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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, touching reading
Review: I bought this book for the sole purpose of a class where I was required to do some outside reading. This book was on our recommended reading list. I read the entire book, only one story was required. It was astonishing how these people change the world. I was moved by these stories.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, touching reading
Review: I bought this book for the sole purpose of a class where I was required to do some outside reading. This book was on our recommended reading list. I read the entire book, only one story was required. It was astonishing how these people change the world. I was moved by these stories.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, Beautiful Book-Truly a Living Bible
Review: I stumbled onto this book in the Lincoln library in Massachusetts and fell in love with it instantly because with all of the talk about terrorism it gives one hope to see that there are people who are brave enough to do something about it in whatever niche of the world they find themselves in. This book is more like a catalog of 51 person's feats , it's not a narrative, and despite the gruesome cover photo, this book is a perfect piece for a coffee table. Something to talk about.I'll let Ms. Cuomo tell you about its contents. Here are some excerpts from her introduction: "In a world where there is a common lament that there are no more heroes, too often cynicism and despair are perceived as evidence of the death of moral courage. That perception is wrong. People of great valor and heart, committed to noble purpose, with long records of personal sacrifice, walk among us in every country of the world. I have spent the last two years traveling the globe to interview the fifty-one individuals from nearly forty countries and five continents included in these pages, people whose lives are filled with extraordinary feats of bravery. I've listened to them speak about the quality and nature of courage, and in their stories I found hope and inspiration, a vision of a better world." She closes with these thoughts: "I grew up in the Judeo-Christian tradition where we painted our prophets on ceilings and sealed our saints in stained glass. They were superhuman, untouchable, and so we were freed from the burden of their challenge. But here on earth, people like these and countless other defenders are living, breathing human beings in our midst. Their determination, valor, and commitment in the face of overwhelming danger challenge each of us to take up the torch for a more decent society. Today we are blessed by the presence of these people. They are teachers, who show us not how to be saints, but how to be fully human."
Rating:
Summary: A Must
Review: Our world becomes small and clouded with egocentrism. As we struggle for inner sanctity we must realize that it only will materialize as we pursue total pacifism and set our focus beyond our own individual comfort levels. There is a whole world that is crying; all we must do is listen. Speak Truth to Power is the whisper that shatters the illusions of separation. It ushers in an awareness of life with a grace that is beyond words and lives in the waters near the source. Reflected in each story is a core answer to the eternal questions that seem to haunt many.
Rating:
Summary: almost religious in its power
Review: The stories and photographs are deeply moving profiles of several of the most courageous people in the world. There are few terms to describe the total power, since I turn to this work on many occasions to gain some inspiration. For someone not immediately interested in the field of human rights, the work is probably not quite as affecting, as personal stories about those who are involved in human rights will be unlikely to move the unconcerned. "Speak Truth to Power" is essential sustenance for the converted.
Rating:
Summary: almost religious in its power
Review: The stories and photographs are deeply moving profiles of several of the most courageous people in the world. There are few terms to describe the total power, since I turn to this work on many occasions to gain some inspiration. For someone not immediately interested in the field of human rights, the work is probably not quite as affecting, as personal stories about those who are involved in human rights will be unlikely to move the unconcerned. "Speak Truth to Power" is essential sustenance for the converted.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful stories and photos - AMAZING
Review: This book has seriously gripped me from the first time that I saw the book. The personalized stories are not only remarkable, but so completely unbelievable, that they each require time to settle, reflect, and reread. I have never been so angry, appalled, sad, impressed, and completely humbled in a single sitting. The photos by Eddie Adams are gripping in their sublime and soft tones making the book a really incredible purchase. My only hope is that more people see this. Excellent work Ms. Cuomo!
Rating: 
Summary: Shallow Treatment of a Vital Subject
Review: This is an inspirational and important book. The biographical portraits of the human rights activists are compelling, and their stories shocking, infuriating, sad, and ultimately inspirational. These are amazing people - prevailing against enormous odds. You read it in awe of the subjects, and their often appalling stories. The black and white photographic portraits are respectful, serious, and appropriate. The one thing I would change about this book is its "coffee-table-book" presentation. It's not an "art" book, there is intensity of feeling and action in its stories, and so is really too important to browse. In my view the big (and expensive) format invites a sort of readerly casualness that is at odds with the subject. There is outsized courage in these stories, but a surfeit of human suffering and cruelty, too. I wanted to be able to take it with me, and the size of this book makes that impractical. So I hope that it will eventually be published in a more accessible format. Five Amazon stars for excellence in all ways but that one.
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