Customer Reviews

Creating Civil Union: Opening Hearts and Minds

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Linda Hollingdale's collection of essays and photographs is absolutely amazing in how it portrays the legislative struggle for Vermont's historic Civil Union from ALL perspectives.
Not only does this book bring one the awareness of this struggle, but also gives one the opportunity to "open their minds" to common humanity as a whole. Just when you think you've become so absorbed in the process of how civil unions came to be, the challenges overcome and rewards achieved, you begin to comtemplate what equal rights of ALL citizens is really about.
I would definitely recommended this book for all.

Ms. Hollingdale's work provides the reader with intensely powerful essays and pictures that almost "forces" one to stop and spend time with each picture. I couldn't just glance through this book - it takes time, emotion and a willingness to open one's heart and mind. The stories AND the pictures, when combined, create a level of understanding that I had not even experienced prior to her book. I know several of the people portrayed in her book but putting all of these faces together with their very personal journeys into ONE book lets the reader truly get a picture of this historic struggle for a more "civil union".

This book answers the question, "Why did Vermont work so hard for Civil Union?"; and it answers it from every possible point of view. Ms. Hollingdale has done a remarkable job collecting the thoughts and feelings of legislators, educators, citizens, parents and others, to explain the desire, the need, and the struggle for Civil Union. This is a beautiful book! The photographs are stunning in their simplicity and yet the emotions are overwhelming. It is a piece of history and a work of art at the same time.