Guest guest Posted August 31, 2004 Report Share Posted August 31, 2004 http://www.soulofacitizen.org/newimp/impindex.htm THE IMPOSSIBLE WILL TAKE A LITTLE WHILE: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear Basic Books $15.95 August 17, 2004 ISBN 0-465-04166-3 People need hope more than ever in difficult political times---like these. That's why I've created this anthology, mixing my own essays with the voices of some of the most eloquent writers and activists around. Think Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou, Arundhati Roy, Tony Kushner, and V clav Havel. Alice Walker, Jonathan Kozol, Diane Ackerman, Susan Griffin, and Marian Wright Edelman. Cornel West, Terry Tempest Williams, Jim Hightower, Desmond Tutu, and Howard Zinn. I believe readers will draw strength from their ideas on how we keep on working for a more humane world, replenish the wellspring of our commitment, and continue no matter how hard it sometimes seems I've included pieces that explore the historical, political, ecological and spiritual frameworks that help us to persist-- with concrete examples of how people have faced despair and overcome it. Some directly address our current time. Others examine what it was like to confront South African apartheid, the Eastern European dictatorships, or Mississippi's entrenched segregation. Political hope and personal hope are intertwined, of course. What lets us work for change is related to what keeps us going day after day when our personal lives get difficult. So some pieces straddle both. But I've focused on the kind of hope that takes us beyond merely personally surviving and carving out the best private life we can. I believe this book will help people find common solutions and see the world clear-eyed--acknowledging the destructive power of greed, fear, and shortsighted expedience, resisting any temptation to complacency or sentimentality, yet acting with courage to make change. I believe it will help us, in the words of Sojourners founder Jim Wallis, to learn how to believe in spite of the evidence, then watch the evidence change. See the book's Table of Contents below, or click to read its Introduction, more excellent reviews, reading group suggestions, bulk order details, and information on classroom teaching, including classroom study questions. If you're not on my email mailing list and would like to know when my books come out, or receive my monthly articles, please email sympa with the subject line: paulloeb-articles From mid-August, when The Impossible hits the stores, through the election, I'll be speaking and doing media interviews all over the country. See schedule for detailed information, which I'll update regularly. And please tell friends about the book and my touring with this descriptive flier. TABLE OF CONTENTS: THE IMPOSSIBLE WILL TAKE A LITTLE WHILE Initial Introduction SECTION ONE: SEEDS OF THE POSSIBLE Poem: Seamus Heaney—From " The Cure at Troy " Section One Introduction Diane Ackerman— " A Slender Thread " : Hope and despair in volunteering at a suicide prevention line, by the author of A Natural History of the Senses Jonathan Kozol— " Ordinary Resurrections " : From the book of the same name, the hope Kozol draws from children Marian Wright Edelman— " Standing for Children " : by the founder of the Children's Defense Fund and author of A Letter to My Children Danusha Goska— " Political Paralysis " : An Indiana activist with a paralyzing physical disability talks about overcoming political immobilization, drawing on her history working with the Peace Corps and Mother Teresa SECTION TWO: DARK BEFORE THE DAWN Poem: W.H. Auden-From " September 1, 1939 " Section Two Introduction Howard Zinn— " The Optimism of Uncertainty " : Drawing strength from the very uncertainty of our efforts, by the author of A People's History of the United States Nelson Mandela— " The Dark Years " : Memoir of his Robben Island imprisonment from The Long Walk to Freedom Vaclav Havel— " Orientation of the Heart " : The value of seemingly futile actions by Czech president Havel, adapted from his book, Disturbing the Peace SECTION THREE: EVERYDAY GRACE Poems: Wendell Berry— " The Peace of Wild Things " and Antonio Machado— " Last Night As I Was Sleeping " Section Three Introduction Scott Sanders— " Mountain Music " : Hope between generations, from " Hunting for Hope " Rabbi Arthur Waskow— " The Sukkah of Shalom " : The Sukkot shelter as a metaphor for hope in a vulnerable world, by the author of Godwrestling and Seasons of Our Joy Rose Marie Berger— " Getting Our Gaze Back " : Daily respite amid overload, from a contributing editor to the radical evangelical magazine Sojourners, remembering that " we have more in common with flowers than microchips " Henri Nouwen— " Fragile and Hidden " : Catholic theologian Nouwen on daily grace Parker Palmer— " There is a Season " : The seasons of the earth as metaphor for those of our personal and political life; by the author of The Courage to Teach and Let Your Life Speak SECTION FOUR: THE FLIGHT OF OUR DREAMS Poem: Eduardo Galeano— " Celebration of the Human Voice " Section Four Introduction Pablo Neruda— " Childhood and Poetry " Susan Griffin— " To Love the Marigold " : On imagination and hope, by the author of Women and Nature John Lewis— " Walking With the Wind " : Sustaining metaphors from the Congressman and former head of the civil rights group SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) Rosemarie Freeney Harding— " Freedom Songs " : The music that sustained the civil rights movement Toni Mirosevich— " Rough Translation " : Brief vignette of jazz and resistance in the heart of Soviet Russia Walter Wink— " Jesus and Alinsky " : Jesus as model for legendary community organizer Saul Alinsky Vern Huffman— " Stories from the Cha Cha Cha " : Comic and creative nonviolent resistance in Rhodesia Sherman Alexie— " Do Not Go Gentle " : A story, from the author of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, about grief, despair, sexuality, and wild hope that transcends any parties or platforms Tony Kushner— " Despair Is a Lie We Tell Ourselves " : by the author of Angels in America SECTION FIVE: COURAGE IS CONTAGIOUS Poem: Marge Piercy— " To Be of Use " Section Five Introduction Victoria Safford— " The Small Work in the Great Work " : Opening the gates of hope, from a wonderful Unitarian minister Sister Rosalie Bertell— " In What Do I Place My Trust? " : Essay on faith and hope for the environment, by a leading Catholic environmental activist Paxus Calta-Star— " Not Deterred " : Brief powerful vignette of an 18-year-old who launched the overthrow of Bulgaria's dictatorship Jim Hightower— " Rebellion Is What Built America " : Lessons in persistence by the Texas populist, from his book Thieves in High Places Jim Wallis— " Faith Works " : Faith and persistence from Sojourners editor and radical evangelical Wallis Mary Catherine Bateson— " Composing a Life Story " : Courage, intentionality, and radical continuity in the narratives of our personal lives SECTION SIX: THE GLOBAL STAGE Poem: Martin Espada— " Imagine the Angels of Bread " Section Six Introduction Arundhati Roy— " Come September " : September 11 and global justice, by the author of The God of Small Things Ariel Dorfman— " The Black Hole " : Recovering the hope of Salvador Allende, by the author of Death and the Maiden Kenneth Roth— " Hope for Human Rights " : From the executive director of Human Rights Watch Mark Hertsgaard— " The Green Dream " : The author of Earth Odyssey and The Eagle's Shadow on global environmental hope Bill McKibben— " Curitiba " : How this Brazilian city has become a global model for development that respects the earth and delights its inhabitants, by the author of Hope, Human and Wild SECTION SEVEN: RADICAL DIGNITY Poems: Adrienne Rich-From " Natural Resources " and Jalaluddin Rumi— " How Have You Spent Your Life? " Section Seven Introduction —: The classic text that everyone's heard of but fewer have read Paul Loeb— " The Real Rosa Parks " : My widely reprinted Los Angeles arial essay on Parks and persistence Cornel West— " Prisoners of Hope " : Hope and rage in the African American community Carla Seaquist— " Behemoth in a Bathrobe " : An inner dialogue on conscience, from the Christian Science Monitor Billy Wayne Sinclair— " Road to Redemption " : How Sinclair, who has been in prison for 38 years and co-edited the award-winning prison publication, The Angolite, helped to stop pardon selling in Louisiana at the cost of remaining another decade in jail Peter Ackerman and Jack DuVall— " Resisting Terror " : How nonviolent resistance overthrew murderous dictatorships in Argentina and Milosovic's Serbia, and even freed the Jewish husbands and wives whose non-Jewish relatives protested in Berlin under Hitler, from the book A Force More Powerful SECTION EIGHT: BEYOND HOPE Poems: Elizabeth Barrette— " Origami Emotion " and Sam Hamill-From " The New York Poem " Section Eight Introduction Mary-Wynne Ashford— " Staying the Course " : Wrestling with despair by the former president of International Physicians Against Nuclear War Joanna Macy— " The Elm Tree Dance " : Despair and healing ritual in a visit to the city most contaminated by Chernobyl's nuclear meltdown, by the author of Despair and Empowerment Nadezhda Mandelstam— " Hoping Against Hope " : From her memoir of deportation under Stalin K.C. Golden— " The Inevitability Trap " : Brief take on why we shouldn't succumb to predictions of the inevitable Sonya Vetra Tinsley, as told to Paul Loeb— " You Have to Pick Your Team " Margaret Wheatley— " From Hope to Hopelessness " : By the author of Turning to Each Other and Leadership and the New Science SECTION NINE: ONLY JUSTICE CAN STOP A CURSE Poem: Maya Angelou— " Still I Rise " Section Nine Introduction Alice Walker— " Only Justice Can Stop a Curse " : The rage that convinces us the world deserves destroying, and how to find the hope that moves us beyond it Terry Tempest Williams— " The Clan of One-Breasted Women " : Her classic essay on radiation survivors and hope, with a new introduction, by the author of Refuge Starhawk— " Next Year in Mas'Ha " : Essay on an Arab-Israeli Seder in the occupied West Bank, by the author of Dreaming the Dark Amos Oz— " The Gruntwork of Peace " : Account by the noted Israeli novelist of an Israeli-Palestinian meeting that has produced a new peace plan as an alternative to despair Desmond Tutu— " No Future Without Forgiveness " : How South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission has helped inspire the world, from Ireland to Rwanda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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