Creating the Better Hour: Lessons from William Wilberforce [Paperback]

Chuck Stetson (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2007

The spirit of William Wilberforce, who worked to stop the transatlantic slave trade 200 years ago, is alive and active in all people whose faith complel their tireless efforts to transform their culture and build a better world. Creating the Better Hour: Lessons from William Wilberforce is not an ordinary study book. It is a call to end ongoing human oppression and slavery. The life of this great Christian parliamentarian and abolitionist is the starting point for a first-class group of contributors to show Wilberforce as a model for engaging modern culture. Essays detail how people today can emulate his life, great persuasive techniques, and his Clapham Circle colleagues to bring about cultural change and end oppression. Each chapter's Extended Observation draws readers and study groups into transforming reflections and conversations--all designed to help people become a force for good and commit to a life on behalf of others.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Chuck Stetson is a Managing Director of PEI Funds, a private equity firm based in New York. He is a graduate of Yale University and Columbia University's Graduate School of Business. He created the Doubleday Pocket Bible Guide and his book The British Abolitionists and Their Influence in America is due to be released in early 2008. Mr. Stetson is also the Chairman of the Bible Literacy Project and co-author of the acclaimed public school textbook, The Bible and Its Influence.

Product Details

• Paperback: 349 pages
• Publisher: Stroud & Hall Publishers (October 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979646219
• ISBN-13: 978-0979646218
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,063,010 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Unique Book Among the Many Books about Wilberforce, December 2, 2007

By 

Marco Ciavolino (Forest Hill, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creating the Better Hour: Lessons from William Wilberforce (Paperback)

The 200th anniversary of William Wilberforce's historic legislation concerning slavery has resulted in a large number of publications, organizations, and events. All have the same focus: To remind the world of the work and dedication of this very unique man and the times in which he worked.

Wilberforce's novel and creative approaches to social changes not only ended the slave trade between the UK and US, but also started more than 70 other organizations, all of which improved the state of his fellow countrymen and the world, and many of which are still active today.

The overall quality of the many published works stands as a testimony to the man, Wilberforce, and his hard and tireless work to correct the wrongs and evils he saw around him.

This book, "CREATING THE BETTER HOUR: Lessons from William Wilberforce," is unique in its approach. Rather than a single author or view, the book brings together twenty authors who find themselves within the broad sphere of Wilberforce's influence.

Opening with the William Cowper poem from which the book's title is taken, the book continues with a forward by Rick Warren and preface from the editor, Chuck Stetson.

The book then proceeds through four major topics:

* Six articles on the background of the Clapham Group and how they created the first organized campaigns for social change.

* Five articles on the effect of Wilberforce's work on abolition and slavery over the next 200 years throughout the world and the work that still needs to be done.

* Nine articles that provide insight, direction, and motivation for all citizens to take action in their own communities.

* The book closes with a call to action and practical steps for doing so.

Bottom Line: Read all you can read about William Wilberforce. His life, lessons, and his example of practical action can be applied to your community, state, and country.

But whatever you read, read this book first and last as an introduction and summary of the work that is yet to be done.

From Rick Warren's Preface: "Today our world needs a new generation of people like Wilberforce. I pray this book spurs you on to make a difference just as he did."

And so do I.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Life and Legacy of William Wilberforce, April 22, 2008

By 

Jim Tonkowich "Jim Tonkowich" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creating the Better Hour: Lessons from William Wilberforce (Paperback)

Over the past few years all things Wilberforce have arrived on my desk. There have been articles, two biographies, booklets, a dramatic film, a documentary, and Creating the Better Hour: Lessons from William Wilberforce, a book of essays about William Wilberforce's life and legacy.

The book's editor, Chuck Stetson, did an outstanding job of selecting a wide variety of writers all of whom see William Wilberforce as a model for thoughtful, zealous, and effective political engagement. The writers are Christian and Jewish, Protestant and Catholic, Republican and Democrat, Liberal and Conservative, scholarly and political. Together they look at the history of Wilberforce's fight to abolish the slave trade and then slavery, at modern day slavery and the need to complete the legacy of the abolition movement, and at the ways in which Wilberforce serves as a model for bringing about effective cultural change.

The essays are readable, informative, and thought-provoking. In addition, accompanying each essay is an "Extended Observation" comprising questions for discussion, Bible readings, practical suggestions for implementing the conclusions reached, and an appropriate prayer selected from the Bible. This makes the book accessible to small groups, Sunday school classes, and Christian schooling.

As Rick Warren writes in the book's forward, Wilberforce "understood that the purpose for having influence is to speak up for those who have no influence...." The essays convey a portrait of someone who is a model for the wise use of influence on behalf of the powerless and challenge the reader to greater stewardship of influence on behalf of the powerless today.