Race Against Time (CBC Massey Lectures Series) [Paperback]

Stephen Lewis (Author)

Book Description

Series: CBC Massey Lecture | Publication Date: October 18, 2005

"I have spent the last four years watching people die." With these wrenching words, humanitarian Stephen Lewis begins his personal, often searing insider's account of Africa's plight and the wealthy world's betrayal. Lewis recounts how in 2000, global leaders agreed to eight Millennium Development Goals, promising the poor such essentials as primary education, basic health and a reversal of AIDS by 2015. In audacious prose, alive with anecdotes ranging from maddening to hilarious to heart-breaking, Lewis shows why and how the promises can't be kept. Race Against Time probes the appalling gap between vision and current reality, but also offers bracingly attainable solutions.

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: House of Anansi Press (October 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0887847331
• ISBN-13: 978-0887847332
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,066,520 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enduring vibrato...profoundly stirring!, November 17, 2005

By 

Raffi Cavoukian - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Race Against Time (CBC Massey Lectures Series) (Paperback)

Every now and then, there is a book everyone must read.
Racing Against Time, by Stephen Lewis, is that book.
His eloquent oratory on Africa's AIDS pandemic (and the world's
complicity) makes riveting reading-the page takes
nothing of his voice away: it amplifies it, it adds vibrato to his
plea for every person & nation to hear it and respond.
Stephen Lewis gives a highly personal account of a
numbing-scale disaster, in a tone as immediate as the
mega-tragedy of our times. Profoundly stirring.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You need to read this book, February 14, 2006

By 

Michael Dettinger "humble reader" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Race Against Time (CBC Massey Lectures Series) (Paperback)

Lewis clearly and passionately explains, in terms that every American should read, the status of children, of women, of food systems, and of disease/pandemics in Africa and throughout the developing and dominated worlds. Really, if you want to understand the disaster that our rich governments are allowing to persist and metastacise elsewhere out of sight. I learned so much from this book! You should too.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars But hearing him speak is even better, May 29, 2006

By 

Bailey (Illinois (not Chicago)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Race Against Time (Massey Lecture) (Audio CD)

I first heard about Stephen Lewis while flipping the channels and came across him giving a speech on PBS. I didn't know who he was and I almost changed channels, but he was telling a lot of great jokes with a strong presence (despite the fact his punch-lines were all polysyllabic). So I kept listening. Then his topic changed from pleasantries to his real issue - the crisis in Africa. It was one of those things you don't forget about. I listened to him for an hour and - when I read parts of Race Against Time two years later, I can still hear him. And my only real critizism of this book is that, strong as it is, Stephen Lewis is an orator and his words are best heard, not read. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in Africa or the Third-World, those (like myself) pursuing careers or already in the health care community, those with strong social consciences for the underprivilaged and have links with political or charitable organizations that can help, or just anyone who wants to heard compleling true-stories of death, life and strength out of African communities from a gifted mind. There are a few pieces of "boring politics and economics" in here that might confuse and annoy some readers (I'll admit, I don't understand it all), but I believe the rest is a must read.