The Point of it All: A Lifetime of Great Loves and Endeavors by Charles Krauthammer is a powerful collection that comprises of Charles Krauthammer?s most important works. The book is edited by Daniel Krauthammer, the author?s son, who co-authored the work alongside his father during the senior Krauthammer?s failing battle with intestinal cancer. Daniel Krauthammer also writes an introduction to the book, which serves to better capture and summarize its overall meaning. In this beautifully written introduction, Daniel grapples with the point of it all: of life, our contributions to the society, our place in the world, and the role played by politics. He writes that just like in ?Things That Matter,? his father applied his view about the world to a wide array of subjects: ?Not just domestic, not just foreign policy, not just issues of art and taste,? (Krauthammer xxxii) but to everything. Further, he elaborates that his father?s writing broadens an individual?s thinking and their rationality, while also stirring their emotions,  helping show readers the essential connection between these two fundamentally distinct modes of perception.

Organized in five parts, The Point of It All covers a variety of topics, including essays on the place of America in the global field and a major previously unpublished piece of writing, ?The Authoritarian Temptation.?  This piece reveals the author?s thoughts on the populist movement sweeping the world, as well as the prospects for the future of universal democracy. The collection also encompasses an intensely personal section that gives the reader an insight into what the author believes mattered most to him ? family, friendship and the principles he lived by.