judge in an intimidating black robe at a naturalization hearing advised him ‘when in Rome to do like the Romans’—emigrated from his native Lebanon as a young man and found a niche selling Bibles and books door-to-door in this country’s Southeast. It was not so much a helping hand as a wide open door that enamored him with his adopted country, a love he communicates with vigor in this endearing autobiography.

It’s easy to approach such a work with a jaundiced eye. Autobiography does not promise transparency and the rhetoric of ‘I made it, so you can too’ goes down like cold oatmeal to those whose tenacity has not been similarly rewarded. Yet a palpable authenticity underscores the story told on these pages.

Moore recently retired as the CEO of Nashville’s Thomas Nelson Publishers, having taken that company on its own rags-to-riches trajectory as a formidable competitor in the competitive publishing arena (He continues as Nelson’s Chairman.)

This reviewer—unconnected to Thomas Nelson Publishers—has known Moore’s common touch and listened to the anecdotes of individuals like the receptionist in the company’s Nashville headquarters, who adores the man. Men and women of integrity are still to be found, this book’s gentle optimism reminds us, even if it does not fall to most of them to write their extraordinary story on pages like these.