Overview
In this urgent, timely, and passionate book, Nobel Peace Laureate and former President Jimmy Carter argues that the present moment is a unique time for achieving peace in the Middle East-and he offers a bold and comprehensive plan to do just that.
Synopsis
In this urgent, balanced, and passionate book, Nobel Peace Laureate and former President Jimmy Carter argues that the present moment is a unique time for achieving peace in the Middle East — and he offers a bold and comprehensive plan to do just that.
President Carter has been a student of the biblical Holy Land all his life. For the last three decades, as president of the United States and as founder of The Carter Center, he has studied the complex and interrelated issues of the region's conflicts and has been actively involved in reconciling them. He knows the leaders of all factions in the region who will need to play key roles, and he sees encouraging signs among them.
Carter describes the history of previous peace efforts and why they fell short. He argues persuasively that the road to a peace agreement is now open and that it has broad international and regional support. Most of all, since there will be no progress without courageous and sustained U.S. leadership, he says the time for progress is now. President Barack Obama is committed to a personal effort to exert that leadership, starting early in his administration.
This is President Carter's call for action, and he lays out a practical and doable path to peace.
Publishers Weekly
The former president's audio edition of his latest title has an enhanced CD featuring downloadable, helpful maps and relevant historical documents. The maps, in particular, add valuable context and demonstrate the volatile overlapping of cultures and faiths in a relatively small sliver of land. As an added bonus, the package also contains a sample CD from Bringing Peace to a Changing World, the third volume in Carter's acclaimed Sunday Mornings in PlainsBible study series. Perhaps comparing a straightup audio book adaptation with recordings of Carter in a dynamic and spontaneous teaching environment is unfair, but listeners will notice the stark contrast between Carter's competent but stilted delivery in We Can Have Peace and the animated and engaging speaking style of Sunday Mornings in Plains. A Simon & Schuster hardcover (reviewed online). (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Editorials
Publishers Weekly
The former president's audio edition of his latest title has an enhanced CD featuring downloadable, helpful maps and relevant historical documents. The maps, in particular, add valuable context and demonstrate the volatile overlapping of cultures and faiths in a relatively small sliver of land. As an added bonus, the package also contains a sample CD from Bringing Peace to a Changing World, the third volume in Carter's acclaimed Sunday Mornings in PlainsBible study series. Perhaps comparing a straightup audio book adaptation with recordings of Carter in a dynamic and spontaneous teaching environment is unfair, but listeners will notice the stark contrast between Carter's competent but stilted delivery in We Can Have Peace and the animated and engaging speaking style of Sunday Mornings in Plains. A Simon & Schuster hardcover (reviewed online). (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Library Journal
These two works complement each other nicely. Both authors have had many years of involvement in the issues; both express hope about how peace can be achieved. Sadat (A Woman of Egypt), widow of Egypt's President Anwar Sadat, who won the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize for his courageous recognition of Israel, combines her analysis of peace negotiations with her perspective as a devout Muslim and a successful professional woman. Carter focuses more exclusively on political issues from his background overseeing successful negotiations between Israel and Egypt in 1979 and his subsequent years of engagement in Middle Eastern issues. Both believe that the issues of Israel's security, Palestinian sovereignty, stable borders, settlement of refugees, and the status of Jerusalem can be resolved through solutions already outlined in principle. Both identify Israeli settlements and occupation of the West Bank along with the weakness and fragmentation of Palestinian leadership as key obstacles to peace. Carter emphasizes the history of negotiations since the 1970s, a growing recognition of the possibilities of two secure states in the Holy Land, and the destructive influence of militant minorities in each society. He also stresses the necessity for strong and sustained U.S. involvement to keep negotiations moving. In contrast, Sadat's focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is broadened by her exposition of her husband's career, her development as a writer and teacher in the United States after his assassination, and her understanding of Islam as a religion that supports tolerance, diversity, democracy, and an active role for women. Both authors remind us that a majority of Israelis andPalestinians want peace. These two books would be valuable additions to most libraries because of the perspectives they provide for understanding this dangerous conflict.
—Elizabeth R. Hayford