Courage: Portraits of Bravery in the Service of Great Causes [Hardcover]

Gordon Brown (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 160286022X | ISBN-13: 978-1602860223 | Publication Date: May 6, 2008 | Edition: 1

From the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom: eight fascinating portraits of men and women whose lives define the meaning of courage--Edith Cavell, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Raoul Wallenberg, Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, and Nelson Mandela, Dame Cicely Saunders, and Aung San Suu Kyi. Bringing his personal reflections to these intimate portraits, Brown illuminates the common threads between these eight icons and in doing so, introduces us to his own inspiring values.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

British prime minister Brown profiles eight paragons in this warm, plainspoken volume of moral homiletics. Three of his subjects faced the 20th century's greatest test of courage, the Germans in the two world wars: Edith Cavell, an English nurse shot by the kaiser's troops for helping fugitive Allied soldiers escape occupied Belgium; Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor who was hanged after speaking out against Hitler; and Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews from annihilation. Latter-day martyrs include Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and imprisoned Burmese democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi. Rounding out the roster are Robert Kennedy, saluted in part for his early embrace of a New Laboresque Third Way politics, and Cicely Saunders, who fought a callous medical establishment to found the hospice movement. Brown touches on personal idiosyncrasies—Bonhoeffer's soul-searching, Wallenberg's bravado, Kennedy's rivalry with his older brothers—to illuminate his subjects' actions, but dwells on the blunt fact of their readiness to act on principle regardless of safety. There's not much deep psychological insight, but what makes Brown's accounts inspiring, and occasionally moving, is precisely that his heroes' actions speak for themselves. 8 pages of b&w photos. (Apr.)
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Review

'This approach is refreshing and is honoured in the biographical essays, which are readable and intelligent ... That on Bonhoeffer is excellent' Simon Jenkins, Sunday Times 'very moving and completely uncynical' Philip Gould, Guardian 'We see a politician in a stable, democratic country looking with envious awe on those who live in more difficult times - the countries that need heroes' Anne McElvoy, Evening Standard --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Weinstein Books; 1 edition (May 6, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 160286022X
• ISBN-13: 978-1602860223
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,472,920 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Courage: Inner Strength Rising Up To the Occasion, June 9, 2008

By 

Serge J. Van Steenkiste (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Courage: Portraits of Bravery in the Service of Great Causes (Hardcover)

U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown shares with his audience the life of eight men and women whose courage he deeply admires. These eight people are Edith Cavell, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Raoul Wallenberg, Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, Cicely Saunders, and Aung San Suu Kyi. The emphasis on courage as a selection criterion is built on Winston Churchill's observation that courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others (p. 124).

Cavell, Bonhoeffer, Wallenberg, King, Jr., Kennedy, Mandela, Saunders, and Suu Kyi are what Frank Farley calls "sustained altruists" who devote long periods, sometimes their entire lives, to principled causes (p. 240). The other two types of courageous people that Farley identifies are "career heroes," say, emergency workers, police, and military, and "situational heroes," who courageously rise to the occasion as it demands, say, the passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 on 9/11. These three categories of courageous people are not mutually exclusive (pp. 239-40).

To his credit, Brown successfully shares his genuine admiration for these eight men and women with his readers. Brown points out that their courage exudes not only physical bravery, but also, and perhaps more importantly, strength of character and strength of beliefs (pp. 1, 35, 38, 64, 67, 72, 78, 85, 96, 106, 129, 139-40, 167, 210-11, 227). These eight men and women did not belong to a "predestined elite" that inevitably had to rise to greatness (pp. 8, 37, 66-70, 80, 92, 118, 123, 152, 183, 241-42, 244). Like the readers of "Courage," they had choices and options throughout their lives. These eight men and women chose action over inaction (pp. 11, 27, 41, 49, 59-61, 70, 92, 106, 126, 152, 186-89, 210).

Cavell, Bonhoeffer, Wallenberg, King, Jr., Kennedy, Mandela, Saunders, and Suu Kyi succeeded in leveraging their strong beliefs and willpower to keep their fears out of the way of their principled causes (pp. 17-18, 23, 32, 44, 53, 83-84, 95, 98, 125, 155, 173, 176, 227, 241, 244). Social disapproval, physical pain, and danger, including the risk of death, ultimately were no match for their personal belief and moral purpose (pp. 20, 28, 36, 40, 47, 55, 66, 79, 137, 155, 161-62, 169-71, 196, 214, 219-25, 228, 236). Like a lighthouse, these eight men and women were driven to bring light where darkness was ruling; this in the name of higher ideals (pp. 1, 34-35, 63, 76, 88, 97, 112-13, 122, 137, 157-58, 189-90, 205, 211, 230, 243).

Although Brown celebrates the courage of these eight men and women he admires, he rightly does not downplay the courage of anonymous people who make a difference in their respective societies. Courage is not a luxury, but a must in the struggle against prejudice, racism, violence, discrimination, and injustice, and in the creation of a good society (p. 242).

To summarize, Brown invites his audience to better know eight courageous men and women who chose to act when others stood by, and made sacrifices that made our world a better place to live in.

As a side note, any proceeds of "Courage" go to a charity whose goal is to support research into the causes and consequences of prematurity (pp. xiv, 244-45).