Like Water on Stone : The Story of Amnesty International

by Jonathan Power

Forty years after it was created in the office of a London lawyer, Amnesty International is now the most influential non-governmental organisation in the world. With a million strong membership, its power to influence political debate has become legendary. Its almost daily press releases are given front page treatment and studied in the corridors of power. Human rights at government level has evolved from a backburner issue to become a central tenet of the policy if not always the practice of democratic governments everywhere. Even totalitarian governments are now wary of its influence.This book tells the story of the organisation from its first days to the present, examining its successes and failures with a sympathic if detached eye

Genres: Nonfiction

Paperback

First published May 17, 2001

Reviews

[Paul Reef · Rating 2 out of 5]

A centrist liberal romanticized narrative of Amnesty and human rights with some useful information. Never once poses the question: why does Amnesty fail in gaining substantial non-Western following, or: what about social rights next to Amnesty's narrowly defined political rights mandate? Also lacks in historicizing why the movement emerged and thrived during the Cold War, its relation to other organizations, internal developments, etc.

[Matt Towler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've entertained the occasional thought of trying to find some sort of work for Amnesty, you know, having a job that actually means something. But I also imagine that the daily dealing with the worst of what humanity can do to itself could lead to quick burnout. So I read this book with some hope of understanding Amnesty more. It does a good job of doing so, telling of both successes and relative failings. I'm not naive enough to think that the USA is as free as we are lead to believe, but the chapter on the US was still distressing. This book was published in 2001, but clearly before 9/11, as there's no mention of it at all. So because of what came after that and our current reality makes the last chapter, "The World IS a Better Place," seem sadly optimistic now.

[Elli · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like water on a stone: The story of Amnesty International by Jonathan Power

Disclaimer: I read this book in its Swedish translation.

Personally I find the work of Amnesty to be very interesting and I have a personal interest in human rights, therefore I found this book very interesting, and I’m assuming you do to, since you’re thinking of reading this book. It really is an interesting read, even if you aren’t particularly interested in Amnesty, and just want a good book on human rights. My recommendation is to treat each chapter separately, you shouldn’t read this book all in one go, it isn’t necessary and really, the book is quite heavy so taking breaks from it could be good to keep feeling interested.

There are two main issues I had with the book. The first one is that Jonathan Power (in my case the translator) hasn’t done much to make the more bureaucratic parts of the story of Amnesty interesting to read about, and at times the book reads as a file, and just paperwork. It is a though book to get through and by no means an easy read or a page turner. Some parts are also quite graphic in describing torture people have been through, so bare that in mind.

My other issue is that Jonathan Power doesn’t explore the critique of Amnesty being too “leftist”. A lot of the time he brings up former high status members whom have earlier been involved in left-wing politics, but never seems to treat this as an issue. He does mention that there is critique of Amnesty being to left-wing, but never speaks his own opinion on it. I would have liked to hear more about that.

I’m not sure if I would recommend the book. Really only if you have a serious interest on the subject, otherwise it’s just too heavy to get through. It’s also quite old, so if you are looking for something purely out of a human rights interest, you might want to look at something a little bit more up to date.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Gennevieve Sevrin wrote me when adhering, "Avoir des opinions est une chose. Savoir les transformer en engagement est beaucoup plus rare."

"Having opinions is one thing. Knowing how to transform them into commitment is much more rare."

[Jessie B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is some interesting information in this book but it is very random in its organizations and seems to be more like a collection of anecdotes than an organized history of Amnesty International.

[YZ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cover is by Picasso.

[Weavre]

OST NON-FICTION ADULT STK 323 POW