Fields of Light: A Son Remembers His Heroic Father (Pushcart Editors' Book Award) (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1991, Hurka traveled to Czechoslovakia with a couple of goals in mind: visit his aunt and learn about what happened to his father's native country and his father during the years of Communist rule. The result is a poignant memoir that intersperses the gripping story of his family's history and his father's anti-Communist fight with more leisurely descriptions of his own visit to Prague. As Hurka visits the Czech capital, he provides a welcome travelogue to a beautiful city that was just emerging from its gray Communist past and being discovered as a tourist destination. The passages on 1991 Czechoslovakia serve as breathers from the drama of this nonfiction thriller. Soon after the Communist takeover in the late 1940s, his father joined the Resistance. With loving prose, Hurka, who teaches at Tufts University, depicts his father's courageous struggle to ferry other anti-Communists into Germany and his time in jail after the Czech authorities caught him. What emerges in addition to Hurka's respect for his father are the difficult choices that Communism forced onto individuals and the dignity that was still possible. For a while after escaping from Czechoslovakia in the early '50s, Hurka's father lived in England and worked as a spy for the U.S. government, his family unaware of his whereabouts. In this era of memoirs that trace family dysfunction and the wounds children suffered at the hands of their parents, Hurka's tribute to his father is a welcome change. This fine memoir is the winner of Pushcart's 19th annual Editors' Book Award (nominated by Andre Dubus). Illus.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Political struggles, lost and won, are full of unsung heroes. Hurka's lyrical work insures that such anonymity won't befall his father, an anti-Communist resistance fighter. In a poignant style that gracefully interweaves thoughts from a travel diary on Hurka's pilgrimage to modern Prague with dream sequences and bitter historical reality, the author traces the terrible and glorious history of the Czech Republic through the lives of his family and particularly his father, who was imprisoned by Czechoslovakia's Communist government and after winning his release continued his work with the Underground. In this book, we get a thumbnail sketch of a centuries-long struggle for independence and are made to feel the sacrifices of "ordinary" men and women. One's heart goes out to the people caught in the unfortunate geopolitical accident of the 20th century that placed Czechoslovakia between Nazism and communism. The reader comes away with the feeling that in the quest for freedom there are very few ordinary people. Recommended for all collections. [This book is winner of Pushcart's 19th Annual Editors' Book Award. Ed.] Wendy Miller, Lexington P.L., K.
- Wendy Miller, Lexington P.L., KY
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 220 pages
• Publisher: Pushcart Press (June 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 188888925X
• ISBN-13: 978-1888889253
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #840,412 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poetic Narrative Written by a Hero's Son, June 25, 2001

By A Customer

Mr. Hurka tells the story of his father, a hero, with the rhythm of a poet. Unlike many sons who have written about their fathers, this isn't about that author. Mr. Hurka allows his father's amazing life to shine through his own talent as a writer and lets the reader get to know a true patriot hero. With his lyrical tones, the reader can only hope they will be allowed to know more of Mr. Hurka himself in a future book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Touching, Powerful Memoir, October 1, 2001

By	Nicolas P. DiCiaccio (Greater Boston) - See all my reviews

Joseph Hurka has written a very touching memoir of his father's valiant fight against fascism in his home country. This rings especially poignant in the troubled times now facing America. I purchased this book the Saturday before the vile terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center. I began reading it, thinking it was a wonderful memoir of a bygone era. Now, post-attacks, upon my finishing this book I have a renewed sense of just how precious freedom is and what so many other people have been willing to do to secure it. Bravo to Hurka Senior, for all the proud fighting he did to do his part to keep the hope of freedom alive; we owe him and all those like him a great debt of honor. And also bravo to his son, this book's author, for writing such a powerful story of real heroism so well and so vividly. Truly, a joy to read, and in times such as these a must-read. I highly recommend this book.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great read for some history of the Czech Republic, January 10, 2009

By	N. Demers - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Fields of Light: A Son Remembers His Heroic Father (Paperback)

As other reviewers mention, it's hard to imagine life without freedom.
Quick, easy, interesting, entertaining for someone who likes historical fiction.