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Review: Great Peacemakers: True Stories From Around the World
- By Gary Dale Cearley
- Published December 19, 2008
- General Non-Fiction
Gary Dale Cearley
Reviewer Gary Dale Cearley is an expatriate American who chooses to write about controversial material. His subject matter tends to run the gamut from historical subjects to biography and even humor. Originally from Arkansas, he has spent several years in Korea as well as Vietnam and is now living in Thailand.Â
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Authors: Ken Beller and Heather Chase
ISBN-10: 142432355X
ISBN-13: 978-1424323555
*The book is divided into five different parts:
*Choosing Nonviolence
*Living Peace
*Honoring Diversity
*Valuing All Life
*Caring for the Planet
We find many of the same faces we’d expect to see such as the Dalai Lama, Mohandas Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Albert Schweitzer, Mother Theresa, etc., but we are introduced to some people who we may not have heard about, or at least known so much about, such as Henry Salt, Wangari Maathai, David Suzuki, Bruno Hussar and others. In the fourth section, I found this to be an interesting addition to a book about peace making as I think that although taking care of our planet is for the benefit of us all, the connection with making peace is tenuous at best. Nevertheless, I am happy to say that from reading this section I have actually gained a new hero from this book, Nader Khalili, a man who I will try to find out more about. I have never really thought about the difference that durable, cheap architecture could make and Nader Khalili’s contributions will be helping people for years to come as will Wangari Maathai’s tree planting missions in Kenya and around the rest of the world.
As the biographies of each of these men and women are short and simplified I would say that this book is more geared to a younger audience to be used as a learning tool. I don’t think the authors would have any argument with that assertion. In fact, I do think that may have been their target. Nevertheless, the book is written in a very interesting way and I found myself turning page after page. You might also argue that one could use a book like this in a reference section of a library. It is a good read and the subjects of this book are all good examples of how we should live, treat each other and treat the world.
Heather Chase and Ken Beller seem to have committed their lives to bringing peace to the world wherever they can and writing this book is a product of their commitment. One can never find fault with a work like this. I believe that this book will live up to the intentions of the authors and will live on the shelves of peace loving folk for many years to come!
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