Respect - Hardcover
In these many-layered and masterfully written portraits, Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot reaches deep into human experience from the drama of birth to the solemn vigil before death to find the essence of respect. In her moving vision, relayed through powerfully told stories, respect is not the passive deference offered a superior but an active force that creates symmetry even in unequal relationships.The reader becomes an eyewitness to the remarkable empowering nature of respect, both given and received be it between doctor and patient, teacher and student, photographer and subject, and midwife and laboring mother. They will feel it in the reverent attention paid by a minister to the last moments of life, and in the Harvard Law School professor's lively curiosity about his student's extracurricular lives.Through the power of her narrative, Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot ultimately makes the reader an intimate partner in her observations of respect linking these varied and intense relationships. A book to be savored and shared, Respect has the power to transform lives.
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Review:
Respect is a mission, a service, a "way to create symmetry, empathy, and connection"; it is self-generating, a "many-splendored quality" that can build relationships and self-esteem. It is, says author Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, much more than the "static and impersonal" term we often use to describe our deference to traditional hierarchies or symbols. Lawrence-Lightfoot, an award-winning professor at Harvard and the author of several important works of sociology, here observes six subjects known for the respect they bring to their work, inquiring into how this quality has been rooted in and affects each of their lives. From the pediatrician who "sees herself as a servant and helper" to the families she treats to the photographer who believes he can bring out the truth in his subjects only by first making himself vulnerable, the daily heroism of each subject is revealed under the author's warm, curious, respectful eye. Lawrence-Lightfoot even weaves into her inquiry the history of her own African American family and its struggles with gaining and keeping respect. This elegant and accessible book offers alternative models for students, professionals, parents--anyone, really--who would like to harness the healing, strengthening power of this old-fashioned, indispensable quality. --Maria Dolan
About the Author:
Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot is Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where a faculty Chair has been endowed in her honor. A MacArthur Prize winner, she is the author of The Good High School, Balm in Gilead and I've Known Rivers.
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- PublisherPerseus Books,U.S.
- ISBN 10 0201136481
- ISBN 13 9780201136487
- BindingHardcover
- Rating
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