Prophet - the Hatmaker's Son: The Life of Robert Muller - Hardcover

Douglas Gillies

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0970270534 ISBN 13: 9780970270535

Publisher: East Beach Press, 2003

Synopsis

Robert Muller is recognized as one of the great peacemakers of the 20th century. He started out as the modest son of a poor hatmaker and was trained to follow in his father's footsteps. Life was simple in the French village of Sarreguemines in the 1930's, but as the tide turned to war, German teens started marching in formation across the Sarre River from Robert's home. In May 1940, Adolph Hitler invaded France and declared that all residents of Robert's village were now Germans. For the next three years, Robert maneuvered to avoid being drafted into the Nazi army while he studied Goethe, Schiller, and Descartes at the University of Heidelberg and learned to think like a global citizen. He even harnessed the power of his mind to induce appendicitis on the day before he was to be drafted. When all other options ran out, he fled to Vichy, France, on a midnight freight train, changed his name and joined the French Resistance. In this dramatic authorized biography, Robert Muller discovered on the battlefield that he was destined to be a peacemaker. On the night of the liberation of Lyon, Muller stood by a cemetery weeping for the young people whose lives were taken during his service in the Resistance. That night he swore he would devote his life to peace. After World War II, Muller dedicated his life to the United Nations, where he initiated economic and social programs that changed the world.

About this title

About the Author:

Douglas Gillies was born in California and raised in Ontario, Canada. He practiced law in the San Francisco Bay Area after graduating from UCLA. He has produced six documentaries, including On the Edge--a wake-up call, a frank assessment of the state of the world with interviews of Mikhail Gorbachev, Jane Goodall, Ted Turner, Huston Smith, Oren Lyons, and Robert Muller. He began documenting Robert Muller's life in 1994, first interviewing him for television and then producing Passion, an audio program in which Muller talks about the meaning of life and death. Gillies has two sons and lives in Santa Barbara, California. He is also the author 101 Cool Ways to Die (2009).

Review:

Robert Muller has been an inspiration to countless people around the world. What a joy to read his life story - Peter Russell, The Brain Book. Robert Muller had a very large positive influence on me. He had a wonderful global outlook and a kind-hearted attitude of forgiveness and understanding. I admired and respected him greatly. He was one of the greatest men to come along in a long time. - Ted Turner, CNN founder. When the true history of the 20th is told, Robert Muller's name will stand out as one of the greatest world servers of all time. This powerful book is filled with stories and anecdotes that delight as they illumine the path of greatness. Prophet ennobles as it instructs. One discovers how high intelligence matched with deep compassion can lead to the way of wisdom and the winning of a better world. Robert Muller was a spiritual giant as well as a hugely original thinker, and the story of his life is a testament to the glory of the human spirit. --Jean Houston, Author, The Possible Human

What keeps me hopeful is the knowledge that there are so many amazing people in this country and around the world who are helping, in little and big ways, to create a better life for us all. Although they are passionate about a diverse range of issues, this global army of volunteers and activists share a common dream for a better world, a world where peace prevails on earth. These workers for peace on earth are our real heroes, whether they are celebrities or ordinary citizens. One of my greatest heroes is a man that most people have never heard of. Robert Muller was one of the New Millennium's greatest minds for peace. He didn't win the Nobel Peace Prize (although he was nominated many times and was honored with UNESCO's Peace Education Prize), but he was a true visionary, dedicating every waking and dreaming moment for fifty years to help the dream of a world at peace. Muller's vision earned him respect while serving as Assistant Secretary-General to three United Nations Secretaries-General. It resulted in his co-founding the United Nations' University for Peace in Costa Rica, where he served as its first Chancellor. It inspired Robert Muller Schools all around the world that teach about peace and global education. It helped convince his friend Ted Turner to donate one billion dollars to the United Nations. His many books and poems are filled with inspiration for all who wish for a better world. Robert Muller's vision was so clear that his 7,000 Ideas and Dreams for a Better World provide an amazing blueprint that will inspire peacemakers for generations to come. --Robert Alan Silverstein, Communications Manager for The Lifebridge Foundation; Associate Editor, The Bridging Tree

Douglas Gillies' biography about Dr. Muller, PROPHET: The Hatmaker's Son, reads like an adventure novel. The book begins in 1972 when Robert Muller, at the time Director of the Executive Office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, is summoned to accompany UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim in a momentous visit to China to meet with Premier Chou En-Lai. Muller had already played an influential role in helping the previous UN Secretary-General U Thant advance the debate that in 1971 ultimately led to China's entry into the United Nations. The book then goes back in time to 1929, when Robert was a child in the Alsace Lorraine region, which for centuries had been the center of a power struggle between France and Germany. His family album was filled with relatives in uniform but the uniforms they wore depended on which country they were forced to pledge allegiance to at the time. As he grew up, Robert thought there had to be an alternative to the nationalism that sent young men to kill and die. When World War II broke out, he daringly tried to escape across the border to France to avoid being drafted into the German army, was captured by the Gestapo, escaped to France, joined the French Resistance, and witnessed first-hand the unfathomable atrocities of war. The horrors of modern warfare convinced Muller that humanity could not continue to go on solving its conflicts this way and survive. After the war, while working on his law degree, he won an essay contest, which then led to an internship with the newly formed United Nations. The book ends with Robert's decision to leave home to work for the United Nations. --David Lorimer, Scientific and Medical Network

About this edition

• Publisher: East Beach Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0970270534
• ISBN 13: 9780970270535
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288