Flame Tree

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Summary: Flame Tree review
Review: Flame Tree was a finalist in Copred's 2001 Peace Writing competion and has an incredible depth of knowledge about the politics, as well as the culture, of Thailand and Burma. More importantly, its author inspires the reader to find nonviolent answers to conflict. Dr. Keith Dahlberg does this by weaving the lives of two humanitarian volunteers with the lives of countless others who represent organizations working with the people of Southeast Asia. What happens at the Flame Tree Inn in Mai Hong Son on the border of Burma and Thailand is surprising, concuding a story that is both provoking and pacifistic. Flame Tree is a significant text for anyone who is interested in making peace.
Dr. Karen Lentz Clark
Department of English
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, Ar

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Summary: Flame Tree, a novel by Dr. Keith Dahlberg
Review: I had not read a novel for 40 years but I wanted to read Flame Tree by Dr. Keith Dahlberg because he was our family doctor for 20 years. He was a very good family doctor and he and his nurse wife Lois made a real team. No one here wanted to see them retire and leave. Dr. Dahlberg was moral, humble, unassuming and kind. So what kind of novel would he write? It was eye opener and I loved it.

The novel gives insight into third world countries. It helps us to see that the world we live in is not simple. You cannot just give food, medical supplies and even our time unless we know what is going on. The novel helps us to understand in an easy way why that is so important. Not being interested in political realities, I found myself being pulled into this story and finally cheering when our hero ends up helping in a surprising way.

We could take that same prescription to any other area of the world and it would work as well. The unfortunate part of the novel is that the Dr. and Mrs. Dahlbergs will never be front page news. We make heroes of movie and rock stars when we should be holding these people to the light. If we could clone them and send 1000 in every direction the world would view Americans in a totally different light. We are now viewed as brash, selfish, arrogant and sometimes as bullies. If you read Flame Tree you could understand how we could be viewed in an entirely different way. This novel should be required reading for every American.

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Summary: A modern historical novel!
Review: Keith Dahlberg's novel places the reader into modern Burma and Thailand through the eyes of medical missionaries. The author provides excellent "you are there" descriptions of the people and places, and readers soon are whisked into a fast moving politcal adventure.

I enjoyed the novel greatly, having briefly visited some of the areas decribed. The descriptions brought me back in time to those areas, and the novel highlights the hidden unstable political environment that most westerners don't see.