THE TIGER: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival
By John Valliant
ISBN 978-0-307-39714-0
This book is a true account of a tiger killing near the village of Sobolonye in the Russian far eats in December 1997. As such it is a gripping narrative, describing how the Tiger seems to have stalked and killed a man who had earlier tried to kill the tiger, how the Tiger went on to kill one more man and terrorize a village, and how authorities tracked down and killed the tiger at risk to their own lives.
But it is more than a true story, and that is the genius of the book. Each of the characters in the story came from somewhere else far away, for reasons other than choice, and stayed because for the most part they had no choice. Instead, they were compelled both to come and to stay for reasons of history, politics and economy. Valliant weaves those reasons into the narrative.
Even more, Valliant gives vivid description to the exceptionally unique ecology of the region known as Primorye, to the evolution of tigers, to the history of interaction between men and predatory beasts (including a vivid and chilling description of baboons hiding in caves by nighttime), the environmental predicaments posed by perestroika, the economic depravity in which the current residents of Primorye live, and finally, efforts to save the Siberian Tiger from extinction.
I found the book holding tight grip on my interest, and loved the way the author helped us to see both the larger environmental, economic and political pictures as well as the intimate picture of a life and death struggle in the winter forest, and yet held the larger picture and the intimate picture in balance.
Valliant ahs apparently made a career out of this sort of writing. After reading a few chapters I read the dust jacket and learned that he also authored “The Golden Spruce.” That book tells the story of a Sitka Spruce on Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), British Columbia. It had a rare genetic mutation causing its needles to be golden in color, but an unemployed logger cut it down as apolitical statement.
The Tiger is educational reading and compelling narrative. I would read it again, and read anything else Valliant has written.
George R. Pasley
November 8, 2010
Showing posts with label HISTORY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HISTORY. Show all posts
Monday, November 8, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
WASHINGTON RULES
WASHINGTON RULES: America’s Path to Permanent War
Andrew J. Bacevich
Metropolitan Books, 2010
ISBN 978-0-8050-9141-0
Review by George R. Pasley
I’m not sure I’m glad I picked this book up, because it makes me very sad indeed.
Bacevich, a retired military officer now serving as professor of history and international relations at Boston University, chronicles American military policy since the end of World War Two. He does not paint a pretty picture.
Bacevich begins his chronicle with an account of sudden awareness that things were not what he had always thought them to be. This begins with the realization that the capabilities of our enemies were far less than we imagined- or were led to believe, and is compounded by a growing awareness that we are not as untainted as we like to believe.
Bacevich lauds Eisenhower for pointing out the powers and danger of the military-industrial complex, but criticizes him for not bringing them under control. He then shows how that complex has grown over the decades, and how it has always adjusted to failures (Bay of Pigs, Vietnam, etc) and changes in public opinion to maintain it’s grip on elected officials, the federal budget, and public priority.
After surveying the decisions of every president since Truman, Bacevich reaches Obama and describes his decision over Afghanistan: “Though the president’s national security team went through the motions of presenting him with a range of choices, the options actually on offer amounted to variations on a single theme…One option, of course, remained conspicuously ‘off the table’: getting out.” (p. 218)
Bacevich comes to a conclusion that ought to be embraced, considering the careful case he brings against it, that America has accepted a permanent state of war- yet viable options exist for something different.
Beginning with the premise that American clairvoyance is non-existent and that American power has its limits- in fact, that it is a “wasting asset”, Bacevich sets out a proposal that is not so much isolationist as it is no-interventionist. It is three pronged:
First, that the purpose of American military is not to combat evil, or to remake the world, but to defend America. Second, that the primary duty station of the American soldier is in America (an argument for reduced forces and for elimination of bases around the world). Third, “Consistent with the Just War tradition, the United States should employ force only as a last resort and only in self-defense.” (pp. 238-239)
Reading the book is like reading an indictment but it is good reading if we truly love our country and seek to love our neighbor.
George R. Pasley
September 18, 2010
Ketchikan, AK
Andrew J. Bacevich
Metropolitan Books, 2010
ISBN 978-0-8050-9141-0
Review by George R. Pasley
I’m not sure I’m glad I picked this book up, because it makes me very sad indeed.
Bacevich, a retired military officer now serving as professor of history and international relations at Boston University, chronicles American military policy since the end of World War Two. He does not paint a pretty picture.
Bacevich begins his chronicle with an account of sudden awareness that things were not what he had always thought them to be. This begins with the realization that the capabilities of our enemies were far less than we imagined- or were led to believe, and is compounded by a growing awareness that we are not as untainted as we like to believe.
Bacevich lauds Eisenhower for pointing out the powers and danger of the military-industrial complex, but criticizes him for not bringing them under control. He then shows how that complex has grown over the decades, and how it has always adjusted to failures (Bay of Pigs, Vietnam, etc) and changes in public opinion to maintain it’s grip on elected officials, the federal budget, and public priority.
After surveying the decisions of every president since Truman, Bacevich reaches Obama and describes his decision over Afghanistan: “Though the president’s national security team went through the motions of presenting him with a range of choices, the options actually on offer amounted to variations on a single theme…One option, of course, remained conspicuously ‘off the table’: getting out.” (p. 218)
Bacevich comes to a conclusion that ought to be embraced, considering the careful case he brings against it, that America has accepted a permanent state of war- yet viable options exist for something different.
Beginning with the premise that American clairvoyance is non-existent and that American power has its limits- in fact, that it is a “wasting asset”, Bacevich sets out a proposal that is not so much isolationist as it is no-interventionist. It is three pronged:
First, that the purpose of American military is not to combat evil, or to remake the world, but to defend America. Second, that the primary duty station of the American soldier is in America (an argument for reduced forces and for elimination of bases around the world). Third, “Consistent with the Just War tradition, the United States should employ force only as a last resort and only in self-defense.” (pp. 238-239)
Reading the book is like reading an indictment but it is good reading if we truly love our country and seek to love our neighbor.
George R. Pasley
September 18, 2010
Ketchikan, AK
Saturday, July 31, 2010
LIFE IN YEAR ONE
LIFE IN YEAR ONE: What the World Was Like in First-Century Palestine
By Scott Korb
Riverhead Books, 2010
Review by George R. Pasley
Hear is an easily read, thorough, and enjoyable summary of the entire sum of knowledge about life in Galilee during Jesus’ lifetime.
Scot Korb has devoured everything written on the subject, arranged it into ten easy chapters so that non-scholars can easily understand it, and busy scholars can easily digest it. Furthermore, he makes it funny (Talking about cleanliness- or the lack thereof, due to water shortages, he says “A place like Nazareth, without much of local body of water to speak of…would have remained small. A town can only take sop much concentrated stink.”).
Beyond reading all the literature (though he quotes Crossan and Reed most often), Korb visited Israel and Palestine himself, and interviewed numerous archaeologists. The book has numerous annotations, references to quotes, and along bibliography. Makes a great addition to any church library, and affine introduction to the subject for all biblical scholars.
July 31, 2010
By Scott Korb
Riverhead Books, 2010
Review by George R. Pasley
Hear is an easily read, thorough, and enjoyable summary of the entire sum of knowledge about life in Galilee during Jesus’ lifetime.
Scot Korb has devoured everything written on the subject, arranged it into ten easy chapters so that non-scholars can easily understand it, and busy scholars can easily digest it. Furthermore, he makes it funny (Talking about cleanliness- or the lack thereof, due to water shortages, he says “A place like Nazareth, without much of local body of water to speak of…would have remained small. A town can only take sop much concentrated stink.”).
Beyond reading all the literature (though he quotes Crossan and Reed most often), Korb visited Israel and Palestine himself, and interviewed numerous archaeologists. The book has numerous annotations, references to quotes, and along bibliography. Makes a great addition to any church library, and affine introduction to the subject for all biblical scholars.
July 31, 2010
Friday, July 10, 2009
PEARL S BUCK
PEARL S. BUCK: A Cultural Biography
By Peter Conn
Review by George R. Pasley
Cambridge University Press, 1966
ISBN 0-521-56080-2
It has literally been decades since I read any of Pearl’s books, but they obviously made quite an influence on me as I have never forgotten them. When I accidentally came upon Pearl’s West Virginia birthplace, I braked my truck and pulled in for a look. Likewise, when I came upon this volume in our library I immediately checked it out.
The title aptly describes the book. While it is indeed a biography of the first American woman to win a Nobel Prize for literature, the author places all the events of her life, all of her massive volume of work, and all of her achievements within their cultural and historical contexts. This made the biography a worthy (if somewhat wordy) study for students of literature, Asian-American studies, Presbyterian Church history, and feminism.
The biography informs us that Pearl Buck was the daughter of Presbyterian missionaries to China. Conn identifies as major conflicts in Buck’s life: her mother’s submission to her father, her father’s misogyny, the common missionary fundamentalism of the time that failed to see anything of value in Chinese culture, the bias of cultures (both Western and Chinese) that had no understanding of the other culture, and a male-dominated literary world.
Conn goes to great lengths to describe a long-running controversy that Pearl Buck held with the denominational structures of the Presbyterian Church, and as a Presbyterian pastor I found that quite informative. But Conn failed to set the debate in context of the fundamentalist controversies. Though they didn’t actually happen at the same time nonetheless impacted the debates over the purpose of mission that occurred in the prewar era. Likewise, though Conn repeatedly made reference to Buck leaving the church, the book offers no information on her church life or personal faith. She may have indeed given up on God, but Conn seems to equate her severing her missionary ties with losing faith. Perhaps no other information is available, but Conn uncovered a treasure trove of information about every other aspect of Buck’s personal life. It may be the Conn simply doesn’t think in those terms. Even so, the information that Conn did provide was helpful.
I found most enlightening Conn’s careful tracing of Buck’s feminism which surely was foundational though long ignored. Few may know that the publisher of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique consulted Buck prior to it’s publication, that Buck was a outspoken advocate of women’s issues (including birth control), or that the second American woman to women the Nobel Prize for literature, Toni Morrison, looked back at her early reading of Buck’s work and said, “She misled me…and made me feel that all writers wrote sympathetically, empathetically, honestly and forthrightly about other cultures.”
Many have likewise forgotten that for more than a decade Pearl Buck was virtually America’s only source of information on what ordinary Chinese people were like, and that she used her authority of knowledge and voice to combat racism and to promote positive relations between the West and all of Asia.
The thing I remember most vividly about Buck’s writing was the dignity she gave to the peasants in her stories, and Conn lifted that out as major achievement of Buck’s writing. Perhaps that explains why in later life I came to enjoy other writers (Wendell Berry comes to mind) who managed to endow their ordinary characters with the same dignity.
Conn is an admirer of Buck (though he only came to realize that late in life), and he found himself in agreement with many of her opinions, beliefs and causes. But his biography tells Buck’s story honestly, with all her flaws. Buck herself may not have appreciated much of what Conn writes, but those who appreciate the honesty with which Buck depicted life in her novels surely will.
George R. Pasley
July 10, 2009
Ketchikan, AK
By Peter Conn
Review by George R. Pasley
Cambridge University Press, 1966
ISBN 0-521-56080-2
It has literally been decades since I read any of Pearl’s books, but they obviously made quite an influence on me as I have never forgotten them. When I accidentally came upon Pearl’s West Virginia birthplace, I braked my truck and pulled in for a look. Likewise, when I came upon this volume in our library I immediately checked it out.
The title aptly describes the book. While it is indeed a biography of the first American woman to win a Nobel Prize for literature, the author places all the events of her life, all of her massive volume of work, and all of her achievements within their cultural and historical contexts. This made the biography a worthy (if somewhat wordy) study for students of literature, Asian-American studies, Presbyterian Church history, and feminism.
The biography informs us that Pearl Buck was the daughter of Presbyterian missionaries to China. Conn identifies as major conflicts in Buck’s life: her mother’s submission to her father, her father’s misogyny, the common missionary fundamentalism of the time that failed to see anything of value in Chinese culture, the bias of cultures (both Western and Chinese) that had no understanding of the other culture, and a male-dominated literary world.
Conn goes to great lengths to describe a long-running controversy that Pearl Buck held with the denominational structures of the Presbyterian Church, and as a Presbyterian pastor I found that quite informative. But Conn failed to set the debate in context of the fundamentalist controversies. Though they didn’t actually happen at the same time nonetheless impacted the debates over the purpose of mission that occurred in the prewar era. Likewise, though Conn repeatedly made reference to Buck leaving the church, the book offers no information on her church life or personal faith. She may have indeed given up on God, but Conn seems to equate her severing her missionary ties with losing faith. Perhaps no other information is available, but Conn uncovered a treasure trove of information about every other aspect of Buck’s personal life. It may be the Conn simply doesn’t think in those terms. Even so, the information that Conn did provide was helpful.
I found most enlightening Conn’s careful tracing of Buck’s feminism which surely was foundational though long ignored. Few may know that the publisher of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique consulted Buck prior to it’s publication, that Buck was a outspoken advocate of women’s issues (including birth control), or that the second American woman to women the Nobel Prize for literature, Toni Morrison, looked back at her early reading of Buck’s work and said, “She misled me…and made me feel that all writers wrote sympathetically, empathetically, honestly and forthrightly about other cultures.”
Many have likewise forgotten that for more than a decade Pearl Buck was virtually America’s only source of information on what ordinary Chinese people were like, and that she used her authority of knowledge and voice to combat racism and to promote positive relations between the West and all of Asia.
The thing I remember most vividly about Buck’s writing was the dignity she gave to the peasants in her stories, and Conn lifted that out as major achievement of Buck’s writing. Perhaps that explains why in later life I came to enjoy other writers (Wendell Berry comes to mind) who managed to endow their ordinary characters with the same dignity.
Conn is an admirer of Buck (though he only came to realize that late in life), and he found himself in agreement with many of her opinions, beliefs and causes. But his biography tells Buck’s story honestly, with all her flaws. Buck herself may not have appreciated much of what Conn writes, but those who appreciate the honesty with which Buck depicted life in her novels surely will.
George R. Pasley
July 10, 2009
Ketchikan, AK
Friday, February 27, 2009
THE HERETIC'S DAUGHTER
THE HERETIC'S DAUGHTER
By Kathleen Kent
Little, Brown and Company, 2008
ISBN 0-316-02448-8
Book Review by George R. Pasley
My ancestors were among the group that settled Salem, so even though they left by the time of the Witch Trials, this was a book I had to read. Also, my interest in the history of theology in America made the tile of this book somewhat enticing to me.
The Heretic’s Daughter is a historical novel written by a direct descendant of one of the women executed for witchcraft, one Martha Carrier. The author has painstakingly researched all the recorded history of the trials, as well the lifestyles and culture of their times, making Heretic’s Daughter not merely interesting reading, but educational as well.
Of course, much of the novel is conjecture, but it is conjecture based on historical evidence. It does much to explain what happened, without excusing any of it. The novel portrays the corruption of the theocracy that was early colonial New England, while at the same time portraying the faith of those few who had a more benevolent view of God and a more compassionate leaning towards humanity.
Of particular interest is how the author was able to weave into the narrative the extreme pressure for land that was placed on the region by a rapidly growing population, the threats imposed by increased resistance by Native Americans, and how those two variables played into the fires of fear that were fanned by accusations of witchcraft.
The novel is a narrated by a nine year old daughter of Martha Carrier, Sarah Carrier, who was herself jailed on charges of witchcraft and forced to testify against her mother. The novel captures the normal tension between mother and daughter, and in a wonderful way offers a picture of two women who managed to bind themselves back together despite suffering together an ordeal that defied every notion of goodness residing within our human nature.
George R. Pasley
February 27, 2009
By Kathleen Kent
Little, Brown and Company, 2008
ISBN 0-316-02448-8
Book Review by George R. Pasley
My ancestors were among the group that settled Salem, so even though they left by the time of the Witch Trials, this was a book I had to read. Also, my interest in the history of theology in America made the tile of this book somewhat enticing to me.
The Heretic’s Daughter is a historical novel written by a direct descendant of one of the women executed for witchcraft, one Martha Carrier. The author has painstakingly researched all the recorded history of the trials, as well the lifestyles and culture of their times, making Heretic’s Daughter not merely interesting reading, but educational as well.
Of course, much of the novel is conjecture, but it is conjecture based on historical evidence. It does much to explain what happened, without excusing any of it. The novel portrays the corruption of the theocracy that was early colonial New England, while at the same time portraying the faith of those few who had a more benevolent view of God and a more compassionate leaning towards humanity.
Of particular interest is how the author was able to weave into the narrative the extreme pressure for land that was placed on the region by a rapidly growing population, the threats imposed by increased resistance by Native Americans, and how those two variables played into the fires of fear that were fanned by accusations of witchcraft.
The novel is a narrated by a nine year old daughter of Martha Carrier, Sarah Carrier, who was herself jailed on charges of witchcraft and forced to testify against her mother. The novel captures the normal tension between mother and daughter, and in a wonderful way offers a picture of two women who managed to bind themselves back together despite suffering together an ordeal that defied every notion of goodness residing within our human nature.
George R. Pasley
February 27, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
HISTORY BOOKS WORTH READING
The writing of history for general interest readers has seen a renaissance in recent years, much to my delight…here are some of the ones on my shelf (hmmm…hardly any church history on my list):
COLLAPSE, by Jared Diamond. Chronicles the collapse of selected civilizations, and how that might relate to our own.
BARBARA JORDAN, American hero, by Mary Beth Rogers
BEYOND THE RIVER, by Ann Hagedorn. Chronicles the abolitionist movement and the Underground Railroad, especially as participated in by Presbyterian pastor John Rankin.
AMAZING GRACE, by Eric Metaxas. Chronicles the abolitionist movement in England.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN and THE ROAD TO EMANCIPATION, by William Klingaman.
LINCOLN, By David Herbert Donald.
LINCOLN’S OTHER WHITEHOUSE, by Elizabeth Smith Brownstein.
JOHN ADAMS, by David McCullough.
MAYFLOWER, by Nathaniel Philbrick
WILL IN THE WORLD, by Stephen Greenblatt. Biography of Shakespeare.
HOW THE SCOTS INVENTED THE MODERN WORLD, by Arthur Herman
THE WORST HARD TIME, by Timothy Egan. A story of the Dust Bowl, how we stuck our heads in the sand, how we finally responded, and how we have forgotten many of the lessons.
DUST BOWL, by Donald Worster.
LINCOLN’S GREATEST SPEECH, by Ronald C. White. An excellent analysis of the second inaugural, the times in which it was given, and a great description of the doctrine of providence.
THE PREACHER KING, MARTIN LUTHER KING JR AND THE WORD THAT MOVED AMERICA, by Richard Lischer. Analysis of King’s preaching and its role in the Civil Rights movement, by a leading homiletics professor.
The writing of history for general interest readers has seen a renaissance in recent years, much to my delight…here are some of the ones on my shelf (hmmm…hardly any church history on my list):
COLLAPSE, by Jared Diamond. Chronicles the collapse of selected civilizations, and how that might relate to our own.
BARBARA JORDAN, American hero, by Mary Beth Rogers
BEYOND THE RIVER, by Ann Hagedorn. Chronicles the abolitionist movement and the Underground Railroad, especially as participated in by Presbyterian pastor John Rankin.
AMAZING GRACE, by Eric Metaxas. Chronicles the abolitionist movement in England.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN and THE ROAD TO EMANCIPATION, by William Klingaman.
LINCOLN, By David Herbert Donald.
LINCOLN’S OTHER WHITEHOUSE, by Elizabeth Smith Brownstein.
JOHN ADAMS, by David McCullough.
MAYFLOWER, by Nathaniel Philbrick
WILL IN THE WORLD, by Stephen Greenblatt. Biography of Shakespeare.
HOW THE SCOTS INVENTED THE MODERN WORLD, by Arthur Herman
THE WORST HARD TIME, by Timothy Egan. A story of the Dust Bowl, how we stuck our heads in the sand, how we finally responded, and how we have forgotten many of the lessons.
DUST BOWL, by Donald Worster.
LINCOLN’S GREATEST SPEECH, by Ronald C. White. An excellent analysis of the second inaugural, the times in which it was given, and a great description of the doctrine of providence.
THE PREACHER KING, MARTIN LUTHER KING JR AND THE WORD THAT MOVED AMERICA, by Richard Lischer. Analysis of King’s preaching and its role in the Civil Rights movement, by a leading homiletics professor.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
MAYFLOWER, SHOPPING FOR PORCUPINES, & some observations
I am currently reading two books- MAYFLOWER, by Nathaniel Philbrick, which is a history of New England, from the time of the Mayflower’s settlement until the end of the 17th century, and SHOPPING FOR PORCUPINE, by Seth Kantner, which is a memoir of his growing up in the arctic.
Most of this post will be about something I read this morning in MAYFLOWER, but I have noticed at least one similarity between the two books.
MAYFLOWER talks about how the Indians recognized almost at once the large number of possessions the English had, and began craving most of those things themselves. The English took advantage of this as away of encouraging trade- they wanted to but furs to ship to England, and they wanted to buy land for their growing population.
In particular, the Indians craved flintlock guns. The pilgrims brought with them matchlock guns, which were an earlier technology. Most Indians could actually shoot arrows faster, more accurately, and more scrumptiously, than the English could fire their matchlocks. But the Indians recognized a superior weapon in flintlocks, and the English were glad to sell them so they could get more fur.
But within a few decades the fur bearing animals were almost gone from New England, and when they were the Indians had lost much of their sustainability on the land. They still farmed, but they had sold much of their land in order to buy the English things they admired.
The connection with SHOPPING FOR PORCUPINES is that Kantner, a Caucasian, states that in Alaska the natives likewise were eager to acquire material things, even many things that did not contribute to making a living in the arctic (such as snowmobiles, boats and guns). While Kantner grew up in an igloo and leaned many of the native ways of living, most of his native neighbors were quick to give up the practices that had sustained them for millennium.
The remainder of my comments here refers to a particular narrative in MAYFLOWER.
The book is well-written and easily holds the reader’s interest. Philbrick offers many insights into the fluid nature of the relationship between the Puritans and the Indians. The pages I read this morning dealt with an incident in the so-called “King Philip’s War,” 1675-76.
In February of 1676 two-thousand Indians were fleeing north to reconnoiter with another group of Indians, to take refuge, and to evade a troop of 600 English Cavalry. Philbrick says, “It was a scene worthy of Exodus.” His facts are based on an account written by one of their captives, Mary Rowlandson, a minister’s wife.
“Keeping two thousand Native men, women, and children ahead of a mounted English army might seem out of the question. But as Mary Rowlandson witnessed firsthand, the Indians knowledge of the land and their talent for working cooperatively under extraordinary duress made them more than a match for the fleetest of English forces.” (p. 293)
Rowlandson’s account tells how they crossed a swollen icy river by building rafts and then piling the rafts high with brush so that most crossed without ever getting so much as a foot wet.
In fact, Philbrick reports that when the Puritans arrived at the river, they were afraid to cross and pursued the Indians no further (as perhaps Pharaoh’s army would have been wise to decide in the original Exodus!)
One more element reminded me of the Exodus, in particular the account of manna in the desert:
“It was the third week of her captivity, and Rowlandson’s hunger was such that she greedily ate what she had earlier regarded as “filthy trash,” form groundnuts and corn husks to the rancid offal of a long-dead horse. Rowlandson was often on the edge of starvation, but so were her captors, whose ability to extract sustenance from the seemingly barren winter landscape seemed nothing less than a God-ordained miracle. ‘(S)trangely did the Lord provide for them,” she wrote, ‘that I did not see (all the time that I was among them) one man, woman or child die with hunger’” (p. 294)
Philbrick later quotes Rowlandson’s account of their arrival at their destination “But now I may say as Psalm 137, ‘By the Rivers of Babylon…(I) wept.”” (p. 295)
George R. Pasley
January 2, 2009
Most of this post will be about something I read this morning in MAYFLOWER, but I have noticed at least one similarity between the two books.
MAYFLOWER talks about how the Indians recognized almost at once the large number of possessions the English had, and began craving most of those things themselves. The English took advantage of this as away of encouraging trade- they wanted to but furs to ship to England, and they wanted to buy land for their growing population.
In particular, the Indians craved flintlock guns. The pilgrims brought with them matchlock guns, which were an earlier technology. Most Indians could actually shoot arrows faster, more accurately, and more scrumptiously, than the English could fire their matchlocks. But the Indians recognized a superior weapon in flintlocks, and the English were glad to sell them so they could get more fur.
But within a few decades the fur bearing animals were almost gone from New England, and when they were the Indians had lost much of their sustainability on the land. They still farmed, but they had sold much of their land in order to buy the English things they admired.
The connection with SHOPPING FOR PORCUPINES is that Kantner, a Caucasian, states that in Alaska the natives likewise were eager to acquire material things, even many things that did not contribute to making a living in the arctic (such as snowmobiles, boats and guns). While Kantner grew up in an igloo and leaned many of the native ways of living, most of his native neighbors were quick to give up the practices that had sustained them for millennium.
The remainder of my comments here refers to a particular narrative in MAYFLOWER.
The book is well-written and easily holds the reader’s interest. Philbrick offers many insights into the fluid nature of the relationship between the Puritans and the Indians. The pages I read this morning dealt with an incident in the so-called “King Philip’s War,” 1675-76.
In February of 1676 two-thousand Indians were fleeing north to reconnoiter with another group of Indians, to take refuge, and to evade a troop of 600 English Cavalry. Philbrick says, “It was a scene worthy of Exodus.” His facts are based on an account written by one of their captives, Mary Rowlandson, a minister’s wife.
“Keeping two thousand Native men, women, and children ahead of a mounted English army might seem out of the question. But as Mary Rowlandson witnessed firsthand, the Indians knowledge of the land and their talent for working cooperatively under extraordinary duress made them more than a match for the fleetest of English forces.” (p. 293)
Rowlandson’s account tells how they crossed a swollen icy river by building rafts and then piling the rafts high with brush so that most crossed without ever getting so much as a foot wet.
In fact, Philbrick reports that when the Puritans arrived at the river, they were afraid to cross and pursued the Indians no further (as perhaps Pharaoh’s army would have been wise to decide in the original Exodus!)
One more element reminded me of the Exodus, in particular the account of manna in the desert:
“It was the third week of her captivity, and Rowlandson’s hunger was such that she greedily ate what she had earlier regarded as “filthy trash,” form groundnuts and corn husks to the rancid offal of a long-dead horse. Rowlandson was often on the edge of starvation, but so were her captors, whose ability to extract sustenance from the seemingly barren winter landscape seemed nothing less than a God-ordained miracle. ‘(S)trangely did the Lord provide for them,” she wrote, ‘that I did not see (all the time that I was among them) one man, woman or child die with hunger’” (p. 294)
Philbrick later quotes Rowlandson’s account of their arrival at their destination “But now I may say as Psalm 137, ‘By the Rivers of Babylon…(I) wept.”” (p. 295)
George R. Pasley
January 2, 2009
Thursday, August 7, 2008
WHAT IS THE WHAT
By Dave Eggers
Vintage Books, 2006
“What Is the What” is an autobiographical account of a young boy who fled his village in the Sudan when it was attacked my government sponsored militia. The boy, Valentino, became one of “The Lost Boys of the Sudan,” who received world-wide attention because of their long dangerous trek on foot to refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya.
Though it is autobiography, the account is published as a novel because the storyteller, Valentino, is relying on memory of events that happened more than a decade ago. Everything in the book happened, but it may not have happened to Valentino, and it may not have happened when and where the book says it happened.
The book is an interesting and gripping read. It opens in the near present when Valentino, now an American, is the victim of a home invasion in Atlanta. Bound and gagged, he begins to recall the tragic events of his life, imagining that he is telling them to his muggers. The book uses this literary device to the end, interchanging the story of his life as a refugee with the story of his attempt to get help for the beating he received in Atlanta.
The original event- the attack on his village by government sponsored militia- occurred in the 1980s. Valentino does not offer dates, but makes references by his own chronological age. The events in the book should not be confused with modern day events in the Darfur region of the Sudan. These modern events are but one more new atrocity perpetuated by the Sudanese government.
The book is not a complicated read, but neither is it light reading. Each chapter is filled with tragedy, and the book is 538 pages long. However, it provides incredible insight into the life of a refugee- a sort of survival guide for both the body and spirit. Those who read it will not be pleased with the world’s system of responding to massive situations of urgent human need.
In particular, I was struck by the discordant appearance of life in America when the refugees finally arrived. They were shown massive displays of wealth, but they had a very difficult time adapting to life in America. Life in America was supposed to be filled with opportunity, but his sometime girlfriend was murdered. Americans seemed no better at responding to individual need than the world did responding to massive suffering. In particular, Valentino spent hours and hours waiting for treatment of his wounds, while pondering the fact that he was having difficulty in his college courses. He could not identify the reason for his struggles, he was having trouble getting admitted to a four year school, and people who had helped him settle in Atlanta were beginning to lose interest in him. The book closes with Valentino deciding to make a new home for himself in another town, but it left me wondering about the way we Americans care for each other.
I think this would be an excellent book for group discussions, if the readers can get past its length. It is a definite read for persons passionate about issues of social justice.
George R. Pasley
January 14, 2008
Vintage Books, 2006
“What Is the What” is an autobiographical account of a young boy who fled his village in the Sudan when it was attacked my government sponsored militia. The boy, Valentino, became one of “The Lost Boys of the Sudan,” who received world-wide attention because of their long dangerous trek on foot to refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya.
Though it is autobiography, the account is published as a novel because the storyteller, Valentino, is relying on memory of events that happened more than a decade ago. Everything in the book happened, but it may not have happened to Valentino, and it may not have happened when and where the book says it happened.
The book is an interesting and gripping read. It opens in the near present when Valentino, now an American, is the victim of a home invasion in Atlanta. Bound and gagged, he begins to recall the tragic events of his life, imagining that he is telling them to his muggers. The book uses this literary device to the end, interchanging the story of his life as a refugee with the story of his attempt to get help for the beating he received in Atlanta.
The original event- the attack on his village by government sponsored militia- occurred in the 1980s. Valentino does not offer dates, but makes references by his own chronological age. The events in the book should not be confused with modern day events in the Darfur region of the Sudan. These modern events are but one more new atrocity perpetuated by the Sudanese government.
The book is not a complicated read, but neither is it light reading. Each chapter is filled with tragedy, and the book is 538 pages long. However, it provides incredible insight into the life of a refugee- a sort of survival guide for both the body and spirit. Those who read it will not be pleased with the world’s system of responding to massive situations of urgent human need.
In particular, I was struck by the discordant appearance of life in America when the refugees finally arrived. They were shown massive displays of wealth, but they had a very difficult time adapting to life in America. Life in America was supposed to be filled with opportunity, but his sometime girlfriend was murdered. Americans seemed no better at responding to individual need than the world did responding to massive suffering. In particular, Valentino spent hours and hours waiting for treatment of his wounds, while pondering the fact that he was having difficulty in his college courses. He could not identify the reason for his struggles, he was having trouble getting admitted to a four year school, and people who had helped him settle in Atlanta were beginning to lose interest in him. The book closes with Valentino deciding to make a new home for himself in another town, but it left me wondering about the way we Americans care for each other.
I think this would be an excellent book for group discussions, if the readers can get past its length. It is a definite read for persons passionate about issues of social justice.
George R. Pasley
January 14, 2008
AMAZING GRACE
AMAZING GRACE
By Eric Metaxas
HarperSanFrancisco, 2007
Amazing Grace was an easy book to read, and one that should be a definite must read for persons interested in the correlation between Christianity and social justice.
Amazing Grace is a biography William Wilberforce (1759-1833), the British parliamentarian who championed a great many social causes during the reign of King George III. Primary among those causes was the abolition of the slave trade by British merchant ships, and the abolition of slavery itself within all British colonies.
Wilberforce took up these causes after a religious awakening, and Metaxas explains in bright detail the tepid religious convictions of the times and the ridicule and scorn that was often extended to Methodists and Quakers. His history includes more than a brief mention of John Wesley and John Newton, who both influenced Wilberforce, and Granville Sharp and Hannah More, who both worked with Wilberforce on his causes.
Other issues that received Wilberforce’s attention are briefly discussed in the book, including the legalization of sending missionaries to India, human rights issues in India, the establishment of nations governed by freed slaves (Haiti and Sierra Leone), capital punishment, and a broad assortment of issues concerning the poor. Metaxas argues that Wilberforce and his wide association of like-minded friends brought about a permanent change in British culture and philosophy.
One interesting point brought to light by my reading of this book is the democratization of England that occurred in the period after the American Revolution. Metaxas says that the abolitionists, led by Wilberforce, were in part responsible for this. He cites a petition received by Parliament signed by opponents to the slave trade. The petition had one million names, while the entire population of Great Britain was only 14 million.
One can tell from the reading that Metaxas surely enjoyed his work- the writing is filled with humor and irony. It is also slightly romanticized, but nonetheless is insightful with regards to current points of view and how certain portions of history are perceived.
The book makes a great companion on my bookshelf next to Beyond the River (Ann Hagedorn, Simon & Schuster, 2002) which chronicles the American abolitionist movement, primarily through the work of Presbyterian preacher John Rankin (1793–1886). Wilberforce seems a much more likable person than Rankin, but the two books, by chronicling the work of these two significant persons, plus others of their time and place, provide an assortment of examples of how Christians have engaged in Kingdom work.
George R. Pasley
November 5, 2007
By Eric Metaxas
HarperSanFrancisco, 2007
Amazing Grace was an easy book to read, and one that should be a definite must read for persons interested in the correlation between Christianity and social justice.
Amazing Grace is a biography William Wilberforce (1759-1833), the British parliamentarian who championed a great many social causes during the reign of King George III. Primary among those causes was the abolition of the slave trade by British merchant ships, and the abolition of slavery itself within all British colonies.
Wilberforce took up these causes after a religious awakening, and Metaxas explains in bright detail the tepid religious convictions of the times and the ridicule and scorn that was often extended to Methodists and Quakers. His history includes more than a brief mention of John Wesley and John Newton, who both influenced Wilberforce, and Granville Sharp and Hannah More, who both worked with Wilberforce on his causes.
Other issues that received Wilberforce’s attention are briefly discussed in the book, including the legalization of sending missionaries to India, human rights issues in India, the establishment of nations governed by freed slaves (Haiti and Sierra Leone), capital punishment, and a broad assortment of issues concerning the poor. Metaxas argues that Wilberforce and his wide association of like-minded friends brought about a permanent change in British culture and philosophy.
One interesting point brought to light by my reading of this book is the democratization of England that occurred in the period after the American Revolution. Metaxas says that the abolitionists, led by Wilberforce, were in part responsible for this. He cites a petition received by Parliament signed by opponents to the slave trade. The petition had one million names, while the entire population of Great Britain was only 14 million.
One can tell from the reading that Metaxas surely enjoyed his work- the writing is filled with humor and irony. It is also slightly romanticized, but nonetheless is insightful with regards to current points of view and how certain portions of history are perceived.
The book makes a great companion on my bookshelf next to Beyond the River (Ann Hagedorn, Simon & Schuster, 2002) which chronicles the American abolitionist movement, primarily through the work of Presbyterian preacher John Rankin (1793–1886). Wilberforce seems a much more likable person than Rankin, but the two books, by chronicling the work of these two significant persons, plus others of their time and place, provide an assortment of examples of how Christians have engaged in Kingdom work.
George R. Pasley
November 5, 2007
BEYOND THE RIVER
BEYOND THE RIVER
The Untold Story of the Heroes of the Underground Railroad
Ann Hagedorn, author
2002, Simon & Schuster
ISBN 0-684-87965-7
279 pages
“One summer day in 1817, at a church in the Abingdon group, he explained to his audience, with fierce certitude, that the mission of Christianity was to drive oppression from the earth, and that the Bible was opposed to ‘all forms of oppression.’” (p. 30)
Thus author Ann Hagedorn describes the very beginnings of the prophetic ministry of John Rankin, Presbyterian pastor, abolitionist, and conductor on the Underground Railroad.
Beyond the River is a historical account of the Underground Railroad, primarily as it functioned in the river town of Ripley, Ohio. Hagedorn has used a plethora of primary sources, as well as a great many secondary sources, to document the lives of the heroes of the abolition movement. The book encompasses not only the Underground Railroad, but also various anti-slavery societies. In artistic fashion, Hagedorn has also highlighted the significance of geography, national politics, local economy, weather, and personal tragedy to the movement and to the lives of its movers.
I first became aware of John Rankin because some of his descendants are cousins to my mother, and essays about him were included in a family history. He aroused my interest because he was a Presbyterian pastor, and because in his later years he started two Presbyterian congregations not far from where I live in east-central Kansas (both are now closed). A local friend knew of m interest in Rankin, and referred me to this book when it was reviewed in Time magazine. Once I bought it, I could not put it down.
Because the book deals with a prophetic ministry I found it hauntingly current, as I have struggled with how to express misgivings about America’s foreign policy and the current war with Iraq- and how to express those misgivings in community famed for its conservatism. Preaching abolition was a task that required more than moral courage- it required physical courage as well, as Hagedorn documents. But Rankin and the others of his cause went beyond preaching- they were “agitators,” in the parlance of their times, agitators who operated outside the law at risk to their lives, property, and family. Yet they were very rarely deterred.
With Rankin, abolition seems to have been a matter of integrity. What is striking about Rankin is that he saw beyond slavery, and was from the beginning an advocate for equality of the races, a notion that exceeded the opinions of the times, even of many famous abolitionists. In nearby Cincinnati, the students at Lane Seminary (The college president was Lyman Beecher) became active not only in the abolition movement, but in educating local freedmen. “Using a system of rotation devised…out of respect for the students’ own classwork, they conducted reading classes every evening during the week, and during the days they taught geography, science, grammar, and arithmetic. Classes were so crowded that some days people were turned away…Every minute that they could spare form their studies, the students devoted to their cause.” (p. 70)
Even though the seminary was founded by abolitionists, the trustees, faculty, and president were all distressed by the extent of student activism, “mostly over the actual contact between the students and the black community” (p. 70) During the summer break, the trustees abolished the student’s antislavery society, and gave themselves powers to censure the students and limit their activities. Reason given for this was the threat of physical damage to the school by the surrounding community, which was even more agitated by the student activism.
“Upon their return for the fall term, the students asked the faculty if they could discuss the new rules imposed on them, and were told they could not. Weld (one of the students) wrote a statement on behalf of the students, and signed by fifty-one of them. And then, in one of the great moments of America’s history of protest movements, the students who signed Weld’s impassioned statements simply walked out the doors of Lane.” (p. 71)
Rankin supported the students, and in an editorial he wrote, “Far better for the Seminary and the religion, had the mob (from the community) torn the building to the ground. It could have been reared again as a monument to integrity.” (p. 71)
What particularly struck me were the dates of many of the things that happened. The student activism happened in 1834, 27 years before the Civil War. Once these heroes made a commitment to the cause, they had to live through decades if danger and national unrest. And the nation had to live through decades of anger, mistrust, and hatred.
The book documents carefully the change in Rankin over this great time period. In the early years, he was content to preach against slavery only from the pulpit (though he received national fame for a series of letters, widely published, that opposed slavery). But after the Lane College incident, he became much more active nationally in organizing anti-slavery societies, speaking at meetings, and raising funds for the cause.
While the book clearly makes a connection between abolition and the evangelical convictions of its early proponents, it does not clearly show the history of what was happening in the Presbyterian Church during the era. Various historical church events are mentioned, but in a scattered sort of way that does not help one is not already familiar with them- such as Rankin’s departure from First Presbyterian of Ripley and the founding of the Free Presbyterian denomination, nut nothing about the reunion and little about the Old School/New school split. And while it documents the struggles Rankin had in learning to preach (mostly from his autobiography), there is virtually no discussion of how he preached. But this does not in any way diminish what Hagedorn has done, which is to chronicle what may truly be the most courageous chapter in American history.
Other person, too, were given attention by Hagedorn. These included the slave girl who escaped across the river on fast-breaking ice. Her story was later told by Rankin to Harriet Beecher Stowe, and was given national attention in Uncle Tom’s Cabin (though Harriet herself is rarely mentioned in Across the River); John B. Mahon, a colleague of Rankin’s, who was extradited to Kentucky, spent months in prison, lost his health and his property, and whose family suffered poverty after his death; and John Parker, an escaped slave living in Ripley who time and time again crossed back into Kentucky to find other slaves and bring them out. In doing so, Parker risked his life and his won freedom. Hagedorn calls Parker a “tiny minority within the abolitionist minority,” (p. 256), one who used tactics that even troubled Rankin.
These were certainly heroes. Without their agitation, American history would have been vastly different. “After the war, one of Lyman Beecher’s sons, the renowned preacher Henry Ward Beecher, was asked, ’Who abolished slavery?’ His response: ‘Rev. John Rankin and his sons did it.’” (p. 274)
Well, certainly they had some help. But maybe a better question would have been, “What abolished slavery?” And the answer would have been, “Courage.”
George R. Pasley
The Untold Story of the Heroes of the Underground Railroad
Ann Hagedorn, author
2002, Simon & Schuster
ISBN 0-684-87965-7
279 pages
“One summer day in 1817, at a church in the Abingdon group, he explained to his audience, with fierce certitude, that the mission of Christianity was to drive oppression from the earth, and that the Bible was opposed to ‘all forms of oppression.’” (p. 30)
Thus author Ann Hagedorn describes the very beginnings of the prophetic ministry of John Rankin, Presbyterian pastor, abolitionist, and conductor on the Underground Railroad.
Beyond the River is a historical account of the Underground Railroad, primarily as it functioned in the river town of Ripley, Ohio. Hagedorn has used a plethora of primary sources, as well as a great many secondary sources, to document the lives of the heroes of the abolition movement. The book encompasses not only the Underground Railroad, but also various anti-slavery societies. In artistic fashion, Hagedorn has also highlighted the significance of geography, national politics, local economy, weather, and personal tragedy to the movement and to the lives of its movers.
I first became aware of John Rankin because some of his descendants are cousins to my mother, and essays about him were included in a family history. He aroused my interest because he was a Presbyterian pastor, and because in his later years he started two Presbyterian congregations not far from where I live in east-central Kansas (both are now closed). A local friend knew of m interest in Rankin, and referred me to this book when it was reviewed in Time magazine. Once I bought it, I could not put it down.
Because the book deals with a prophetic ministry I found it hauntingly current, as I have struggled with how to express misgivings about America’s foreign policy and the current war with Iraq- and how to express those misgivings in community famed for its conservatism. Preaching abolition was a task that required more than moral courage- it required physical courage as well, as Hagedorn documents. But Rankin and the others of his cause went beyond preaching- they were “agitators,” in the parlance of their times, agitators who operated outside the law at risk to their lives, property, and family. Yet they were very rarely deterred.
With Rankin, abolition seems to have been a matter of integrity. What is striking about Rankin is that he saw beyond slavery, and was from the beginning an advocate for equality of the races, a notion that exceeded the opinions of the times, even of many famous abolitionists. In nearby Cincinnati, the students at Lane Seminary (The college president was Lyman Beecher) became active not only in the abolition movement, but in educating local freedmen. “Using a system of rotation devised…out of respect for the students’ own classwork, they conducted reading classes every evening during the week, and during the days they taught geography, science, grammar, and arithmetic. Classes were so crowded that some days people were turned away…Every minute that they could spare form their studies, the students devoted to their cause.” (p. 70)
Even though the seminary was founded by abolitionists, the trustees, faculty, and president were all distressed by the extent of student activism, “mostly over the actual contact between the students and the black community” (p. 70) During the summer break, the trustees abolished the student’s antislavery society, and gave themselves powers to censure the students and limit their activities. Reason given for this was the threat of physical damage to the school by the surrounding community, which was even more agitated by the student activism.
“Upon their return for the fall term, the students asked the faculty if they could discuss the new rules imposed on them, and were told they could not. Weld (one of the students) wrote a statement on behalf of the students, and signed by fifty-one of them. And then, in one of the great moments of America’s history of protest movements, the students who signed Weld’s impassioned statements simply walked out the doors of Lane.” (p. 71)
Rankin supported the students, and in an editorial he wrote, “Far better for the Seminary and the religion, had the mob (from the community) torn the building to the ground. It could have been reared again as a monument to integrity.” (p. 71)
What particularly struck me were the dates of many of the things that happened. The student activism happened in 1834, 27 years before the Civil War. Once these heroes made a commitment to the cause, they had to live through decades if danger and national unrest. And the nation had to live through decades of anger, mistrust, and hatred.
The book documents carefully the change in Rankin over this great time period. In the early years, he was content to preach against slavery only from the pulpit (though he received national fame for a series of letters, widely published, that opposed slavery). But after the Lane College incident, he became much more active nationally in organizing anti-slavery societies, speaking at meetings, and raising funds for the cause.
While the book clearly makes a connection between abolition and the evangelical convictions of its early proponents, it does not clearly show the history of what was happening in the Presbyterian Church during the era. Various historical church events are mentioned, but in a scattered sort of way that does not help one is not already familiar with them- such as Rankin’s departure from First Presbyterian of Ripley and the founding of the Free Presbyterian denomination, nut nothing about the reunion and little about the Old School/New school split. And while it documents the struggles Rankin had in learning to preach (mostly from his autobiography), there is virtually no discussion of how he preached. But this does not in any way diminish what Hagedorn has done, which is to chronicle what may truly be the most courageous chapter in American history.
Other person, too, were given attention by Hagedorn. These included the slave girl who escaped across the river on fast-breaking ice. Her story was later told by Rankin to Harriet Beecher Stowe, and was given national attention in Uncle Tom’s Cabin (though Harriet herself is rarely mentioned in Across the River); John B. Mahon, a colleague of Rankin’s, who was extradited to Kentucky, spent months in prison, lost his health and his property, and whose family suffered poverty after his death; and John Parker, an escaped slave living in Ripley who time and time again crossed back into Kentucky to find other slaves and bring them out. In doing so, Parker risked his life and his won freedom. Hagedorn calls Parker a “tiny minority within the abolitionist minority,” (p. 256), one who used tactics that even troubled Rankin.
These were certainly heroes. Without their agitation, American history would have been vastly different. “After the war, one of Lyman Beecher’s sons, the renowned preacher Henry Ward Beecher, was asked, ’Who abolished slavery?’ His response: ‘Rev. John Rankin and his sons did it.’” (p. 274)
Well, certainly they had some help. But maybe a better question would have been, “What abolished slavery?” And the answer would have been, “Courage.”
George R. Pasley
BARBARA JORDAN
BARBARA JORDAN: AMERICAN HERO
By Mary Beth Rogers
Bantam Books, 1998
Paperback, 2000
ISBN 0-553-38066
My sister gave me this book for Christmas, but told me she needed to borrow it as soon as I was through reading it, because it was worth two books in her local book club. I agree- it is worth two or three.
The book is a biography of perhaps the most notable black woman of the twentieth century, Barbara Jordan (1936-1996), for several terms a congresswoman from Texas. Jordan became a national figure when she served on the House Judiciary Committee during the Nixon impeachment hearings.
Rogers provides a biography that is entertaining to read, insightful, and analytical. Rogers and Jordan knew each other, but Rogers freely admits that Jordan was an intensely private person who very few knew very well.
“I worked to come to terms with this remarkable woman who survived the complexities of public life and the realities of racial politics, turning away from the both with surprising contentment. And, of course, as a white woman, I had to come to terms with her blackness, with what it meant to her- and to me.” (p.xviii)
I can remember quite vividly each of the famous speeches of Jordan’s life: the two at the impeachment hearings, and the keynote speeches from the 1976 and 1992 Democratic Conventions. They are memories for me, but this book brought Jordan- and her life- to life.
Rogers begins with a historical irony that Jordan was forever unaware of: her great-grandfather, Edward A. Patton, was the last black to serve in the Texas legislature during reconstruction. His last speech was of sufficient persuasiveness to delay the institution of the poll tax for several decades. Never the less, he was defeated in 1892, shot at by the local sheriff, and in fear for his life, left Texas and his family, never to return. Throughout the book, Rogers does an enlightening job of describing the historical context into which Barbara was born, and the family context in which she was raised.
Of great interest to pastors, beyond the historical elements, is the way that Rogers comes to an understanding of Jordan’s thinking on religion and politics through two theologians: Howard Thurman and Reinhold Niebuhr. Rogers devotes 4 pages in the book to Thurman’s influence, more than any other one person (except perhaps Lyndon Johnson).
“Barbara Jordan also made time during her second year (at Boston University Law School) to attend Sunday Services at marsh Chapel, the religious center of Boston University. She was drawn to its preacher, Howard Thurman, who served as dean of the chapel and as a professor in the Boston University School of Theology. She heard in Thurman’s sermons a way to change how she thought about and experienced religion, a way to free herself from Ben Jordan’s harsh interpretation of the scriptures and his narrow path to living a Christian life.” (p. 68)
In fact, says Rogers, Jordan briefly considered pursuing a degree in theology. Rogers gives a synopsis of Thurman’s career, his association with Martin Luther King, Jr., and then returns to Jordan:
“Jordan was so taken with Thurman’s sermons that she literally preached them to herself. She would take the program from church services back to her dormitory and preach Thurman’s sermons anew to her roommates, ‘whether they wanted to hear them or not. I was making sure I had it all,’ she said. ‘If I could preach it again, I really did have it.’” (p. 71)
Niebuhr appears after Jordan has become a skilled politician, and it is not exactly clear from Rogers’ writing at what point Jordan actually discovered him.
“For Niebuhr, both political and moral realists understood the use of power, and the moral realist was willing to use political power to achieve some human ‘good.’ Jordan had become a Niebuhr-style moral realist, with an understanding that if she wanted to promote human good, then she had to have enough power to operate effectively.” (p.153/154)
There are, in fact, several places in the book where Rogers uses Niebuhr as a way to understand and explain Jordan.
Regarding Jordan, the thing that most amazed me was the almost natural astuteness she had, politically. Jordan served parts of three terms in the Texas Senate, and then three terms in Congress. But almost from the beginning, she was able to figure out ways to be an “effective” legislator. Those who are considering that ways that “outsiders” enter into “inner circles”, as well as those who are simply fascinated with politics, will both find treasure in Rogers’ description of Jordan’s legislative techniques.
Of great interest in the book are those pages that deal with segregation, the African American Church, Barbara’s experiences on her college debate team, and the research that she devoted to various issues (including impeachment). But two other things I found to be especially captivating, and the two are intertwined.
The first is the matter of Jordan’s “voice.” For Rogers, this is not simply a matter of timbre, or even cadence and rhythm. It had also to do with authenticity and passion. Speaking of Jordan’s speech during the impeachment hearings, Rogers writes: “Her passion conveyed the clarity of righteousness and justice.”
Many chapters later, Rogers considers Jordan the person, and writes: “Before Watergate, all she wanted was to be a politician- not a statesman, or a moral leader, or a guardian of government ethics, and certainly not a civil rights leader. After Watergate, Jordan added one more label to describe herself: patriot. She considered the U.S. Constitution her personal charter for freedom.” (p. 324)
By the force of destiny perhaps, Barbara had discovered her core beliefs. And the passion with which she believed them gave power to the voice that expressed them. Rogers book powerfully describes how that larger voice matured in the years after she left Congress.
I remember a great amount of mystery associated with her decision not to seek another term. Rogers’ explains in depth the combination of physical strain caused by multiple sclerosis, and the strain of disillusionment caused by differences with the Carter administration, and the explanation is helpful. But what is enlightening is Rogers’ study of Jordan’s return to private life, and her emergence as a voice of authority as a private citizen. And, Rogers’ develops a definition of patriot that defies old clichés and stereotypes. Having recently read David McCullough’s “John Adams,” Roger’s portrait of the citizen Jordan reminded me, in many ways, of the ideals of citizen Adams.
Quoting Jordan, “There is no reason why a country as large and powerful as we are should not occupy the highest moral position possible in relation to other countries…The core of morality is to do unto others as you would have them do unto you…I believe each individual should have a principled core of his or her being that cannot get negotiated out. That has served me well.” (p. 325/326)
And in our shallow post 911 way of defining patriotism, we ought to consider once again Jordan’s love of the rule of law, her belief in democracy, and her great sense of personal integrity. If we did, I believe they would point us to a much richer, nobler, definition of “patriot.”
George R. Pasley
January 7, 2003
By Mary Beth Rogers
Bantam Books, 1998
Paperback, 2000
ISBN 0-553-38066
My sister gave me this book for Christmas, but told me she needed to borrow it as soon as I was through reading it, because it was worth two books in her local book club. I agree- it is worth two or three.
The book is a biography of perhaps the most notable black woman of the twentieth century, Barbara Jordan (1936-1996), for several terms a congresswoman from Texas. Jordan became a national figure when she served on the House Judiciary Committee during the Nixon impeachment hearings.
Rogers provides a biography that is entertaining to read, insightful, and analytical. Rogers and Jordan knew each other, but Rogers freely admits that Jordan was an intensely private person who very few knew very well.
“I worked to come to terms with this remarkable woman who survived the complexities of public life and the realities of racial politics, turning away from the both with surprising contentment. And, of course, as a white woman, I had to come to terms with her blackness, with what it meant to her- and to me.” (p.xviii)
I can remember quite vividly each of the famous speeches of Jordan’s life: the two at the impeachment hearings, and the keynote speeches from the 1976 and 1992 Democratic Conventions. They are memories for me, but this book brought Jordan- and her life- to life.
Rogers begins with a historical irony that Jordan was forever unaware of: her great-grandfather, Edward A. Patton, was the last black to serve in the Texas legislature during reconstruction. His last speech was of sufficient persuasiveness to delay the institution of the poll tax for several decades. Never the less, he was defeated in 1892, shot at by the local sheriff, and in fear for his life, left Texas and his family, never to return. Throughout the book, Rogers does an enlightening job of describing the historical context into which Barbara was born, and the family context in which she was raised.
Of great interest to pastors, beyond the historical elements, is the way that Rogers comes to an understanding of Jordan’s thinking on religion and politics through two theologians: Howard Thurman and Reinhold Niebuhr. Rogers devotes 4 pages in the book to Thurman’s influence, more than any other one person (except perhaps Lyndon Johnson).
“Barbara Jordan also made time during her second year (at Boston University Law School) to attend Sunday Services at marsh Chapel, the religious center of Boston University. She was drawn to its preacher, Howard Thurman, who served as dean of the chapel and as a professor in the Boston University School of Theology. She heard in Thurman’s sermons a way to change how she thought about and experienced religion, a way to free herself from Ben Jordan’s harsh interpretation of the scriptures and his narrow path to living a Christian life.” (p. 68)
In fact, says Rogers, Jordan briefly considered pursuing a degree in theology. Rogers gives a synopsis of Thurman’s career, his association with Martin Luther King, Jr., and then returns to Jordan:
“Jordan was so taken with Thurman’s sermons that she literally preached them to herself. She would take the program from church services back to her dormitory and preach Thurman’s sermons anew to her roommates, ‘whether they wanted to hear them or not. I was making sure I had it all,’ she said. ‘If I could preach it again, I really did have it.’” (p. 71)
Niebuhr appears after Jordan has become a skilled politician, and it is not exactly clear from Rogers’ writing at what point Jordan actually discovered him.
“For Niebuhr, both political and moral realists understood the use of power, and the moral realist was willing to use political power to achieve some human ‘good.’ Jordan had become a Niebuhr-style moral realist, with an understanding that if she wanted to promote human good, then she had to have enough power to operate effectively.” (p.153/154)
There are, in fact, several places in the book where Rogers uses Niebuhr as a way to understand and explain Jordan.
Regarding Jordan, the thing that most amazed me was the almost natural astuteness she had, politically. Jordan served parts of three terms in the Texas Senate, and then three terms in Congress. But almost from the beginning, she was able to figure out ways to be an “effective” legislator. Those who are considering that ways that “outsiders” enter into “inner circles”, as well as those who are simply fascinated with politics, will both find treasure in Rogers’ description of Jordan’s legislative techniques.
Of great interest in the book are those pages that deal with segregation, the African American Church, Barbara’s experiences on her college debate team, and the research that she devoted to various issues (including impeachment). But two other things I found to be especially captivating, and the two are intertwined.
The first is the matter of Jordan’s “voice.” For Rogers, this is not simply a matter of timbre, or even cadence and rhythm. It had also to do with authenticity and passion. Speaking of Jordan’s speech during the impeachment hearings, Rogers writes: “Her passion conveyed the clarity of righteousness and justice.”
Many chapters later, Rogers considers Jordan the person, and writes: “Before Watergate, all she wanted was to be a politician- not a statesman, or a moral leader, or a guardian of government ethics, and certainly not a civil rights leader. After Watergate, Jordan added one more label to describe herself: patriot. She considered the U.S. Constitution her personal charter for freedom.” (p. 324)
By the force of destiny perhaps, Barbara had discovered her core beliefs. And the passion with which she believed them gave power to the voice that expressed them. Rogers book powerfully describes how that larger voice matured in the years after she left Congress.
I remember a great amount of mystery associated with her decision not to seek another term. Rogers’ explains in depth the combination of physical strain caused by multiple sclerosis, and the strain of disillusionment caused by differences with the Carter administration, and the explanation is helpful. But what is enlightening is Rogers’ study of Jordan’s return to private life, and her emergence as a voice of authority as a private citizen. And, Rogers’ develops a definition of patriot that defies old clichés and stereotypes. Having recently read David McCullough’s “John Adams,” Roger’s portrait of the citizen Jordan reminded me, in many ways, of the ideals of citizen Adams.
Quoting Jordan, “There is no reason why a country as large and powerful as we are should not occupy the highest moral position possible in relation to other countries…The core of morality is to do unto others as you would have them do unto you…I believe each individual should have a principled core of his or her being that cannot get negotiated out. That has served me well.” (p. 325/326)
And in our shallow post 911 way of defining patriotism, we ought to consider once again Jordan’s love of the rule of law, her belief in democracy, and her great sense of personal integrity. If we did, I believe they would point us to a much richer, nobler, definition of “patriot.”
George R. Pasley
January 7, 2003
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