Kategoria BISAC: Biography & Autobiography >> Social Activists

John Tapscott's long and varied life story reads like a piece of fiction:

Throughout the pages of this book, you'll hear how John witnessed a murder at age 4, was stolen by a wagon of gypsies at age 9, got robbed at gunpoint on the first day of his job at age 11, and that was just the first 12 years of his life

By age 40, John had held over 30 jobs, had had 8 children (6 surviving) and was well on his way to establishing his political career... although he later sort psychiatric help to recover from that particular part of his life

John has been active...

At the turn of the twentieth century, few white, southern leaders would speak out in favor of racial equality for fear of being dismissed as too progressive. Willis Duke Weatherford (1875--1970), however, defied convention as one of the first prominent white southern liberals to dedicate his life to reforming the South's social system, eliminating violence and injustice through education, and opening a dialogue among the affected groups. His energetic efforts led to a rise in progressive action in the region, though at times his own beliefs prevented him from advocating for absolute racial...

John C. Campbell (1867--1919) is widely considered to be a pioneer in the objective study of the complex world of Appalachian mountaineers. Thanks to a grant from the Russell Sage Foundation, Campbell traveled throughout the region with his wife -- noted social reformer and "songcatcher" Olive Dame Campbell -- interviewing and profiling its people. His landmark work, The Southern Highlander and His Homeland, is cited by nearly every scholar writing about the region, yet little has been published about the Campbells and their role in the sociological, educational, and cultural...

The Superferry Chronicles is a riveting tale of intrigue and corruption-and an inspiring popular uprising against rampant commercialization. Impeccably researched, The Chronicles exposes hidden connections to defense industries...

When your views are at odds with the system, how do you walk your talk? What does it mean to live ethically in a world at war?

Disillusioned with the religious and political models of the 9/11 age, Rafiq asks a question that we all face in our desire for authentic lives: how can he remain in the world and still be true to himself?

His quest for an answer carries him to a job at an Islamic university in Indonesia, where the US embassy is looking for terrorists, and then to the Sufi communes of northern India in search of the mystical. It pulls him into the trenches of...

Throughout the Civil War era, no other white American spoke more powerfully against slavery and for the ideals of racial democracy than did Wendell Phillips. Nationally famous as abolition s golden trumpet, Phillips became the North s most widely hailed public lecturer, even though he espoused ideas most regarded as deeply threatening the abolition of slavery, equality among races and classes, and women's rights. James Brewer Stewart s study resolves this seeming paradox by showing how Phillips came to possess such extraordinary rhetorical gifts, how he used them to shape the politics of...

"Rescuing Children" is a powerful collection of biographical sketches centering on teachers, social workers, nuns, and missionaries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who stepped into the shadows to liberate children from disease, destitution, and despair.

Irena Sendler smuggled Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto right under the Nazis' noses.

Dr. Thomas Barnardo started orphanages for the children of London's East End.

Bertha Bracey organized the Kindertransport during WWII, which saved ten thousand children from Nazi extermination.

Charles Loring Brace...

Following her husband's untimely death, Margaret Trost visited Haiti to heal her broken heart through service. Struggling to make sense of the extreme poverty and touched by the warmth and resilience of those she met, she partnered with a local community and together they developed a program that now serves thousands of meals a week to those in need. On That Day, Everybody Ate is an autobiography of her remarkable journey.

"This small, polished gem of a book is one compelling answer to many questions about how to inject meaning in our lives...."
- from the...

Emily Creigh learned in November 1974 that she would spend the next two years and three months as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay, a developing Latin American country with quaint customs and "tranquil" people.

In fact, terror reigned in the US-backed banana republic with its "benevolent" dictator, Alfredo Stroessner, who had held the country in a state of siege for twenty years.

Just days after Emily learned of her assignment, Martin Almada, doctor of education and director of a renowned school in Paraguay, became one of the first victims of Operation Condor, the...