Who Cares?: Rediscovering Community [Paperback]

David B Schwartz (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0813332087 | ISBN-13: 978-0813332086 | Publication Date: February 22, 1997

A wonderfully engaging and accessible book, Who Cares? emphasizes finding humane responses to developmentally and physically disabled individuals that are community driven rather than solely reliant on problem-solution oriented social service organizations. David Schwartz examines the roles of both informal communities and sectarian communities for examples and practical techniques that can be applied to the reader’s situation. The beautifully written, touching accounts of individual lives swept under the carpet of the social services system make it impossible to read this book without being affected by the stories—such as the boy who was afraid of white, Nancy who moved to an apartment after forty years in a nursing home, and everyday life in a small east coast town whose inhabitants help one another in times of need.Schwartz does not advocate the overthrow or dismantling of the social services, but instead proposes supplemental responses that will lead to richer, better lives for both the recipient and the caregiving individual and community. The practical, easily encouraged methods of building informal models suggested by the author grow out of both his own practice and his informed experiences as director of a state social services agency and are grounded in the basic desires for nurturing, belonging, and a sense of community. Who Cares? will appeal to those working in the field of social services as well as the general reader searching for ways to bring meaning into the modern, disconnected life.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David B. Schwartz is the former director of the Pennsylvania Developmental Disabilities Council, the author of Crossing the River: Creating a Conceptual Revolution in Community and Disability, and a psychotherapist in private practice.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Westview Press (February 22, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813332087
• ISBN-13: 978-0813332086
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #747,371 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "A practical and magical book" - The Bloomsbury Review, September 16, 2000

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The Bloomsbury Review (Denver) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Who Cares?: Rediscovering Community (Paperback)

Our society has many official, paid, credentialed experts working on the problems of the world. Instead, according to this blueprint for radical, direct, and loving action, we each need to do what we can and not wait for official solutions. By creating connections with each other - friend, stranger, neighbor, and relative - we can discover untapped resources. This book is filled with the passion of a man who lives his vision of active, loving commitment to the well-being of all souls, focusing on the needs of the physically challenged, the poor, the elderly, the mentally ill, and members of other marginalized groups. What is most important is that these helping relationships are peer relationships, where the boundaries between gift and gratitude, giver and recipient, vanish. A practical and magical book.

Patricia Wagner, The Bloomsbury Review

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Quest for Community, April 2, 2000

By 

B. Stuart (Littleton, CO) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Who Cares?: Rediscovering Community (Paperback)

This timely book captures the essence of the search for living community and shared meaning, in an increasingly virtual "knowledge" world. Comparing and contrasting institutionalized and often unconscious responses to humans to a more personal and nonsystemic response, Schwartz provides a lens on community and individual opportunities. While he focuses on the disabled, he elaborates with striking metaphors to other communities circumscribed by systemic "fixes", criminal justice, health care, and neighborhoods. The book is both easy and challenging to read: easy because so much of it rings true, and is written in a personal style; challenging because the insights offered are sobering. Suggestions are real-world, possible, do-able. They are offered in a respectful and accessible way, to all of us, system insiders and community seekers alike.