A Desperate Passion: An Autobiography - Softcover

Caldicott, Helen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393316807 ISBN 13: 9780393316803

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997

Synopsis

"She showed me what one set-on-fire human being can do to shift the consciousness of the world." ―Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking

"Dr. Helen Caldicott," the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle declares, "is back on the scene." A Desperate Passion is Caldicott's engaging, inspiring memoir, chronicling her life both on and off the scene. Raised in Australia and trained as a physician, she first found her voice protesting French nuclear tests in the Pacific. Years later she rose to international prominence, founding Physicians for Social Responsibility, "which did perhaps more than any other group to thrust the nuclear issue under the public eye" (New York Times).

"Driven by intense passions, she seems to have adopted the world's population as her children. And all of us are probably better off as a result" (East Bay Express Books)―but Caldicott, wife and mother of three, found that her success did not come without cost. This is a personal story too, a candid, revealing self-portrait of a woman who has not relinquished her remarkable efforts to save the world.

About this title

Review:

Our memories fade quickly. As recently as the 1980s, nuclear war seemed a very real possibility. Nuclear weapons in Germany pointed at the Soviet Union; similar missiles in Russia were aimed at Europe and beyond. The United States spent money on an outer-space shield to ward off attacking missiles. And people protested. Foremost among them was Helen Broinowski Caldicott, the first president of Physicians for Social Responsibility, who led an educated but passionate fight to slow the arms race and prevent worldwide catastrophe. Time has allowed Caldicott a measure of distance to judge her own affairs, and she does so in this book, which examines a loss of her personal life, her recollection of the struggles, and her unleashing of emotions during these "traumatic events."

About the Author:

Helen Caldicott is an internationally recognized antinuclear activist, cofounder of Physicians for Social Responsibility, and founder of the Women’s Action for Nuclear Disarmament and the International Physicians to Save the Environment. She lives in Australia.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0393316807
• ISBN 13: 9780393316803
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 380