Keeping Faith: A Novel (P.S.)

Keeping Faith: A Novel (P.S.)
Average customer rating:

Keeping Faith and faith

Great potential in the plot, but a horrible delivery

It's ok - raises questions

Great Read

Losing Faith in Picoult

Keeping Faith: A Novel (P.S.)
Jodi Picoult
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060878061
Release Date: 2006-02-21

Book Description

One of America's most powerful and thought-provoking novelists, New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult brilliantly examines belief, miracles, and the complex core of family.

When the marriage of Mariah White and her cheating husband, Colin, turns ugly and disintegrates, their seven-year-old daughter, Faith, is there to witness it all. In the aftermath of a rapid divorce, Mariah falls into a deep depression -- and suddenly Faith, a child with no religious background whatsoever, hears divine voices, starts reciting biblical passages, and develops stigmata. And when the miraculous healings begin, mother and daughter are thrust into the volatile center of controversy and into the heat of a custody battle -- trapped in a mad media circus that threatens what little stability the family has left.

Customer Reviews:

Keeping Faith and faith.......2007-10-02

Since Faith has been having difficulties accepting her parents' divorce, everyone thought that her new imaginary friend, "her guard", was merely a coping mechanism. "Her guard" teaches Faith things about religion that she had no way of knowing otherwise. When her grandmother dies, Faith brings her back to life. That's when things become difficult. A religious following gathers outside of Faith's house. This crowd includes Ian Fletcher, a man who makes a living by investigating religious phenomenon and usually proving them to be hoaxes. The situation intensifies, leading Faith's father to begin fighting for custody. Faith's mother, Mariah, fights to keep her daughter, Faith, as well as to keep faith in her daughter and herself. Therefore the title is actually a very clever double-entendre.

The characters are very well-developed, making this unlikely story seem to be very plausible. The vivid settings also add realism to the story. This absolutely enthralling story of Faith is almost impossible to put down. Congratulations to Jodi Picoult on her masterpiece, my favorite of all her books that I have read so far!

Great potential in the plot, but a horrible delivery.......2007-09-26

The plot of this book immediately caught my attention. It's intriguing, controversial, supernatural; something to make people think. With a better writer, this could have been an extraordinary book! Unfortuately, it was painful to read.

Rather than consistently following one character's perspective, the author switched points-of-view frequently and with little warning. For the most part, it was written in first person, present tense, but even that was inconsistent. Sometimes it was first person for Faith (the young girl) and sometimes first person for her mother or her psychologist. Sprinkled throughout were flashbacks that added very little to the plot. I rolled my eyes more than once at the trite dialog. Worst of all, I suffered through the book only to reach an inconclusive end. The final pages sparked more confusion than resolve.

I didn't expect accurate or even consistent theology. I did, however, expect the author to be consistent with her story. I didn't want her characters to match my personal doctrine, but I think did expect the author to understand her characters' beliefs and explain them thoroughly. The end of the book simply highlighted how little the author knew about the world she had created.

Final Thoughts: Painful and disappointing. The plot was fascinating, but the delivery was awful. Not recommended.

It's ok - raises questions.......2007-09-24

I have to agree with a lot of reviewers - this book was predictable and relationships weren't built properly. As I finished the book I felt the author barely had written anything original. So why did I like this book? Even though much of the plot has been done before - I think it's a good book club book. The author puts scenarios together that are great for discussion and reflection. The question of who is God and where is God in our own life is something this book doesn't answer - but seems to point out the need to have thought out answers for ourselves....

Great Read.......2007-09-12

Once again she's done it. I was very sorry when it ended!!! She dealt with a very difficult subject and made it very understandable. Awesome!

Losing Faith in Picoult.......2007-09-11

As an avid Jodi Picoult fan, I was sorely disappointed by this novel. Normally, I can't put down her books while reading them, but by the middle of this one, I was only reading it so that I could finally finish it and move on to something else. It was unengaging at best, and just plain boring at worst. KEEPING FAITH tells the story of a young girl who has a special relationship with God. Page after page, Faith talks to God, Faith performs a miracle, Faith talks to God some more, Faith performs some more miracles, and ooh wow Faith knows things that she couldn't possibly know so it must be real! Not much else happened, save a custody battle toward the end, which was the only aspect of the book I actually found to be engaging. One of the frustrating things was that there wasn't much of a plot to this book. Essentially, after the first twenty pages or so, the plot is pretty stagnant up until the denouement, but the characters are all unsatisfied with things, and then post-exciting climactic stuff, things essentially return to exactly they were before, and that's the end.

One of Jodi Picoult's trademarks are her twist endings, which are often
aren't unexpected, but there was not one single thing about this novel that wasn't completely and utterly predictable. Insecure, self-loathing mother Mariah ends up falling for the "bad boy" atheist Ian. Shock. The worst thing about their relationship was that despite the fact that it was inevitable from before the two characters even laid eyes on one another, Picoult didn't bother to actually develop it. I'm normally a big fan of the bad boy type, and of relationships in which the bad boy falls for someone and finally opens up, but this didn't really happen here. Ian's a jerk one day, then sees Mariah and thinks she looks like an angel and suddenly he's a saint! His insomnia is also instantly cured by her radiant beauty! They're in love and want to live happily ever after, and of course along the way they manage to completely change each other's personalities for the better as well. This takes place over the course of a week or so, naturally.

Nothing is more annoying to me in literature than relationships that aren't developed properly, and while we're on the topic of things that are annoying about this book, let's look at a few other things that just don't quite add up. It seems just a tad unfeasible to me how everyone immediately jumps on the bandwagon and thinks Faith is telling the truth and how much of a celebrity she becomes. If this happened in reality, the only media source covering it would be The National Enquirer. "Hollywood Tonight" would not be covering the story unless Faith decided to sacrifice Paris Hilton to her God, and they certainly wouldn't be camped out on her family's lawn for months at a time. A final note of frustration was the fact that for no apparent reason, the point of view keeps inexplicably switching from first person to third person, which is just jarring enough to throw the reader back out of the story and confusing because it really doesn't seem to serve any purpose. By the end of this novel I was just left wondering what the point of it was.

How to Stay Christian in College: An Interactive Guide to Keeping the Faith

Average customer rating:

cute book
Simply Terrible.
An essential for any up-and-coming college goer
great
sending the wrong message

How to Stay Christian in College: An Interactive Guide to Keeping the Faith
J. Budziszewski
Manufacturer: Navpress Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1576830616

Customer Reviews:

cute book.......2006-05-10

"If students were coming to be told ideas that they arrived at universities with, they would be getting nothing of value here. If they were not to be challenged, if they were not to be forced to rethink the things that they come here as 18-year-olds or 22-year-olds or 25-year-olds with, what in heaven's name would be the point of the university? What in heaven's name would be the point of teaching? If students would just come here with monolithic conventional ideas, and leave here with the same monolithic conventional ideas."
-Rashid Khalidi

In order to become an enlightened individual, one must be willing to critically evaluate all ideas that one comes across. If certain ideas are made exempt from one's rigorous analysis, there is no point in doing the analysis in the first place. To set aside ANY proposition and not thoroughly examine it during one's search for truth is to make the search invalid. Although it is not a crime to enter a university as a Christian and leave as a Christian, students should expect to have their ideas challenged and changed for the better. This does not mean that students should give up their religion, but they certainly should not make a plan of keeping certain ideas no matter what happens. Young college students would do well to keep in mind the fact that their knowledge and experience are limited.

Simply Terrible........2004-04-06

A liberal arts education should teach a student how to think, not what to think. If nothing else, college graduates should leave college with the ability to analyze issues and problems critically so that they can thoughtfully consider and address problems and issues that they face in the real world. For example, professors should not attempt to teach student what to think about homosexuality, abortion, the death penalty, affirmative action or any other social issue of the day. Instead, a college education should provide each student with the tools that will enable him or her to reflect on those issues, critically examine with others say about those issues, and reach his or her own conclusions, based on reason and logic.

To put it bluntly, my understanding of college directly conflicts with that of Mr. Budziszewski. This book is all about teaching people what to think, NOT how to think. In this book, Mr. Budziszewski warns his young reader time and time again that he or she will face different points of view on social issues in college and that he or she must stand firm against such view points. He does not encourage his young readers to listen to what others have to say with an open mind. He does not encourage his young readers to think critically about various social issues and to apply reason and logic to reach their own opinions about those issues. Instead, he demands that they think X about issue Y and not listen to anyone who would say differently. This book may be appropriate for a fundamentalist Christian teenager who has made the sad choice to attend a fundamentalist school where anyone who disagrees with the supposedly "correct" view is shunned. BUT this book is certainly not for any teen who has an open mind, nor any young reader who plans on attending a diverse and vibrant liberal arts college.

An essential for any up-and-coming college goer.......2003-12-10

First off, a note on how to pronounce this guy's last name, which is so helpfully provided at the end of the book: It's Boojee-shefski. There, got that? Took ME long enough!

This book is an essential, and not only for Christians or homeschoolers, but anyone about to enter college. Seeing as how I'm a high school senior now, I found this book excellent prep for what I know I'm getting ready to go through.

In a short 140 pages, J. Budziszewski provides in-depth analysis and information for what to expect in college, and how to deal with it. He discusses how to hang tight to what you know is right, even when close friends, roommates, and peer groups don't. He offers insight on how to cope with non-Christian friends, and counteracts common campus myths, most of them the kind a Christian freshman might not know how to deal with.

He shoots down myths and smokescreens that often render Christians a little lost as to how to respond, even when they know there IS an answer) and brilliantly refutes such myths as moral relativism, atheism, etc.

He offers advice on how to deal with relationships, both friendship and the Deeper Kind, in a chapter that most students will flip right to: Myths about Love and Sex. He offers refreshing encouragement that you CAN stick to your morals and remain chaste in college, and that it's not only obeying God, but rewarding in its own right!

Budziszewsky also hits (briefly) on political issues, something that few can avoid in today's campus life.

Finally, he sums it all up by discussing WHY all this is important, and highlights the fact that you should fit college into God's plan, not God into college plans. He leaves us with a reminder that we are given a purpose in life, a unique meaning of serving the Lord, and how everything around us factors into Eternity, whether we realize it or no.

In case you haven't figured out already, I think this book is brilliant, masterful, and a comprehensive must-have for any up-and-coming collegian. Parents, your sons and daughters are missing out if you don't get this for them. Students, if you can spare the money, this book is guaranteed to give new meaning and purpose into your collegian existence.

great.......2003-04-11

I'm a college student and I'm glad that I got this book, I've been in classes that have attacked the Christian faith. The author avoids Christian cliches, and tells it like it is. He uses humor, gives the facts, and great advice, it'll help the college student as their challenged in the real world. A must for any Christian in college.

sending the wrong message.......2003-03-09

College is a time for developing abstract thinking skills. While this book is well written, it sends college bound teenagers the wrong message. It tells them not to trust their own thoughts and not to consider the ideas presented to them by others (certain "others" that is). This is the whole point of growing up and learning to think for yourself. No teenager should go into college with his or her mind made up about life's important questions . . . these should be constantly revised from birth until death as we gain insight and experience.

Budziszewski tells these teenagers to trust him because he occasionally refers to the Bible. He already assumes they trust the Bible, but why do they? Because older people told them to, or because they explored it and assessed its veracity for themselves?

Book Description

Practical guide addresses issues of faith for battered women—an invaluable resource for victims of domestic violence and the crisis centers that counsel them.

Customer Reviews:

This book is a Gift from God.......2006-03-26

I spent far too long in a verbally and emotionally abusive relationship. I thought it was my duty to stay because I had entered a covanent. A pastor told me that should I leave my marriage, I would have to be alone for the rest of my days unless my abusive husband took another wife or died. I was encouraged over and over to turn the other cheek and remember 77*7 and forgive.

But God heard my cries and led me to a book called Changes that Heal, and I learned that grace would always be available to me. I left my husband and filed for divorce. My abusive husband then pursued me (as is classic in the abuse cycle), was baptized and began to attend my church. The pastors began encouraging me to give my marriage and my husband an opportunity to repent for the sake of our daughter. I kept trying to explain that they didn't understand the abuse or the mind of the abuser enough to encourage more 77*7 (forgiveness). Eventually I relented and my daughter and I moved back in with the abuser.

The abuser was on a roll. He had won. The pattern started again within three months. Within a year, he was constantly used the bible to tell me that I was to obey him and stay with the abuse no matter what. A year later in a rage he threatened a neighbor with a gun in the presence of my daughter, and I walked away for good. But my heart was not at peace.

This book brought me peace like nothing else I've ever experienced. It explained God's views to me in a light I wished I had understood years ago. God is a God of love and grace. This book will teach you how that applies to walking away from abuse. Long suffering was Jesus' role, not the role of the abused spouse. I wished I could hug everyone of you that reads this, because you need someone who has been there and understands. God bless you. Read this book and begin taking care of yourself, the child God loves so much.

Great book for abused Christian women.......2002-11-21

This is a great book for Christian women. I am a victim and was concerned about what the Bible and the Lord would think about me having to get away of my husband because I was in fear of my life. This book points out specific scriptures of what the Bible says about husband's and wives staying together or apart and why it is okay to get away from your husband if he is abusive. I no longer feel guilty about having to get away from my husband. This is an absolutely fabulous book and I would recommend it for any woman who has been abused by her husband.

Highly Recommended by a Police Officer and Counselor.......2002-06-28

As a trainer of police officers on domestic violence response, and as a counselor of survivors, I highly recommend this book for all who suspect they are experiencing intimate partner abuse. It is also very important for family and friends. I have given away at least 20 copies to survivors and will continue to. Religion and faith are a foundation for the worldview of many and Ms. Fortune shows us all how scripture, used properly, can support and liberate victims. Keep copies of this book in stock for your clients, family members, and friends.

Restoring spiritual sanity to abused Christian women.......1999-09-28

This book was purchased and distributed by our local Domestic Violence Shelter to women who's faith stood in the way of their safety and sanity regarding whether or not it is God's will for them to live with abuse. I hope to buy more booklets to have available for this dedicated population.

Honest helpful and loving advice.......1999-03-17

This little book is quick to read and will help give you courage to do what is right. Sometimes Christian women get so bogged down in guilt and the need to save our marriage, that we forget to save ourselves. This book is a must read for anyone in an abusive marriage seeking spiritual guidance. Solid, Christlike interpretation of scripture will offer much needed inspiration and encouragement.

Keeping the Faith: How Applying Spiritual Purpose to Your Work Can Lead to Extraordinary Success

Average customer rating:

Superb-- Candid, Lucid and Helpful
Great Book!

Keeping the Faith: How Applying Spiritual Purpose to Your Work Can Lead to Extraordinary Success
Ana Mollinedo Mims
Manufacturer: Rayo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 006112592X
Release Date: 2007-02-06

Book Description

More than an average author of a how–to–succeed book, Ana Mollinedo Mims is on a mission. A devout Christian herself, Ana has blended what has brought her to the top of her game, as an executive at a Fortune 500 company, with the faith–based philosophy she believes is the foundation for her finding meaning, and thus success, in all aspects of her professional life.

The principles Ana discusses in this book–faith, integrity, humility, prayer, forgiveness, stewardship, and legacy–are concepts which have carried her well into a very distinguished career. They are principles that underlie a spirit–led career she believes is possible for anyone wanting to give purpose to the single most time–consuming aspect of all our lives: work.

Keeping The Faith looks at some of the common struggles all people face at various stages of their working lives–helping readers to remain true to what they deeply believe. From her own experiences, Ana shows us that when difficulties and doubts are confronted using her unique take on spiritual pragmatism, each difficulty can extend itself into success, growth, and a clearer understanding of one's self, and one's own sense of professional purpose.

Ana believes that the answers or the outcomes in each case will become clearer, more deeply satisfying, more "right," when one is able to shift one's line of sight, and consider what it means to blend a working life together with devoutly spiritual one.

Customer Reviews:

Superb-- Candid, Lucid and Helpful.......2007-07-13

Hats off to Ana Mollinedo Mims for this candid. lucid and helpful book. Ms. Mims's excellent advice-- with one caveat, see below-- is spot on for most of those who wish to apply spiritual purpose to their work. Ms. Mims describes her relationship with God vividly and directly, and writes compellingly of how she uses her spiritual convictions to shape her professional life, work effectively with superiors and colleagues, strive for work-life balance, and deal with even the most difficult challenges related to the life of a working person.

Ms. Mims writes powerfully and persuasively about managing workplace ethics issues, negotiating assignments and salary, deciding whether to stay or leave a workplace, and dealing with difficult colleagues and toxic office environments. Her experiences attest to the power and relevance of spiritual convictions in addressing daily challenges, and her voice is moving and direct.

Ms. Mims is especially helpful because of the range of difficulties that she has encountered. She writes, for example, of weathering a venal office environment in which her colleagues refuse even to address her, confessing that she is still bewildered about the purpose behind this experience. It is possible that Ms. Mims was given this test in order to give hope to others who are faced with similar challenges, as well as to bear witness to the ability to transcend such difficulties with the help of faith. Ms. Mims' ability to share her struggles as well as her successes with honesty differentiates this book from many other volumes of workplace advice.

My one caveat about Keeping the Faith is that Ms. Mims writes from a strictly Christian perspective, and makes no effort to broaden her narrative to include those of other faith traditions. If you are not a Christian, be aware that Ms. Mims' wording is not inclusive and be prepared to interpret her advice in the context of your own beliefs. That said, Ms. Mims' suggestions are widely applicable (with appropriate interpretation by the reader) across variety of spiritual or religious traditions.

Great Book!.......2007-05-16

I stumbled upon this book on a table in Borders as I was nearing the end of a 5 year long, painful ordeal at work. This is a must read for anyone trying to live out their faith in the workplace. It is clear and well-ordered and extremely practical. The author clearly has lived out what she writes about and it is encouraging to see. No one goes through work pain-free any longer, this book is an excellent guide to living victoriously in the midst of difficult situations as well as a guide to successful leadership in good times. I highly recommend this book.

Keeping Faith: A Father-Son Story About Love and the United States Marine Corps

Average customer rating:

Good insight
Story cold be lighter - way too many details
Father and Son Mature Together
Outstanding book for today's turbulent world
An Excellent book on many levels

Keeping Faith: A Father-Son Story About Love and the United States Marine Corps
John Schaeffer , and Frank Schaeffer
Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0786710977

Book Description

In 1998, Frank Schaeffer was a successful novelist living in “Volvo-driving, higher-education worshipping” Massachusetts with two children graduated from top universities. Then his youngest child, straight out of high school, joined the U.S. Marine Corps. Written in alternating voices by eighteen-year-old John and his father, Frank, Keeping Faith takes readers in riveting fashion through a family’s experience of the U.S. Marine Corps. From being broken down and built back up on Parris Island (and being the parent of a child undergoing that experience), to the growth of both father and son and their separate reevaluations of what it means to serve. From Frank’s realization that among his fellow soccer dads “the very words ‘boot camp’ were pejorative, conjuring up ‘troubled youths at risk’ “ to John’s learning that “the Marine next to you is more important than you are,” Keeping Faith is a fascinating and personal reconsideration of issues of class, duty, and patriotism. But as John and his fellow recruits battle to make the cut—and John’s family struggles to deal with the worry and separation, it is also an extremely timely, moving, and wonderfully written human interest story—a moving chronicle of love, duty and patriotism in contemporary America. “Beautifully written ... great insight and unselfconscious humor.”—Publishers Weekly

Customer Reviews:

Good insight.......2007-04-10

My son joine the USMC early this year and recently graduated. My father was in the USMC as was my brothers and myself! We use to live at Parris Island, SC and I grew up seeing recruit training not only experiencing it. I would recommend this book if you or someone you know is either considering joining or has a son or daughter thinking about it. It does not 'candy coat' the experience. The vendor I purchased it from was quick and very courteous. It arrived in excellent condition and I'll order through them again! [...]

Story cold be lighter - way too many details.......2007-02-16

I had heard Mr. Schaeffer speak about his book and was anxious to get it for my husband. I am trying to read it now but it just keeps dragging on. He is a much better conversationalist. I am only one-third of the way through and I find myself having a hard time picking it up to finish. Maybe you need to be a military man to enjoy it. Yet again, his interview about the book was terrific!!!

Father and Son Mature Together.......2007-01-15

First, a disclaimer. I am a retired Naval officer who spent a good amount of his career working with Marine Corps enlisted men. I have an unashamed bias towards the Corps.

This book works at several levels. It shows the growth of a unruly but very bright young man and how he reacts to and comes to understand the hard discipline of an elite combat organization.

The father, a country club liberal, is consoled by his social circle when the son joins the Marines (as an enlisted man, yet) while their children go off to Ivy League schools. The father comes to accept his son's decision, then becomes proud of the choice and what it has led to.

It draws a stark picture of how discipline is instilled in a group of young men and women being trained for the most bitter kind of combat. And it shows the loyalty they develop for the Corps and importantly, towards their fellow Marines. The latter part of the book has several poignant scenes -- aspiring Marines helping a physically weak but dedicated young Puerto Rican boy through the trials of the final week of testing. He had the right stuff, he was one of them and they made sure he succeeded. It shows the tenderness they exhibited to a young, pregnant, unmarried female Marine after she and her boyfriend are separated during training.

Whatever one's feeling towards the military, this shows how pride and discipline are developed and how important they are for a military force.

Outstanding book for today's turbulent world.......2006-07-31

The Schaeffer's (John and Frank) have created an outstanding down-to-earth masterpiece memoir in today's glut of oversensationalized and gaudy celebrity biographies. Reading how both father and son communicated and felt during the trials and tribulations of USMC boot camp and beyond, I felt drawn back to the experiences of my past, similar yet different.

Most parents would not completely agree with their child's decision to join the armed forces - however, a few choose to respect and honor those wishes, however they might personally feel. Worth the price and time to read.

An Excellent book on many levels.......2006-06-21

Schaeffer's book is so good on so many levels. It has left me thinking about his family and all Marines like I never have before. This book will touch you if you have a child going to the military, already left for the military, or just if you have a child leaving home. It is, at it's core, a father-son love story. But the author makes so many discoveries about himself and about America during his experience. He realizes what a great country America is and that one of the main reasons is that our sons and daughters have been willing to fight to maintain our freedoms. He also learns how many Americans, especially the liberal tree-hugging, Volvo driving, East Coast hippies view him and his son after learning that he's going to the Marines rather than an elite institution of higher education. What his son does learn from the Marines is much more valuable than anything taught within the Ivy League.

Hope Dies Last: Keeping the Faith in Difficult Times

Average customer rating:

Maintaining Hope in Challenging Times
Hope Dies Last: Keeping the Faith in Difficult Times
Thank you, Mr. Terkel. A true American asset right here.
Studs Terkel keeps getting better !
Read the words of those walking the walk

Hope Dies Last: Keeping the Faith in Difficult Times
Studs Terkel
Manufacturer: New Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1565848373

Amazon.com

While American military forces seek to defeat an enemy that has no nation and American citizens ponder a future inextricably linked to the threat of terrorism, legendary writer Studs Terkel steps forward with a remarkable volume of oral histories that sheds new light on fighting for a just cause in uncertain times. As the title of Hope Dies Last suggests, Terkel's interviews all deal with the notion of finding hope in difficult times and holding on to that hope (of a better job, a better life, justice, peace) despite often overwhelming odds. Terkel draws his subjects from an incredibly broad range of backgrounds: pardoned Illinois death row inmate Leroy Orange discusses the events of his life, 94-year-old famed economist John Kenneth Galbraith talks about Enron, undocumented Guatemalans tell of trying to merely survive in modern America. While each testimonial is compelling in its own way, they combine to form a mosaic of human tenacity. Often, as in the case of 1960s civil rights activists, the subjects' ideas are accepted in the long run, for others, including a resident of Chicago's Cabrini Green housing project, the struggle is only just beginning. Terkel, 91 years old at the time of this book's publication, draws from a wealth of human experience but is spry enough to take on new causes and skillfully profile youthful activists with emerging causes. And Hope Dies Last is still a Studs Terkel book, full of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author's brand of blue-collar, rabble-rousing, union-card-waving brand of broad shouldered Chicago liberalism that makes the current wave of political writers seem a bit green and petty by comparison. For all of their success in selling books that accuse one another of being liars and idiots, those writers would do well to get out and meet even a few of the people that Studs Terkel has been talking to for years. --John Moe

Book Description

The renowned oral historian turns his attention to the aspirations of "the American century."

I feel there's gonna be a change, but we're the ones gonna do it, not the government. With us there's a saying, "La esperenza muera ultima. Hope dies last." You can't lose hope. If you lose hope, you lose everything.—Jessie de la Cruz, retired farm worker

Studs Terkel's marvelous oral histories have hitherto dealt with specifics, as he puts it "the visceral stuff — the job, race, age and death." While Terkel's chosen theme here, the incandescence of hope, might at first appear elusive, it is anything but abstract. For Terkel, hope is born of activism, commitment, and the steely determination to resist.

The spirit of activism has ebbed and flooded through Terkel's venerable life. In the Great Depression of the 1930s he recalls a man swinging from a chandelier at the Astor Hotel shouting for "Social Security!" In the 1960s it was African Americans and students who advocated for equal rights and an end to maladventure overseas. And now, in a new century, young and old are joining forces on the streets to say no to war. The spark of activism is igniting the precious idea of a better world once again.

The interviews in Hope Dies Last constitute an alternative history of the "American century," forming a legacy of the indefatigable spirit that Studs has always embodied, and an inheritance for those who, by taking a stand, are making concrete the dreams of today.

Customer Reviews:

Maintaining Hope in Challenging Times.......2004-11-25

HOPE DIES LAST is an oral history of various personalities collected by renowned social commentator Studs Terkel. Terkel has collected stories from just about every conceivable category of people: teachers, politicians, clergy people, business people, young people, and old people, you name it, the group is probably represented in this book. Each oral history tells the story of someone who has maintained hope in a challenging or difficult moment. The situations vary, but each is meant to help us navigate in these very trying and uncertain days after September 11, 2001.

In his introduction, Terkel says that "Hope never trickles down. It always springs up." This book will certainly help people see that hope does spring up in third world countries, in violent city streets, in classrooms, churches, and just about everywhere else. This book will be helpful for just about anyone, whether facing a challenge or not. Teachers and clergy people will find the book very helpful since so much of the work of educators and members of eth clergy is keeping faith alive.

Hope Dies Last: Keeping the Faith in Difficult Times.......2004-04-13

Hope Dies Last: Keeping the Faith in Difficult Times by Studs Terkel, The New Press, 2003 p. 326

Studs Terkel lends understanding to what it means to be an American by letting Americans speak. His newest addition in his long and celebrated list of books offers a collection of interviews with hopeful people or "hopeholders", history chroniclers, the celebrated and the un-knows. "In the following pages are portraits of the inheritors of the legacy of those past. They range in age from nonagenarians to young ones in their twenties".

Mr. Terkel is free-thinker. He holds a flame of hope. "As we enter the new millennium, hope appears to be an American attribute that has vanished for many, no matter what their class or condition in life. The official word has never been more arrogantly imposed. Passivity, in the face of such a bold, unabashed show of power from above, appears to be the order of the day. But it ain't necessarily so." His interviewer's selection reflects his viewpoint.

I first read his books to bone up on the art of interviewing. My horizons expanded upon reading interviews with various folks such as World War II heroines and heros, and those that had experienced death close up. Now, I read Studs Terkel books for the joy of learning about whatever he finds of interest. My burning question remain: How does he get people to open up, spill their guts, and let their hearts and human spirits shine through?

His introduction offers answers in his guiding voice. He is someone that's lived a free man's life, met amazing people, done amazing things, stood up for what he believed was right, and he is still going strong. His "voice" is that of a "regular guy". He's the kind of individual that has wisdom, wisdom enough to guide you as well as let you decide things for yourself. That seems to help his subjects to "open up".

Those that have read previous Studs Terkel books will not be disappointed with his latest book, Hope Dies Last. Those new to Terkel...well.... Sit back and enjoy and be prepared to be motivated. "Activism need not be a profession in itself, as it is in many cases here. It can be in the writing of a letter to the editor or to your congressperson; it can be in taking part in a local action or a national one, or, for that matter, a worldwide one".

Thank you, Mr. Terkel. A true American asset right here........2004-01-14

Studs Terkel. I apologize, I cannot continue without prefacing my review without a word or two about this great man, and I am not normally effusive in my praise.

If you wanted someone to try and model your life on, you could do far worse than to choose Studs Terkel. Anyone today could live to be 200 and not see and experience half of what this man has. He was born May 14, 1912, and at the age of 91, he is still going strong. Talk about endurance, about transcending time. My hats off to Terkel.

Anyway, to the review, as you might expect if you've read anything else by Terkel, he continues his intriguing and beguiling brand of oral history, transmitted to us through the written word. His many works have touched on many periods, and many themes, but in this book, Terkel examines hope.

More importantly, Terkel in this book views hope as marked by resistance, activism, working to change the world or make it a better place. It is easy in these times to become dismissive... in an interview Terkel said before he wrote the book, he had the feeling that the nation was as apathetic and hopeless as it hadn't been in a long time. To some extent, that rings true.

But this book isn't just a foray into a depressing land with no hopes or prospects. Some of the military personnel have rather bleak things to say about the future, but despair is the flip side of the coin to hope - to talk about one without speaking about the other would be pointless.

The book's framework is this: Terkel examines how people have perservered, lived, strived, propsered, and died throughout recent American history. Famous people. Unknown people. People from all walks of life. Teachers, social workers, and politicians share the stage with unknown alcoholics, refugees, and disease victims. The results are not uniformly happy, but that is not important - the presence of hope in the face of what you would think of as unendurable odds is the theme. Hope, and its many forms - hope for life, hope for happiness, hope for change, hope for sheer survival.

If I've made this book sound like some kind of "Chicken Soup for the Soul," let me assure you, it isn't. It isn't candy-coated, dumbed-down, or an overly cheery insult to your intelligent. It won't eradicate anyone's cynicism, but I have to think that most people would come away from reading this book feeling better about their country and its inhabitants than before they read it... coming away a little changed themselves as well. And really, what more can you ask for in a book?

I would heartily recommend this book to anyone.

Studs Terkel keeps getting better !.......2003-12-06

Once again, I find myself trapped with a Studs Terkel book. Each book of his I read is better than the one before. This one is a wonder-I'm thinking of ordering several for gifts, one even for my Priest.
Easy reading, well organized & great topic.He is a literary treasure.

Read the words of those walking the walk.......2003-10-19

Give yourself a treat and savor the gift Studs gave us of the words of those out there fighting the good fight. From Dennis Kucinich to Frances Moore Lappe to Kathy Kelly to John Kenneth Galbraith, the words come from the heart. They tell the stories of their families, describe their work and why they keep at it.

Roberta Lynch,"I remember back to the Harold Washington campaign. I was a lakefront coordinator. I remember these efforts to build black political power in the city. People felt like it was rolling a rock up a hill, and here comes the Harold Washington campaign, and it's like an explosion.

You get the sense that history can surprise us, always. It's those surprises that break through the deadening, stultifying consensus that gives people a sense, Yes! We can."

Keeping Hope Alive
<i>for A Tomorrow We Cannot Control</i>
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Keeping Hope Alive for A Tomorrow We Cannot Control
Lewis Smedes
Manufacturer: Thomas Nelson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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In this fearful and cynical age, when doom-and-gloomers forecast catastrophe and fearmongers try to get us to hedge our bets on the future with insurance policies and safety nets, we need to rediscover real hope. Lewis Smedes says, "Hope is as native to our spirits as thinking is to our brain. Keep hoping, and you keep living. Stop hoping, and you start dying." He shows how hope powers every good thing we accomplish and helps us overcome every bad thing we encounter. He talks about how to keep hope alive in difficult times, discern false hope from true hope, and move beyond worry to trust in God.

Keeping Faith: Philosophy and Race in America

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Keeping Faith: Philosophy and Race in America
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In this powerful collection by one of today's leading African American intellectuals, Keeping Faith situates the current position of African Americans, tracing the geneology of the "Afro-American Rebellion" from Martin Luther King to the rise of black revolutionary leftists. In Cornel West's hands issues of race and freedom are inextricably tied to questions of philosophy and, above all, to a belief in the power of the human spirit.

The Idea that Is America: Keeping Faith with Our Values in a Dangerous World

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Not cynicism, not nationalism, but patriotism
An especially strong pick
We torture because we care
Not a defense of the ideas
Disingenuous (2.5 *s)

The Idea that Is America: Keeping Faith with Our Values in a Dangerous World
Anne-Marie Slaughter
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Book Description

A leading voice in global affairs calls us back to America's founding principles--and shows how they can guide us forward into the twenty-first century.

When Army Captain Ian Fishback decided to blow the whistle on prisoner abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan, he posed the central question facing America in the new century:

"Will we confront danger in order to preserve our ideals, or will courage and commitment to individual rights wither at the prospect of sacrifice?... I would rather die fighting than give up even the smallest part of the idea that is 'America.'"

But what is this idea? George W. Bush waged war in Iraq in the name of American values--liberty and democracy. His critics in the United States and around the world also use the language of values, and attack him for deceiving a nation to wage an unjust war. What are the values that America truly stands for?

In The Idea That Is America, a preeminent foreign policy scholar eloquently reminds us of the essential principles on which our nation was established: liberty, democracy, equality, tolerance, faith, justice, and humility. Our ongoing struggle to live up to America's great promise matters not only to us, but also to the billions of men and women everywhere who look to the United States to lead, protect, and inspire the world. In The Idea That Is America, Anne-Marie Slaughter shows us the way forward.

Customer Reviews:

Not cynicism, not nationalism, but patriotism.......2007-09-03

What is the point of required courses in American history? It would be easy to dismiss the history lessons that we were taught in high school as revisionist propaganda to indoctrinate us with idealized pilgrims, patriots, pioneers, and transcendental pragmatists. Yet, more honest histories intended to correct the myths, such as James W. Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong and Carolyn Baker's U.S. History Uncensored: What Your High School Textbook Didn't Tell You, cynically reveal a dark and sinister past that fails to teach us what distinguishes America from Afghanistan or central Africa (other than geography and the efficient exploitation of rich natural resources). It doesn't help that we live in a time obsessed with rewriting the present through an entire industry devoted to political `spin' and what Stephen Colbert has aptly named "truthiness." Witness the hypocrisies and inconsistencies of our efforts to bring democracy to middle eastern oil-states, even while our special interest groups routinely buy political favors, to celebrate our system of justice, yet enable the war crimes of Abu Ghraib and Guatanamo, to rally to the cause of environmentalism while using natural resources at a per capita rate that exceeds almost all major first-world nations by a wide margin.
What makes Dr. Slaughter's new book, The Idea that is America so important is that, by refocusing the history of our past deeds as a struggle to live up to our shared principles, it presents a third alternative to hopeless cynicism and blind nationalism. Slaughter, in this storied and passionate book, admits in detail troubling aspects of our country's unglorified past and present, while also providing a clear expression of our founding ideals and how they might lead us out of impotence. It is our values, she states, our deeply-held belief in the ideas of liberty, democracy, equality, justice, tolerance, humility and faith that can help us to illuminate our shadows again and again, and to find a way to see beyond them to a more hopeful future. It was our belief in freedom, for example, that led to the end of slavery, our belief in democracy that gave women and blacks the right to vote, and even our belief in justice and limited executive power that inspired the impeachment of Nixon.
Thinking of those times in our history when adherence to our founding principles sparked changes that we now take for granted, I can, at least for the moment, feel guardedly patriotic (though decidedly not nationalistic). Slaughter never suggests that this war between a history of ideals and reality is easy. Rather she depicts it as a long and intensely deliberate process. And we should not expect a happy ending. Rather we should not see an ending at all, only a process that we are all a part of, one we should all be a part of, to the best of our abilities.

An especially strong pick.......2007-07-27

For over a year Army Captain Ian Fishback struggled to get his superiors to respond to the prisoner abuse he witnessed repeatedly in Iraq and Afghanistan: thwarted he finally contacted Senator John McCain and questioned the diminishing American ideals which would sacrifice individual rights for the greater good. Here foreign policy scholars Anne-Marie Slaughter discusses the foundations of American beliefs - liberty, equality, justice and faith - and considers how these values should be upheld in modern times. THE IDEA THAT IS AMERICA: KEEPING FAITH WITH OUR VALUES IN A DANGEROUS WORLD is an especially strong pick for high school and college-level collections strong in social and political issues and debates.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

We torture because we care.......2007-07-04

Anyone whose code of conduct is along the lines of "I don't initiate violence or deception" and "I take only what I earn" will not enjoy reading this book.

The basic premise is that the "western democracies" are morally superior to the rest of the world (been to Amsterdam lately?), that this results in them ("us"--she feels that she speaks for the rest of us) fighting "with one hand tied behind their backs" (her words), but we must (so she claims) continue to uphold OUR (but not my) values. Personally, I don't share ANY of her values. She takes for granted that the rest of us value "equality" as much as she apparently does. I say "all slaves are equal". I say criminals and welfare cheats are not my "equals".

She blithely uses expressions like "humanitarian interventionism"--never mind the Mosul-Haifa oil pipeline. It is loaded with socialistic "doing good and helping others" language, mixed in with crocodile tears for the "other side" in language that is extremely condescending, designed to lure Lefties into the "we torture because we care" mindset that reminds me of British propaganda circa 1800s, when they rescued the diamonds and gold and saved the world from Boer savagery (by summarily executing Boer men and boys and putting their women into concentration camps).

Not a defense of the ideas.......2007-07-02

Saw Dr. Slaughter interviewed on Charlie Rose and knew I had to buy the book. Slaughter is sharp, enjoyable to listen to, and among those with an academic record that is bound to impress. So I thought the book was going to be an enlightening argument for the values or ideas that make America the wonderful place that it is. The book does go into an interesting analysis of those ideas that might flow most trippingly off a patriotic tongue but in the end I was disappointed since there is no postmodern attempt to defend those values or even the appearance of the dilemma imposed by contemporary epistemological fact/value dichotomies. I still feel certain Dr. Slaughter is familiar with these issues and would offer a great resource in arguing for a perspective on them but it is not part of this book. Perhaps Dr. Slaughter will visit this other topic which might give better insights in the long run.

Disingenuous (2.5 *s).......2007-06-30

This book was prompted by the unilateral and baseless invasion of Iraq in 2003 with the fantastical notion that democracy would be installed there. The author maintains that we - America - have lost our way in the world. We must return to our core values to right ourselves and provide world leadership. The author contends that the Declaration of Independence (DOI) written some 230 years ago by some very highly-educated, elite country gentlemen was and is a statement of our values. In it she finds our primary values to be liberty, democracy, equality, and justice. She would add tolerance, humility, and faith to the list of our values. Unfortunately she provides little real-world support for this basic contention.

The DOI served a legitimating purpose at the time; it is not in any sense a governing document. As far as its current relevance to values - few people in America could recall even so much as one line of it. A more valid description of America is that it is a nation of laws. If something is legal or not illegal it can be done, irrespective of adherence to any "values." A nation is a concept; it does not have values. Citizens of a nation have values. The author makes no attempt to discover the values of actual citizens of America. Furthermore, she should have considered to what extent her listed values are mere rhetoric for convenience or special occasions with little real adherence or applicability.

The author readily admits that the values that she finds in the DOI have a very spotty record in our history. She acknowledges that our fundamental value liberty has repeatedly been violated starting at our founding with slavery with any number of episodes of intolerance of dissent, red-scare tactics, round-ups of innocents, etc. Even today barriers are placed on some to vote - a basic right of participation in a democracy - not to mention the necessity to buy political office with huge sums of campaign money. Once elections are completed, the rich have immediate access to government - so much for democracy. The convenient fiction that equal opportunity is a reality in America does little to hide the extraordinary gaps in wealth that have broad social consequences and do affect all so-called values.

The author has nothing to say about the fact the basic rights enumerated in the Constitution only apply in the public realm. Most life takes place in the private world - domiciles, retail establishments, and work places. In the last two, there are no rights. Her values do not apply there - no liberty, democracy, equality, etc. If those are our core values, why do they disappear in areas where we spend most of our time?

The author implies that America has higher values than other nations, although her litany of abuses should have dissuaded her of that. The unpleasant fact that the author refuses to mention is that huge, trans-national corporations dominate America in both private and public affairs. Of course, corporations are soulless entities. Self-interests are the values that corporations recognize. Any concerns with values are only to assure the bottom line. For the most part, huge corporations do what they can to undermine such values as liberty, democracy, equality, and justice for ordinary Americans especially when they conflict with corporate interests.

The individuals that hold both elected and non-elected offices at both the federal and state levels have all passed a corporate litmus test with very few exceptions. Policies pursued or not pursued are entirely consistent with corporate interests. Other than to pass corporate friendly legislation and to deregulate, corporations do not want competent, accountable government. Katrina and Iraq are fine examples of governmental ineptitude or pro-corporate actions.

It is unfair for the author to call for "we" to return to our values. In the first place, she has not established what our actual values are. Secondly, who are the "we" that drive our policies? One thing is for certain, most people in this country have virtually no input into our policies. The author needs to get serious about values: what are they, who has them, and who determines which values predominate in America. That is the book that needs to be written.

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One Man's Faith Journey
Enlightening personal tale
Great guide to beginning a spiritual journey!

Keeping Faith: A Skeptic's Journey
Fenton Johnson
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

Observing an encounter between Catholic and Buddhist monks in 1996 at the Abbey of Gethsemani, near where he grew up in rural Kentucky, Fenton Johnson found himself unable to make the sign of the cross. His distance from his childhood faith had become so great -- he considered himself a rational, skeptical man -- that he could not participate in this most basic ritual. Impelled by this troubling experience, Johnson began a search for the meaning of the spiritual life, a journey that took him from Gethsemani to the San Francisco Zen Center, through Buddhism and back to Christianity, from paralyzing doubt to a life-enriching faith. Keeping Faith explores the depths of what it means for a skeptic to have and to keep faith. Johnson grew up with the Trappist monks, but rejected institutionalized religion as an adult. While living as a member of the Gethsemani community and the Zen Center, however, he learned to practice Christian rituals with a new discipline and studied Buddhist meditation, which brought him a new understanding of the deep relationship between sexuality and faith, body and spirit. Changed in profound ways, Johnson ultimately turned back to his childhood faith, now inflected with the accumulated wisdom of his journey. Johnson interweaves memoir, the personal and often shocking stories of Buddhist and Christian monks, and a revealing history of the contemplative life in the West. He offers lay Christians an understanding of the origins and history of their contemplative traditions and provides the groundwork needed to challenge orthodox understandings of spirituality. No matter their backgrounds, readers will find Keeping Faith a work of great power and immediacy.

Customer Reviews:

One Man's Faith Journey.......2007-03-07

After Reading Scissors, Paper, Rock, I was anxious to read more of Fenton Johnson's work. Keeping faith is a very different book in that it is non-fiction, deeply spiritual and very personal. The book basically consists of three parts, although the boundaries between the sections are not altogether precise. The first and longest part discusses Mr. Johnson's journey of searching for what faith means to him as a lapsed and disenfranchised Roman Catholic. The second part discusses the historical background of monasticism, shedding new light on church history (at least for me). The third part deals with Mr. Johnson's integration of his understanding of church history and personal experience to find a way to reclaim his personal faith. He very strongly emphasizes that searching for faith is a journey that never ends.

For me, as a gay man, the most interesting part of Keeping Faith is the understanding of the juxtapositioning of Christian materialism (the incarnate Christ) with the emphasis on celibacy, as seen through a Buddhist lens. This discussion opened new vistas of understanding that help me integrate sexuality with faith.

The journey, being very personal, sometimes makes for strange sequencing in the text. I really had to work at following Mr. Johnson's train of thought at times. But the writing itself is very clear and precise, much like in Scissors, Paper, Rock.

Enlightening personal tale.......2004-12-26

As the author moves into history and doctrine in the second and third sections of this book, I was often tempted to quibble. His comments about sexuality and religion ignored the Buddhist tantric tradition of Tibet, his discussion of St. Augustine ignored Augustine's "God became man that man might become God," he accepts the questional premise of the feminine goddess preceding the masculine god as universal ... However, this "imprecision" is a strength in this book. The book is a personal account of an individual's working through of issues regarding religious institutions, spirituality and dogma through his exploration of monasticism in the Zen Buddhist and Latin Rite Catholic traditions. It is not the work of a religious scholar - historian, theologian or spiritual director.

The issues for Fenton Johnson revolve most strongly around the issues of sexuality, sexual abuse, discrimination by gender or sexual preference ... What is most impressive about his account, is the gradual change in his questions - as his questions become better formulated, tentative answers begin to form. In these questions and answers, the author recognizes the similarity of the religious journey as experienced through different paths. He learns to question and address his anger towards the institutional Catholic Church.

The end of the journey as reported at the end of this volume implies significant room for and capacity to further modifications of his view. I would readily recommend this book to individual's seeking a role for faith in their lives. Fenton Johnson's account of his personal search should encourage others to recognize that in their struggle and skepticism they are not alone, that there are at least partial answers available if they learn to frame their questions appropriately.

Great guide to beginning a spiritual journey!.......2004-02-25

This is a fantastic book. As someone who has been working hard to understand religion and its influence on western culture, I have to say this book is a great first step. I found Johnson asked many of the same questions that I was asking. He then did the legwork to answer those questions, always including plenty of support for his points. Often, I would read a paragraph and write a thought about it in my reading journal only to reach the end of the page and find the exact thought I had just written right there in the book. This was like reading a book about myself...and yet it would seem johnson (a middle aged gay man who lives in san francisco) and I who am an 18 year old female and have rarely been out of my sheltered hometown in Idaho would have little in common. This is a fantastic book and has provided guidance for where to go next on this journey which will no doubt be quite long indeed. I recommend this book to anyone who is ready to begin a spiritual quest.

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