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Absolute Convictions: My Father, a City, and the Conflict That Divided America
by
Eyal Press
A Booklist Editors' Choice of the Year
On October 23, 1998, Barnett Slepian, an abortion provider in Buffalo, New York, was killed by a sniper's bullet. Days later, another local doctor, Shalom Press, received a threat that he was "next on the list." Within hours, the Press family was under police protection, and America's violent struggle over abortion had come to the blue...more
Paperback, 304 pages
Published
February 20th 2007
by Picador
(first published February 21st 2006)
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Eyal Press has written a rambling history of his father's reproductive health care work in Buffalo. A stoic, quiet veteran, Dr. Shalom Press came to the US for medical training and ended up staying to open his own OB/GYN clinic. After his colleague Dr.Slepian's murder in 1998 (just the latest in a long string of clinic bombings, provider shootings, and general terrorizing), Dr.Press became the only abortion provider to live in Buffalo.
It contains some great tidbits, because he has intimate acce...more
It contains some great tidbits, because he has intimate acce...more
Sep 20, 2008
Molly Des Jardin
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Molly by:
Diane Rehm show
I picked up this book interested in the topic and not entirely making the connection to my own life until I started reading. I grew up near Buffalo (in Rochester, NY), and half of my family is originally from the Buffalo area (and yeah, we're Catholic). On top of that, the events described in the book happened when I was around 10 - 18. Can you believe I don't remember any of it happening? Either I tuned it out or it blended into the overall context in which I grew up - a heavily fundamentalist...more
This is a great book! The author is a journalist, so it is highly readable and easy to understand. It's a very quick read.
Author Eyal Press describes how the city where he grew up, Buffalo, NY, became a major front in the war over abortion, culminating in the death of a doctor who provided abortions, Dr. Barnett Slepian, who was shot in his home in 1998. He includes lots of history and political info about the debate over abortions and the city of Buffalo. One of the most interesting points he...more
Author Eyal Press describes how the city where he grew up, Buffalo, NY, became a major front in the war over abortion, culminating in the death of a doctor who provided abortions, Dr. Barnett Slepian, who was shot in his home in 1998. He includes lots of history and political info about the debate over abortions and the city of Buffalo. One of the most interesting points he...more
I liked it. It had a journalistic approach to the abortion debate. It was interesting to read about the history of the right to choose in Buffalo. I previously had no idea Buffalo was such the center of contention in the overall debate. Being a history nerd, I always enjoy books with historical context to them. Overall, parts of the book infuriated me, but that had nothing to do with the writing style, just the crap that has happened in the last 40 years in the anti-abortion/pro-choice debate.
Read this if you're interested in abortion rights, the tactics of pro-lifers, feminism, or Western New York. My friend likened this book to "What's the Matter with Kansas," except in Buffalo. The author's father is an OB-GYN in Buffalo, and one of the few who performed abortions. His colleauge, Dr. Barnett Slepian was murdered by a radical pro-lifer, at his home in Amherst in 1998. This book certainly covers that event in detail, but also spans the abortion debate, both pre- and post-Roe v. Wade...more
Sep 22, 2009
Kaethe
marked it as abandoned
I don't need to read a balanced look at anti-abortion extremists
Mar 15, 2007
Jinhee Joe
added it
Recommends it for:
feminists, pro-lifers, pro-choicers, political activists.. you.
Some friends and I met the author in a bar in Union Square. He came up with the "Please watch my bag. My life is in it" line as we has headed to the bathroom. And of course we had to guess he was a writer. Looked him up and he is, indeed, a writer.
I'm very excited to read this book, as I have actually met the author, at a bar, quasi-hitting on myself, along with two other girls accompanied by a good looking tall skinny white boy.
I will get down to business and let you know how it is.
--
finally fi...more
I'm very excited to read this book, as I have actually met the author, at a bar, quasi-hitting on myself, along with two other girls accompanied by a good looking tall skinny white boy.
I will get down to business and let you know how it is.
--
finally fi...more
This is an intelligently written memoir and a good read. Eyal Press grew up in Buffalo NY - his father was an Israeli abortion provider and his mother was a Holocaust survivor. His story is a gripping account of living on the fault lines of culture clashes over abortion and religion and growing up as an immigrant family in America.
While the information I read I found to be quite interesting, at times I felt as if I were reading a textbook rather than a novel about the author and his family.
An awesome read for those interested in women's issues, abortion, controversy or Western New York.
Jul 27, 2009
Hey Sailor!
marked it as never-finished
i started this but never finished. If I can't do it this time I will just give up!
Mar 17, 2013
Andrea
marked it as to-read
Mar 16, 2013
Tina R.
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Mar 03, 2013
Mike Irwin
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Mar 01, 2013
Andrea Devinney
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Dec 06, 2012
Yinzadi
marked it as to-read
Nov 27, 2012
Mark Fitzpatrick
marked it as to-read
Jun 24, 2012
Carin Napoletano
is currently reading it
Jun 23, 2012
Travis Ammons
marked it as to-read
Jun 22, 2012
Molly
marked it as to-read
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