The Life and Death of Petra Kelly [Paperback]

Sara Parkin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The first full biography of German Green Party cofounder Petra Kelly, one of this century's most influential women. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 230 pages
• Publisher: Rivers Oram Press/Pandora (January 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0044409400
• ISBN-13: 978-0044409403
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,801,395 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Petra Kelly- Freedom to Think Differently, December 4, 2008

By 

Lasata (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Life and Death of Petra Kelly (Hardcover)

Sara Parkin's meticulously researched and first biography of Petra Kelly, opens the green kimono of her very public persona to reveal a complex character who was publically revered for her charismatic leadership but privately was deeply vulnerable and uncertain in her intimate private life. Through her window on Petra's life, Parkins solidarity with in her sensitive explorations of her journey feels somehow biographical for her in certain points.

Born in Bavaria in 1947, it was clear early on in Petra's childhood that Kelly was different from a young age when her teachers in the Roman Catholic convent in Gunzberg continually commented to her parents that the child was special. After her family moved from Germany to Georgia in 1960, she not only threw herself into school politics, public speaking, writing and academics, but also became a local celebrity, foreshadowing of her ability to excel at anything she put her mind to. There were not enough hours in the day for Kelly, who read whatever books she could get her hands on about those who inspired her including Martin Luther King, Henry David Thoreau, the Dalai Lama and more.

In 1966 she entered the School of International Service at American University in Washington, D.C, majoring in political science and international relations.During university she continued to involve herself in myriad organizations and clubs, organizing the first International Week (now an annual event). She passionately campaigned for Robert Kennedy who became her political idol, and after his murder, for Hubert Humphrey in the 1968 elections. Both were in correspondence directly with Petra throughout her college career. The non-violent civil rights movement of African Americans and the Vietnam War engaged her spirit viscerally and irrevocably.

One of the new revelations in Parkin's biography is some of the elements of Petra's personal life that were heretofore unknown. For example, the death of Kelly's half sister Grace in 1970 to eye cancer was a pivotal point in her life; thereafter she decided to dedicate her life to non violence. Despite the fact that Grace's cancer was incurable and unrelated to nuclear issues, as Parkin asserts `nuclear technology represented for Petra the epitome of violence, to the health and safety of people and the environment', and thus the cause of nuclear disbarment became one of her rallying cries. It was Grace in particular that motivated her to become an activist for this cause. Kelly would dedicate the rest of her life to her involvement in antiwar, civil rights, antinuclear, and feminist movements. Kelly had dreamt of creating an `anti party' party, and achieved this goal in 1979 with the creation of the new nonviolent ecological German Green Party. She was elected to chairperson in 1980, becoming the becoming the first German female head of a political party. Throughout the next ten years she stayed involved in grassroots activism, building bridges across disciplines and borders, such as in the ecofeminist movement.

Parkin's biography also sheds new light on Petra's life which was tragically cut short so suddenly. In 1992 she was shot in Bonn She was shot while sleeping, most likely by her closest friend, lover and Green politician Gert Bastion who then killed himself. Kelly's friends believe that her death occurred unexpectedly and without her consent. In this biography, Parkin seeks in her extremely thorough account not only to give us the important snapshots of Kelly's life, but also to shine a light on the person not just freedom fighter's public to answer some of the questions of who the person behind the public persona really was.
Parkin's only fault through her sensitive explorations of Petra Kelly is perhaps the creation of a book that at times reads more like a history textbook than a biography. But overall, it is a solid and well-crafted biography of a complicated person which provides truly new insights to the iconic freedom fighter. We are taken on a journey through the highs and lows of her 44 prolific years on Earth, with no gritty details spared. We see the highs of her high school days, her whirlwind romances and her numerous awards received. Parkin does not hide from us the low points in the life of this heroine, be it her struggle with anxiety and paranoia or the great loss of her life that was her sister's death from cancer. In including every detail possible, we feel as though we are with her every step of her unique journey, by the end intimately connected and attached to this character we don't even know firsthand.

We are not just presented with Petra's public persona with all of its charm and eloquence - the Jeanne d'Arc of the nuclear age, a secular nun, but also with the real Petra, who was fraught with insecurities and anxiety and sometimes paralyzed by her ambivalence. Petra is at once an incredible super human character, and someone just like us who we can see ourselves in. Petra championed the green cause, and hand in hand the cause of non violence throughout her short life. But we see that the cause of non violence was not always an easy one for her. She too battled and struggled with the concept, or at least the concept in practice, in her last years keeping a gun in her house for fear of being attacked. We find hope in her struggle- we too don't have to be perfect to attempt to change the world in our own way, however small, because even the most accomplished activists have struggled too.