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Gli ultimi saranno i primi: La mia vita accanto ai dimenticati della terra
Parigi 1944. Dominique Lapierre ha tredici anni e ogni notte, insieme agli eroi dei suoi libri, scappa dalla città occupata dai nazisti per andare alla scoperta del mondo: Costantinopoli, Gerusalemme, Damasco, i deserti della Siria e dell’Iraq, gli altipiani dell’Afghanistan… Da sotto le coperte prega il dio della guerra perché nessuna allerta lo costringa a interrompere i suoi sogni. Che si avvereranno tutti, ma ancora non lo sa. L’anno dopo scopre gli spazi sconfinati dell’America, dove tornerà per frequentare l’università, e sarà solo l’inizio. Si sposa e si imbarca per una luna di miele intorno al mondo; parte per la Corea insieme alle Nazioni Unite. Da inviato di “Paris Match” viaggia sui fronti più caldi dell’attualità: attraversa la Russia in piena Guerra Fredda, a Napoli si presenta a Lucky Luciano, in un kibbutz nel deserto del Negev, Ben Gurion gli racconta le settimane cruciali della nascita di Israele. Poi l’incontro con l’India, e niente sarà più lo stesso: “Tutto quello che non viene donato va perduto” gli insegna Madre Teresa. Comincia per Dominique una seconda vita immerso nella realtà incredibile della “Città della gioia”: ogni sua giornata, ogni sua parola, tutta l’esperienza e la capacità di scrittore e di comunicatore che ha accumulato nei suoi anni di successi vengono poste al servizio degli ultimi della terra. Infaticabile nel girare il mondo perorando la causa di chi non ha niente, in questi anni Lapierre ha restituito a migliaia di esseri umani la vita, la dignità, una speranza per il futuro. In questo libro uno dei grandi protagonisti del nostro tempo abbraccia per la prima volta l’intera avventura della sua vita, e riflette sulla miseria morale dell’Occidente e sui paradossi del mondo contemporaneo con l’eleganza e l’umiltà di chi pensa di non avere nulla da insegnare. Mentre la sua stessa esistenza è una lezione straordinaria di carità, di fede e di speranza.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
About the author
Dominique Lapierre
58 books363 followersDominique Lapierre was born in Châtelaillon-Plage, Charente-Maritime, France. At the age of thirteen, he travelled to America with his father who was a diplomat (Consul General of France). He attended the Jesuit school in New Orleans and became a paper boy for the "New Orleans Item". He developed interests in travelling, writing and cars and later traveled across the United States as a young man.
In the early 1950s Lapierre was conscripted into the French army. After one year in a tank regiment, he was transferred to SHAPE headquarters to serve as an interpreter. There he met a young American Army corporal, Larry Collins, a Yale graduate and draftee. They became instant friends. When Collins was discharged he was offered a job with Procter & Gamble. Two days before reporting to work, the United Press offered him a job as caption writer at their Paris office, for much less money than offered by Procter & Gamble. Collins accepted the offer and was soon picked up by Newsweek to be their correspondent in the Middle East. When Lapierre was discharged, he found work as a reporter for the magazine Paris Match. Several years later they decided to join forces to tell a big story which would appeal to both French and anglophone audiences. Their first bestseller Is Paris Burning? sold close to ten million copies in thirty languages. In this book they mixed the modern technique of investigation journalism with the classical methods of historical research.
After that they spent four years in Jerusalem to reconstruct the birth of the State of Israel for the book O Jerusalem!. Lapierre is proud that after spending a great deal of time in Jerusalem he knows each alley, square, street, and building in the Holy City intimately.
Two of Lapierre's books – Is Paris Burning? (co-written with Larry Collins) and City of Joy – have been made into films. Lapierre and Collins wrote several other books together before Collins' death in 2005.
He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award in the 2008 Republic Day honors list.
In the early 1950s Lapierre was conscripted into the French army. After one year in a tank regiment, he was transferred to SHAPE headquarters to serve as an interpreter. There he met a young American Army corporal, Larry Collins, a Yale graduate and draftee. They became instant friends. When Collins was discharged he was offered a job with Procter & Gamble. Two days before reporting to work, the United Press offered him a job as caption writer at their Paris office, for much less money than offered by Procter & Gamble. Collins accepted the offer and was soon picked up by Newsweek to be their correspondent in the Middle East. When Lapierre was discharged, he found work as a reporter for the magazine Paris Match. Several years later they decided to join forces to tell a big story which would appeal to both French and anglophone audiences. Their first bestseller Is Paris Burning? sold close to ten million copies in thirty languages. In this book they mixed the modern technique of investigation journalism with the classical methods of historical research.
After that they spent four years in Jerusalem to reconstruct the birth of the State of Israel for the book O Jerusalem!. Lapierre is proud that after spending a great deal of time in Jerusalem he knows each alley, square, street, and building in the Holy City intimately.
Two of Lapierre's books – Is Paris Burning? (co-written with Larry Collins) and City of Joy – have been made into films. Lapierre and Collins wrote several other books together before Collins' death in 2005.
He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award in the 2008 Republic Day honors list.
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