Last week, I reviewed two books with sobering messages (namely, our food is making us sick and our military is spending more and more of our money). So in the spirit of yin and yang, here are two books with a distinctly more upbeat tone.
1) Jan Egeland A Billion Lives: An Eyewitness Report from the Frontlines of Humanity (2008).
On paper, you wouldn’t think there is much to cheer about this book’s central focus. Jan Egeland was United Nations Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs in the late 1990’s and then U.N. Relief Coordinator from 2003-2006. In this capacity, he has overseen wars in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Congo, Burundi, Sudan, Uganda, Lebanon, Kosovo, East Timor, Nepal, and Iraq. In addition, he has supervised relief efforts after earthquakes in Pakistan and Iran, droughts in the Horn of Africa, and the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. This book offers first-hand (grim and grisly) accounts of these man-made and natural tragedies.
But that is not all, according to the author. A further pestilence continues to threaten the world’s population, particularly the powerless and unprotected. Egeland writes, “A billion lives are still at stake at humanity’s front lines. This is the number of fellow human beings without drinking water, daily food, or even a dollar a day to survive on” (xii).
Incredibly, despite this rather bleak context, Egeland’s book is meant to be a signal of hope for humanity’s future. In fact, at one point, he even observes: “(F)or the majority of people, the world is getting better. There is more peace, more people are fed and educated, and fewer are forced to become refugees than a generation ago” (xi).
The author never spells out in detail exactly how, given the crises around the world today, we are meant to feel confident about our planet’s future. The closest he gets to a specific explanation is in the conclusion where he argues for the need of intergovernmental agencies (such as those operated by the UN), governmental institutions (working on behalf of individual governments), and non-governmental organizations (NGO’s such as Oxfam and the Red Cross) to cooperate together so that those unlucky enough to live in war-torn or naturally-ravaged territories can receive assistance and nurturance from the lucky few who live in relative peace and comfort.
Nevertheless, it’s difficult not to share Egeland’s enthusiasm and optimism. After all, if he has personally witnessed all this suffering, yet has still maintained a faith in humanity and human organizations after two decades of humanitarian work, then shouldn’t we also join the bandwagon?
2) Frances Moore Lappe Getting a Grip: Clarity, Creativity, and Courage in a World Gone Mad (2008)
Perhaps Jan Egeland has been reading Frances Moore Lappe (best-selling author of Diet for a Small Planet). Her intention is to show her readers how to escape the straightjacket of despair and powerlessness that seems to have taken a firm grip on our planet. “The barrier is in our heads” (xiv), she argues. We have become “stuck in an unworkable mental map” (18) that encourages passivity and pessimism. If only we could break out of this cycle of hopelessness.
According to Lappe, we need to learn how to move away from “thin democracy” (governed by greed, competition, corporate irresponsibility, concentrated wealth, fear, and depression) and embrace “living democracy” (governed by fairness, cooperation, community spirit, and problem-solving attitudes). Like Egeland, she does not provide extensive details as to how this transformation might occur. Most of her emphasis rests on the importance of “empowerment frames”---ways of looking at the world and your place in it. Lappe carries the hope that if we change our frames, we can lead by example. While I agree with much of this, I would also have appreciated a more specific description of how the reader can use specific frames to deconstruct specific narratives that have traditionally disempowered populations.
Nevertheless, both books serve as inspiring antidotes to last week’s topics. So I recommend keeping these books on your living-room coffee table so you can dip into them when the world’s pressing problems are getting you down.
8 comments on Summer Reading: Hope
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sounds like a soul-searching experience, Lappe's book sounds like it taps into some very intriguing topics. although i havent read it, fairness cooperation and competitiveness sound like some pretty common topics on alot of discussions about american morale.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful info.
I wish I could get hold of the present as well as the books you reviewed earlier.
Khadim-- Portions of these books are accessible through the Internet. I recommend starting with an engine search (Google, for example). In particular, the book by Nick Turse is quite enlighening.
Professor Burton.,
Great books! I’ve also began my summer reading, with a slightly different tone- beginning with Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye.”
In response to Pollan’s book. I think that we live in a culture of “go go go,” “work work work,” an economy where gas prices reach almost $5 a gallon (shudder), and vegetables on average cost 18 times that of foods filled with fat- With that being said, how are we expected to “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants” and maintain pleasurable and nourishing diets, when our very own culture and economy contradicts "health and happiness as eaters?"
“fatter, sicker, and more poorly nourished.” Is it really our faults?
On the other hand, I think that I’ll pick up Lappe’s book sometime this week! It’s so hard to empower our frames when we are constantly looking through the lenses of “Thin democracy.” I have found that books such as this really help in escaping such mental barriers. Also, I’ve seen many frames empowered by simply seeking refuge (every so often) in areas that promote “living democracy”- by reading inspiring work, surrounding oneself with leaders and believers of hope (e.g., church), even through yoga.
“If we change our frames, we can lead by example.” I think we need more people with the heart strength and fortitude to lead.
As always, thanks for writing!
Thanks Rob. I found several excerpts on the Internet. I want to see what results would it give if Turse is read with Ayesha Siddiqua's Military Inc., written on the military of Pakistan.
Yes, Jessica. Great stuff. I think you are one of those leaders with "strength + fortitude."
Khadim: Siddiqua's book does, indeed, look like a mirror image of Turse's book. That's a powerful coincidence (or maybe not as much of a coincidence as at first appears).