The Great Awakening or Triumph

The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith and Politics in a Post-Religious Right America

Author: Jim Wallis

What will it take to solve the biggest issues of our time: extreme and needless poverty, global warming and environmental degradation, terrorism and the endless cycle of violence, racism, human trafficking, health care and education, and other pressing problems? While Washington offers only the politics of blame and fear, Jim Wallis, the man who changed the conversation about faith and politics, has traveled the country and found a nation hungry for a politics of solutions and hope. He shows us that a revival is happening, as people of faith and moral conviction seek common ground for change.

Wallis also reminds us that religious faith was a driving force behind our greatest national reforms, such as the abolition of slavery and the civil rights movement. These "great awakenings" happened periodically at crucial times in our nation's history to propel us toward the common good. The time is ripe for another movement that will transform this country. With The Great Awakening, Wallis helps us rediscover our moral center and provides both the needed inspiration and a concrete plan to hold politics accountable and find solutions to our greatest challenges.

Publishers Weekly

Recognizing that America's faithful have subverted their evangelical Christian ideology into a conservative political ideology, Wallis reminds readers that to follow the spirit of Christianity truly does mean to go beyond the simple two-party system and understand the greater principles of the faith. Wallis assesses the wide range of movements and new ideas emerging from Christians and what this new reckoning within their hearts and minds means for the political realm. With tools and goals that help listeners achieve spirituality over ideology, Wallis reveals the "common ground" upon which faith in America can be rebuilt and opened to a larger group of discontented believers. At a slow, deliberate pace, Wallis narrates with an elderly but genuinely sincere voice. A few voice shifts hint at poor sound editing, but the clarity and crisp voice of Wallis still shines through. However, his tone can be a bit droll, and it seems to move forward with almost languid reluctance. He performs a few vocal impersonations quite well, but often in doing so, only reinforces his overall weak performance in the straight narration. Simultaneous release with the HarperOne hardcover (Reviews, Dec. 10, 2007). (Feb.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents:

Foreword   Jimmy Carter     ix
Introduction: Something Is Happening     1
Revival Time: When Faith Changes Politics     11
Changes in the Air: The New Agenda     31
How to Change the World, and Why: Rules of Engagement     53
The Moral Center: Politics for the Common Good     79
Inclusion and Opportunity: The Welcome Table     103
Stewardship and Renewal: The Earth Is the Lord's     135
Equality and Diversity: The Race to Unity     157
Life and Dignity: Critical Choices     189
Family and Community: The False Choice     217
Nonviolent Realism: Resolving Our Conflicts     235
Integrity and Accountability: Doing the Right Thing and the Question of Leadership     267
What's Acceptable, What's Possible: Notes to the Next Generation     283
Epilogue: Red Letter Christians and Justice Revivals: Coming to a City Near You     299
Jim Wallis Sr.: Man of Faith     311
Acknowledgments     317
Notes     321
Index     331

Book review: Island Cooking or Italian Family Dining

Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics

Author: Jeremy Schaap

At the 1936 Olympics, against a backdrop of swastikas and goose-stepping storm troopers, an African-American son of sharecroppers won a staggering four gold medals and single-handedly demonstrated that Hitler's myth of Aryan supremecy was a lie. The story of Jesse Owens at the Berlin games is that of an athletic performance that transcends sports. It is also the intimate and complex tale of one remarkable man's courage. Drawing on unprecedented access to the Owens family, previously unpublished interviews, and exhaustive archival research, Jeremy Schaap transports us to Germany and tekks the dramatic tale of Owens and his fellow athletes at the contest dubbed the Nazi Olympics.

With his incisive reporting and rich storytelling, Schaap reveals what really happened over those tense, exhilarating weeks in a nuanced and riveting work of sports history.

Publishers Weekly

Written as though the film treatment were already completed, Schaap's chronicle of Jesse Owens's journey to and glorious triumph at the 1936 Berlin Olympics is snappy and dramatic, with an eye for the rousing climax, through curiously slight on follow-through. Starting with Owens as the well-feted ex-athlete in the 1950s, Schaap (an ESPN anchor and author of Cinderella Man) flashes back to Owens's childhood in 1920s Cleveland, where junior high coach Charles Riley spotted his astounding physique and near limitless potential for track and field. Owens seems so perfectly made for running and jumping that the following years of ever-increasing athletic and popular success are less exciting than preordained. By the time the "Ebony Antelope" (as one of many adoring newspapermen had anointed him) was ready for Berlin, his success was practically guaranteed. The real drama of Schaap's book, which surprisingly skimps on Owens the person, comes in the politically fractious runup to Berlin (for the ceremony-obsessed Hitler, "a fascist fantasy come true"). While the story has been told many times, Schaap makes good use of his prodigious research and access to the Owens family, even digging up the fact that Owens's oft-repeated claim he was snubbed by Hitler and the Berlin crowd was very likely untrue. (Feb.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

From the ESPN anchor who brought us Cinderella Man. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

From the author of Cinderella Man (2005), another true-life tale of an underdog asserting his worth with a sports triumph. Schaap, the host of ESPN's Outside the Lines, seeks to cut through the apocryphal tales that sprang up in the wake of Jesse Owens's record-breaking performance at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin by drawing on accounts from sportswriters, eyewitnesses and the athlete himself. He attempts to get inside Owens's head while exploring everything from Hitler's alleged snubbing of black athletes to the nature of the unlikely friendship between the American track star and German long-jumper Luz Long. Like many African-Americans of the time, Owens (1913-80) grew up in poverty and grappled with discrimination. While at Ohio State, he pumped gas for hours each day to support his wife and young child; even though he'd tied several world records on his high-school track team, he was not offered a scholarship. Success and controversy followed. He endured accusations of obtaining money from the Ohio state legislature without having earned it, racy tabloid stories of romantic trysts and questions about the genetic advantages of black athletes. With the help of high-school mentor Charles Riley and college coach Larry Snyder, Owens qualified for the Olympics. After a lengthy debate about whether participation in the Nazi Games was ethical-a discussion that had special resonance for African-Americans, whose circumstances bore striking similarities to those faced by Jews-the U.S. chose to take part, setting the stage for Owens to show the world a true superman not descended from Aryan stock. The author offers an in-depth story whose only flaw is its narrow timeframe, depriving readers of alook at Owens's later years. Explodes off the blocks and proceeds with grace and fluidity.