Intermittently enjoyable but a lightweight, unfocused case study of an interfaith family.
Finding faith in the media fast lane.
Former Meet the Press moderator Gregory provides his life’s story, with an emphasis on his search for faith. Born to a Jewish father and a Catholic mother, the author’s youth was marked by his parents’ divorce and his mother’s alcoholism. He describes these years in depth before moving on to his early career in journalism, during which he met his future wife, Beth. After this introduction, Gregory moves on to the topic of his faith life, something he had thought little about until his marriage to a Christian. When the couple discussed how to raise their children, they decided to raise them as Jews, as this was culturally important to the author. His wife, however, had no plans to convert to Judaism. This interfaith parenting decision serves as a source of tension throughout the remainder of the book. Gregory moves on to detail his complex relationship with President George W. Bush. While he normally faced Bush in the role of journalist, the president was also prone to interact with the author in very personal ways, asking him on occasion, “How is your faith?” and discussing questions of religious belief. Gregory recounts his eventual departure from NBC: “My faith had strengthened me so that I knew I could take the hit, and thrive, even if I was not on television.” The author discusses interfaith marriage in America, including the view from an Islamic friend. Though Gregory has an interesting life story, and the book will appeal to TV news junkies, it is not without its flaws. The author distracts from his core message with excessive analysis and loose storytelling, and the writing is less than polished, more suitable to a magazine article or news copy than a full book.
Intermittently enjoyable but a lightweight, unfocused case study of an interfaith family.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4516-5160-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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