Annie Leibovitz : A Photographer's Life: 1990-2005
Random House : 2006
“I don’t have two lives,” Annie Leibovitz writes in the Introduction to this collection of her work from 1990—2005. “This is one life, and the personal pictures and the assignment work are all part of it.” Portraits of well-known figures–Johnny Cash, Nicole Kidman, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Keith Richards, Michael Jordan, Joan Didion, R2-D2, Patti Smith, Nelson Mandela, Jack Nicholson, William Burroughs, George W. Bush with members of his Cabinet–appear alongside pictures of Leibovitz’s family and friends, reportage from the siege of Sarajevo in the early Nineties, and landscapes made even more indelible through Leibovitz’s discerning eye. The images form a narrative rich in contrasts and continuities: The photographer has a long relationship that ends with illness and death. She chronicles the celebrations and heartbreaks of her large and robust family. She has children of her own. All the while she is working, and the public work resonates with the themes of her life.
Paul S. Vickery : Bartolome de Las Casas: Great Prophet of the Americas
The Newman Press : 2006
Bartolomé de Las Casas was a Dominican priest--a missionary who fought relentlessly for justice for the Native Americans and even for their status as human beings. He was fearless in standing up to the political and ecclesiastical powers of his time, and a tireless chronicler of events. In Bartolomé de las Casas: Great Prophet of the Americas, Paul S. Vickery not only brings these aspects of this extraordinary man to life--but does so against the background of his own two conversion experiences in which he recognized his own hypocrisy as a seeker of wealth and owner of Indian slaves.
The author richly describes Bartolomé's journey to the New World in search of wealth and prestige--and his outrage upon seeing the cruel treatment of the Native Americans. He soon acquired a reputation as the "Defender of the Indians" as he tirelessly preached, wrote, and lobbied to defend these indigenous people from those who sought to exploit and enslave them.
More than a cleric, political activist, or simple chronicler of events, Las Casas became the very conscience of Catholic Spain, a nation grappling with the spiritual mandate to save souls and the human desire to accumulate wealth. His quest for social justice is as relevant for us today as it was in his own time. And this fascinating book reminds readers that, just as Las Casas changed his entire life's focus through the power of reading the Scripture, so too can we.
Michael W. Doyle, Nicholas Sambanis : Making War and Building Peace: United Nations Peace Operations
Princeton University Press : 2006
Making War and Building Peace examines how well United Nations peacekeeping missions work after civil war. Statistically analyzing all civil wars since 1945, the book compares peace processes that had UN involvement to those that didn't. Michael Doyle and Nicholas Sambanis argue that each mission must be designed to fit the conflict, with the right authority and adequate resources. UN missions can be effective by supporting new actors committed to the peace, building governing institutions, and monitoring and policing implementation of peace settlements. But the UN is not good at intervening in ongoing wars. If the conflict is controlled by spoilers or if the parties are not ready to make peace, the UN cannot play an effective enforcement role. It can, however, offer its technical expertise in multidimensional peacekeeping operations that follow enforcement missions undertaken by states or regional organizations such as NATO. Finding that UN missions are most effective in the first few years after the end of war, and that economic development is the best way to decrease the risk of new fighting in the long run, the authors also argue that the UN's role in launching development projects after civil war should be expanded.
