Albert Schweitzer: A Biography (The Albert Schweitzer Library)

Rating:
Summary: A New Light Cast On Schweitzer
Review: Albert Schweitzer was at first ignored, then recognized and finally lionized by the world at large, though he preferred to remain at his clinic, or as he put it, "a prisoner of Lambarene." Those of us who have followed his life in serious fashion have often wondered about the exact role of his wife and soul mate, Helene, and now, thanks to James Brabazon, we know. This revised and newly edited biography is at once spell binding and searching as it delves into their relationship as well as Albert's battle with church doctrine and the powers that be. As a former seminarian, now preparing to take a one man AV show about Albert on the road ("Scenes from A Life,") I can assure prospective readers that the book will not disappoint them. If you want to meet the real Schweitzer, warts and all, this is the place to have such an encounter. It will both stun and shock, delight and dismay, but it casts a bright light upon the life of this remarkable man, arguably the quintessential heroic figure of the 20th century. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: A New Light Cast On Schweitzer
Review: Albert Schweitzer was at first ignored, then recognized and finally lionized by the world at large, though he preferred to remain at his clinic, or as he put it, "a prisoner of Lambarene." Those of us who have followed his life in serious fashion have often wondered about the exact role of his wife and soul mate, Helene, and now, thanks to James Brabazon, we know. This revised and newly edited biography is at once spell binding and searching as it delves into their relationship as well as Albert's battle with church doctrine and the powers that be. As a former seminarian, now preparing to take a one man AV show about Albert on the road ("Scenes from A Life,") I can assure prospective readers that the book will not disappoint them. If you want to meet the real Schweitzer, warts and all, this is the place to have such an encounter. It will both stun and shock, delight and dismay, but it casts a bright light upon the life of this remarkable man, arguably the quintessential heroic figure of the 20th century. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Revised edition due Fall, 2000
Review: Syracuse University Press is publishing a revised edition of this book in the Fall of 2000. The new edition will be greatly expanded, making use of newly discovered correspondence covering the ten-year secret relationship between Albert Schweitzer and Helene Bresslau, the woman he was to marry. To Helene alone he revealed every corner of his mind, and heart, spilling the thoughts and feelings that he kept carefully hidden from everyone else who knew him. Here are the struggles of a genius in the making - and also an intensely passionate and quite extraordinary relationship, in which Helene emerges as a rare woman and a worthy partner.

These "love letters" (long thought to be lost but found in an old suitcase by Schweitzer's daughter) have been translated by Antje Lemke, Symposium Advisory Board member and Schweitzer scholar, and will be published in a complete book by Syracuse University Press. Brabazon said, "I have had the privilege of reading these letters and can assure you that they make fascinating reading."

Also new to the general public Brabazon's new edition will give the amazing account of the deep suspicion of the U.S. State Department towards Schweitzer, due to his strong opposition to the hydrogen bomb tests and his refusal to be silenced about the genetic hazards of nuclear explosions.

Lawrence Wittner, State University of New York, and Symposium Advisory Board Member, wrote an article, "Blacklisting Schweitzer," in the May-June,1995, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists where he told for the first time, thanks to the then-recent declassification of key government documents, the dimensions of a bitter conflict between Dr. Schweitzer and the U.S. Government. As Professor Wittner wrote, "To millions, Albert Schweitzer was a saint. But to the Eisenhower crew, he was a dangerous nuisance."

Brabazon will be a guest speaker and sign books on Friday, October 13, at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, Tennessee.

Rating:
Summary: An engrossing and thorough biography.
Review: This second edition of Brabazon's incredible biography contains new material regarding the relationship between Schweitzer and his wife, Helene, due to the discovery of numerous letters between them. The author also adds material in the later chapters, focusing on the antagonism that erupted between the United States government and the old doctor, as Schweitzer and other activists, such as Albert Einstein and philosopher, Bertrand Russell, exposed to the public at large the fall-out hazards of the hydrogen bomb testing that the government wanted to keep secret, as the Cold War was then in full swing. This new material is rich in insight, revealing that Albert Schweitzer the myth, the modern saint, "The Greatest Man in the World", was indeed human, and whose long and arduous work in West Africa, paved the way, or at least set an example for present day and future humanitarians.

What is most striking about this man was his incredible capacity for work. He held Doctorates in three major subjects - theology, philosophy and medicine and was an accomplished organist and world expert on Bach. Schweitzer's published works in theology, philosophy and music remain in circulation, which continue to shed light in these areas. His "Reverence for Life" philosophy on the surface, appears almost too simplistic, but on closer examination, is a worldview that encompasses an attitude of mind, that if practiced, could radically change the world for the better. Schweitzer was not a philosopher of the abstract variety, at home in an ivory tower creating complex theories that only a select few would understand. As the man said and wrote many times, "he lived his argument" and his accomplishments certainly prove this.

Brabazon's biography of this great man is thorough. He delightfully brings together Schweitzer's letters, books, articles, and interviews with friends, colleagues and family, including sermons from his early career as a young minister, that tells us that his love of Jesus and the foundations of his philosophy was already set in his mind and spirit, well before embarking into his long and productive life. Brabazon brings Schweitzer to life in these pages as only a great biographer wholly connected to their subject can do. It is extremely well written and engaging.

If you are only slightly interested in one of the great humanitarians of the twentieth century, an intellectual, a man of God, Samaritan, healer and example of goodness, read this engrossing biography - a labor of love and inspiring in every sense.