Customer Reviews

Finding Palestine: One American's Trek from the Midwest to the Middle East

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is about an American woman and her journey of self-discovery. Liza Elliott, a nurse who was on a work trip with the Palestinian Red Crescent, ends up stranded in the area during an un-anticipated Israeli invasion. She is recounting her eye-witness experience of the life of the Palestinian people under opccupation in the refugee camps. During her presence, she witnesses the birth of the Palestinian "Intifadah" or awakening. This intense experience sparks her own personal intifadah. She describes her journey of internal growth and her newly found inner strength. Liza Elliott also touches on the background and history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This book is an inspiring woman's journey of self-discovery. I highly recommend it.

This book is a autobiographical work and a personal narrative of Liza Elliot. The book is easy to read and interesting. She narrates the story and makes the reader feel the intense deprivation and plight of the Palestinian people. The style the book is written in is very good

This book is an engaging blend of personal narrative and political instruction, one that's difficult to put down. In the tradition of Diane McWhorter's CARRY ME HOME, Dr. Elliott teaches us things we don't know while at the same time making sure we remember that she is a human being, journeying through territory and time, actually feeling what she is learning. I wish other historians would follow these examples and show us the human face of a very daunting, sometimes abstract, always complicated subject. The Middle East is mysterious to Americans, only because we haven't lived there, visited there, loved and felt there. Once you've visited Elliott's world, you feel you can't return to comfortable complacency in front of the television set. All the right questions are being asked in this little book and thankfully, unlike so many other works on this subject, it never turns into a rant. Dr. Elliott remains confused about what she has learned. It is that state of confusion that leaves the door open to more learning, and more learning is what we all could use. The Middle East is not just a bunch of territorial barbarians, not merely a horde of religious zealots, not just a group of intolerant boundary-holders and conquerors. The Middle East is filled with people who aspire to decent, peaceful lives, if their leaders and our leaders would put all of us first and leave the strutting and sabre-rattling to a previous century. Dr. Elliott and others who have opened their eyes to a new reality have much to teach us.
--Jim Reed, author, DAD'S TWEED COAT Learn more at his website: jimreedbooks.com

Liza Elliott's book is one of the best books on the Middle East crisis out there. After reading this book, you get a sense of what's really happening in Palestine, who the Palestinians are, what their aspirations are, and why do they act the way they do. This book dispels the myths that Palestinians are terroritsts. It puts a human face on them and explains that not only are they NOT the terrorists, but that THEY are the ones being terrorized! Elliott writes about them in such a loving way that we can't help but get to know the Palestinians and sympathize with their struggle to just be left alone to live life. Elliott is a writer with depth and insight and a style of writing that keeps you turning the pages. A must to read for those who are confused about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.