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My Name Is Jody Williams: A Vermont Girl's Winding Path to the Nobel Peace Prize (California Series in Public Anthropology)
As Eve Ensler says in her inspired foreword to this book, “Jody Williams is many things—a simple girl from Vermont, a sister of a disabled brother, a loving wife, an intense character full of fury and mischief, a great strategist, an excellent organizer, a brave and relentless advocate, and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. But to me Jody Williams is, first and foremost, an activist.”
From her modest beginnings to becoming the tenth woman—and third American woman—to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, Jody Williams takes the reader through the ups and downs of her tumultuous and remarkable life. In a voice that is at once candid, straightforward, and intimate, Williams describes her Catholic roots, her first step on a long road to standing up to bullies with the defense of her deaf brother Stephen, her transformation from good girl to college hippie at the University of Vermont, and her protest of the war in Vietnam. She relates how, in 1981, she began her lifelong dedication to global activism as she battled to stop the U.S.-backed war in El Salvador.
Throughout the memoir, Williams underlines her belief that an “average woman”—through perseverance, courage and imagination—can make something extraordinary happen. She tells how, when asked if she’d start a campaign to ban and clear anti-personnel mines, she took up the challenge, and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) was born. Her engrossing account of the genesis and evolution of the campaign, culminating in 1997 with the Nobel Peace Prize, vividly demonstrates how one woman’s commitment to freedom, self-determination, and human rights can have a profound impact on people all over the globe.
From her modest beginnings to becoming the tenth woman—and third American woman—to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, Jody Williams takes the reader through the ups and downs of her tumultuous and remarkable life. In a voice that is at once candid, straightforward, and intimate, Williams describes her Catholic roots, her first step on a long road to standing up to bullies with the defense of her deaf brother Stephen, her transformation from good girl to college hippie at the University of Vermont, and her protest of the war in Vietnam. She relates how, in 1981, she began her lifelong dedication to global activism as she battled to stop the U.S.-backed war in El Salvador.
Throughout the memoir, Williams underlines her belief that an “average woman”—through perseverance, courage and imagination—can make something extraordinary happen. She tells how, when asked if she’d start a campaign to ban and clear anti-personnel mines, she took up the challenge, and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) was born. Her engrossing account of the genesis and evolution of the campaign, culminating in 1997 with the Nobel Peace Prize, vividly demonstrates how one woman’s commitment to freedom, self-determination, and human rights can have a profound impact on people all over the globe.
286 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
About the author
Jody Williams
36 books24 followersIf you really want to know about me, go to www.nobelwomensinitiative.org or goggle me. Too much information for my taste.
If you want to know why I wrote "My Name is Jody Williams" this is why:
Too often for my taste, giants of change are stripped of the flaws, weaknesses and complexities that make us all human and the focus is solely on their strengths. Then all buffed up and made almost saintly, they are put on a pedestal where they seem far beyond the reach of “ordinary” people. They become intimidating and hard to relate to and it’s hard to believe they are or were as human as we are or that we mere mortals could ever accomplish such things too.
In all honesty, I wanted to write this book because I know how many people think they are powerless in this world with so many issues challenging us. I know they are not. They just need to understand about activism and change and that we all can find ways to contribute. I am an inspiring speaker – much comes from the fact that I talk straight with people. I do the same in the book. I am who I am and I don’t try to pretend I’ve not made good and bad choices like everyone else I know. I think I help people realize that they too can make changes in the world without having to turn into a saint to do it.
If my work and my writing help some people really understand that, I'm supremely happy.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
April 26, 2013
My Name is Jody Williams is appropriately included within the University of California series on Public Anthropology. As Eve Ensler writes in the forward, Williams addresses a fundamental question through her life story (thus far): "… why do some shut down and move away in the face of power and oppression and others move into action? I think if we could resolve this riddle, we would unlock millions of sleeping activists who could possibly help save this world …"
The core lesson of her life thus far, as Williams presents it, is that the Nobel Prize for her and the International Committee to Ban Landmines (ICBL) tends to invite undue individual glorification (http://www.c-spanvideo.org/clip/44553...). In the process of showing that she is an ordinary person, Williams talks about herself as an iconoclast and introvert, caring little about the trappings of power and celebrity. She is not particularly given to the rarefied air of a statuary exhibit, museum, cathedral or even the affected poses of everyday portraits. Indeed, she pushed back when it was suggested that she was an icon of the hippy movement (an "icon of iconoclasm"?) after her decidedly informal picture on the day that the Nobel was announced. This refusal to unjustifiably take any person more, or less, seriously than any other person underlies Williams' modus operendi and the fundamental challenge she gives to the rest of us. She is no better than us, and therefore we have no excuse for not speaking up and trying to make a difference in our world.
More broadly, My Name is Jody Williams implies that Williams' life and our lives are conditioned by combinations of personalities and (de-)motivations; ideas and ideologies; rhythms and habits; and locations. Williams directly references many of these influences in her life and how they worked into her activism. Other influences can be gleaned by reading between the lines. First, as Williams implies, movements for change like the landmine ban are often incipient. People around the world had seen their lives, and their families, destroyed in an instant by landmines. Governments had put together a half-hearted and bureaucratic Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) that nevertheless provided an entrée for the landmine ban process. Human rights movements, including Human Rights Watch and other organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and Jesuit Refugee Services, engaged in projects directly or indirectly related to landmines, therefore providing possible resources for a larger concentrated movement. All of these individuals, groups and institutions often require a catalyst, people willing and able to undertake the long and largely thankless work of becoming informed; dismissing mystifications and inertial illusions or assumptions; helping to formulate objectives; pushing groups to accomplish their goals; and speaking truth to power. In the context of her work in Central America, the landmine ban, the subsequent formation of the Nobel Women's Initiative, and many other movements, Williams has shown that she has many of the necessary tools. However, turning potential energy into kinetic energy is not easy, and relatively short books can seem to compress the time taken from ideas to movement fruition. Williams handles this well, moving discussion quickly from the euphoria of treaty signing to the seemingly never-ending work of monitoring and assuring treaty compliance. To emphasize this condition, the ICBL presented news at the end of May 2013 that treaty signatory Yemen had used landmines (http://www.icbl.org/index.php/icbl/Li...) near Sana'a.
Secondly, Williams demonstrates the willingness and ability throughout her life to battle patriarchal authoritarianism in its myriad forms including the Roman Catholic Church; the 1950s family with the male breadwinner and domestic female homemaker; the cowed rape victim; or the paternal state-centered United Nations. Williams grew up in a family where the parents were politically liberal and "solace-seeking" (rather than "lay-down-the-law") Catholics. When church patriarchs (in the guise of the local priest) tried to exercise the power of shameful exclusion, Williams had the confidence and perspective even as a teen to reject the groundless claim that "excommunication" had any effect on her. While such a position might seem easy a posteriori (after all, is not this clearly a myth?), patriarchy's perniciousness has proven itself time and again. This is particularly true if one is unfortunate to be devoid of psychological, social, political, cultural or geographic support. People lose livelihoods and even lives for confronting organized religion. How many women have been imprisoned by authoritarian fathers and husbands backed up by "the good virtues" of the Church?
Williams also grew up with the experience of a brother racked by badly handled deafness and long-untreated psychological illness. She details the struggles she had not only in the context of her family (her mother's nervous breakdown, her own anger and frustration) but the deep impact on her own ability to deal with another more direct and brutal form of patriarchal authoritarianism than excommunication. Her brother's ailments ended up giving her an almost instinctive ability to dissociate emotionally from the debilitating terror intended by Mr. Death Squad, a Salvadoran regime figure who raped her in an attempt to cow her into silence or flight. "He likely assumed, like an experienced torturer, that I was frozen in terror. Terror was not what was going on for me. I knew he wasn't going to hurt me. I knew he wasn't going to disappear me. I knew I wasn't going to die (p. 132)."
Her iconoclastic and introverted manner, along with movement support and complementary interventions from her eventual husband Steve Goose, also helped her to effectively confront the everyday patriarchy of the United Nations with its sugary depoliticized diplomacy, arm-twisting by people paternalistically claiming ownership over the voice of "hegemonic states," and endless "expert"-led convention drafting sessions. Democratically elected governments, after all, "know what's best for our populations, and are their only legitimate representatives." The ICBL with Williams as coordinator was able to accomplish a level of NGO influence unprecedented in arms control up to that time. Though NGOs were prohibited from participating in drafting meetings, the ICBL exercised such broad and sustained pressure from outside that governments were forced to respond. The center of power moved for a while outside the inner sanctums of U.N. convention rooms. The process was touch-and-go until the end, however, with United States delegations conspiring at every step to quash the treaty through threats and insults behind closed doors. This kind of behavior is typical for patriarchal authoritarianism.
Given these examples, I would have liked to see a concentrated reflection on how to deal effectively with authoritarianism in its many forms. Williams has much to say about this from experience, and Eve Ensler's forward helps to highlight it. Absent this in her memoir, however, these lessons can be applied and engaged by others in reading this valuable book.
The core lesson of her life thus far, as Williams presents it, is that the Nobel Prize for her and the International Committee to Ban Landmines (ICBL) tends to invite undue individual glorification (http://www.c-spanvideo.org/clip/44553...). In the process of showing that she is an ordinary person, Williams talks about herself as an iconoclast and introvert, caring little about the trappings of power and celebrity. She is not particularly given to the rarefied air of a statuary exhibit, museum, cathedral or even the affected poses of everyday portraits. Indeed, she pushed back when it was suggested that she was an icon of the hippy movement (an "icon of iconoclasm"?) after her decidedly informal picture on the day that the Nobel was announced. This refusal to unjustifiably take any person more, or less, seriously than any other person underlies Williams' modus operendi and the fundamental challenge she gives to the rest of us. She is no better than us, and therefore we have no excuse for not speaking up and trying to make a difference in our world.
More broadly, My Name is Jody Williams implies that Williams' life and our lives are conditioned by combinations of personalities and (de-)motivations; ideas and ideologies; rhythms and habits; and locations. Williams directly references many of these influences in her life and how they worked into her activism. Other influences can be gleaned by reading between the lines. First, as Williams implies, movements for change like the landmine ban are often incipient. People around the world had seen their lives, and their families, destroyed in an instant by landmines. Governments had put together a half-hearted and bureaucratic Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) that nevertheless provided an entrée for the landmine ban process. Human rights movements, including Human Rights Watch and other organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and Jesuit Refugee Services, engaged in projects directly or indirectly related to landmines, therefore providing possible resources for a larger concentrated movement. All of these individuals, groups and institutions often require a catalyst, people willing and able to undertake the long and largely thankless work of becoming informed; dismissing mystifications and inertial illusions or assumptions; helping to formulate objectives; pushing groups to accomplish their goals; and speaking truth to power. In the context of her work in Central America, the landmine ban, the subsequent formation of the Nobel Women's Initiative, and many other movements, Williams has shown that she has many of the necessary tools. However, turning potential energy into kinetic energy is not easy, and relatively short books can seem to compress the time taken from ideas to movement fruition. Williams handles this well, moving discussion quickly from the euphoria of treaty signing to the seemingly never-ending work of monitoring and assuring treaty compliance. To emphasize this condition, the ICBL presented news at the end of May 2013 that treaty signatory Yemen had used landmines (http://www.icbl.org/index.php/icbl/Li...) near Sana'a.
Secondly, Williams demonstrates the willingness and ability throughout her life to battle patriarchal authoritarianism in its myriad forms including the Roman Catholic Church; the 1950s family with the male breadwinner and domestic female homemaker; the cowed rape victim; or the paternal state-centered United Nations. Williams grew up in a family where the parents were politically liberal and "solace-seeking" (rather than "lay-down-the-law") Catholics. When church patriarchs (in the guise of the local priest) tried to exercise the power of shameful exclusion, Williams had the confidence and perspective even as a teen to reject the groundless claim that "excommunication" had any effect on her. While such a position might seem easy a posteriori (after all, is not this clearly a myth?), patriarchy's perniciousness has proven itself time and again. This is particularly true if one is unfortunate to be devoid of psychological, social, political, cultural or geographic support. People lose livelihoods and even lives for confronting organized religion. How many women have been imprisoned by authoritarian fathers and husbands backed up by "the good virtues" of the Church?
Williams also grew up with the experience of a brother racked by badly handled deafness and long-untreated psychological illness. She details the struggles she had not only in the context of her family (her mother's nervous breakdown, her own anger and frustration) but the deep impact on her own ability to deal with another more direct and brutal form of patriarchal authoritarianism than excommunication. Her brother's ailments ended up giving her an almost instinctive ability to dissociate emotionally from the debilitating terror intended by Mr. Death Squad, a Salvadoran regime figure who raped her in an attempt to cow her into silence or flight. "He likely assumed, like an experienced torturer, that I was frozen in terror. Terror was not what was going on for me. I knew he wasn't going to hurt me. I knew he wasn't going to disappear me. I knew I wasn't going to die (p. 132)."
Her iconoclastic and introverted manner, along with movement support and complementary interventions from her eventual husband Steve Goose, also helped her to effectively confront the everyday patriarchy of the United Nations with its sugary depoliticized diplomacy, arm-twisting by people paternalistically claiming ownership over the voice of "hegemonic states," and endless "expert"-led convention drafting sessions. Democratically elected governments, after all, "know what's best for our populations, and are their only legitimate representatives." The ICBL with Williams as coordinator was able to accomplish a level of NGO influence unprecedented in arms control up to that time. Though NGOs were prohibited from participating in drafting meetings, the ICBL exercised such broad and sustained pressure from outside that governments were forced to respond. The center of power moved for a while outside the inner sanctums of U.N. convention rooms. The process was touch-and-go until the end, however, with United States delegations conspiring at every step to quash the treaty through threats and insults behind closed doors. This kind of behavior is typical for patriarchal authoritarianism.
Given these examples, I would have liked to see a concentrated reflection on how to deal effectively with authoritarianism in its many forms. Williams has much to say about this from experience, and Eve Ensler's forward helps to highlight it. Absent this in her memoir, however, these lessons can be applied and engaged by others in reading this valuable book.
August 15, 2024
A world wide struggle to ban life threatening landmines. Life of a Nobel Laureate of Peace
October 21, 2020
I enjoyed this, especially hearing about her Vermont upbringing and noting overlaps with my own Vermont life: Green St. School, Poultney, Putney, Brattleboro. I am awed and a bit overwhelmed by the dedication and work of an activist. How did she know she would be good at this? Absolutely amazing how her commitment and skills came together, and how she worked and worked for years toward a goal that may never have come to be. How did she keep her faith? Really an amazing story. Her Nobel prize was well-deserved.
December 25, 2013
Nothing beats Jody in person, but I love listening to her voice in the book. The logic driving her down that road, so basic and simple. She is plainly honest and accessible. I most certainly will read it again.
August 5, 2018
I found this book interesting. I hadn’t realized that Jody Williams had been an activist long before she began organizing a ban on land mines.
March 3, 2024
I didn't know anything about Jody Williams or her work before reading this book, so I very much enjoyed it for learning about who she is and what she did. That being said, the "winding path" component of the title is very much accurate - her Nobel Peace Prize winning work around landmines doesn't come until the last fourth (maybe third) of the book and actually feels like a much smaller part of her life than everything that came before. Now having read her author's note here on Goodreads, I do wonder if that's because she was trying to give more attention to elements of her life story that maybe weren't as common knowledge after all the press around the Nobel Prize, but as a first introduction, it did feel like I wanted to know more about that actual work. I was also surprised at how much emphasis was placed on her brother at the beginning, but how that didn't then end up shaping her life as much as I expected it to later on - at least not in ways that were made explicit. However, I was appreciative of how she described her various life decisions in terms of both bringing it back to the moment and what she knew at that time and why she wanted or chose what she did, but also bringing in some perspective of how those moments shaped her values or her trajectory or her outlook. Definitely a story of someone who followed things she was passionate about and was determined to make a difference!
May 28, 2013
The Nobel Peace Prize has always stood out as one of the worlds greatest achievements. Jody Williams brings to light the lengths of work and compassion needed to be granted this prize, by writing an autobiography about her life and her journey to the Nobel Peace Prize called “My Name Is Jody Williams”.
Jody Williams writes the book in first person which makes it easy to follow who is being talked about. Although the book has a grabbing main topic Jody didn't find a way to really grab the reader throughout the book. The places and travels Jody goes on are somewhat confusing in the way she writes about them.
There are many “characters” in this book but only Jody is written about from beginning to end. Family members are in the book but after the chapters on her early life they are more of an afterthought. The others in the book are of course not in the whole thing because Jody didn't know them her whole life.
The only person Jody really focuses on for more than one or two chapters is Goose her husband. Goose and Jody aren't originally interested in each other, because Goose is married and Jody was at the time in a relationship. Jody and Goose do later get married but never have kids.
Throughout My Name is Jody Williams, Jody speaks of all the organizations she was involved in. After Jody “retired” from organizations that helped others and were funded by the people, she was asked by a friend she meet from an earlier organization, to leading ICBL (International Campaign to Ban Landmines). The Nobel Peace prize was awarded to Jody because of this organization.
Jody took up the task and starts to really get into the organization. Jody is head of ICBL but in the book you never get a sense of superiority, all the people working at ICBL play a contributing role and help the story and Jody’s life along in some way.
About second half of the chapters focus on Jody Williams work with the ICBL. The autobiography ranges from whom she dislikes in ICBL, to the plane tickets she buys. Jody goes all around the world to get nations on board with banning landmines. This is a task that Jody at first viewed as impossible but as ICBL grows and the support starts to show Jody decides its something to really fight for.
Although Jody won the Nobel Peace Prize, the books point is to show the readers that what the people do makes a difference in today's world, and you don’t have to win the Nobel Peace Prize to prove it.
Jody’s life was on of great happiness, but also times of great confusion. She had trouble deciding what to do in the times of confusion. To know if Jody’s life was more happy than confusing read My Name Is Jody Williams.
Jody Williams writes the book in first person which makes it easy to follow who is being talked about. Although the book has a grabbing main topic Jody didn't find a way to really grab the reader throughout the book. The places and travels Jody goes on are somewhat confusing in the way she writes about them.
There are many “characters” in this book but only Jody is written about from beginning to end. Family members are in the book but after the chapters on her early life they are more of an afterthought. The others in the book are of course not in the whole thing because Jody didn't know them her whole life.
The only person Jody really focuses on for more than one or two chapters is Goose her husband. Goose and Jody aren't originally interested in each other, because Goose is married and Jody was at the time in a relationship. Jody and Goose do later get married but never have kids.
Throughout My Name is Jody Williams, Jody speaks of all the organizations she was involved in. After Jody “retired” from organizations that helped others and were funded by the people, she was asked by a friend she meet from an earlier organization, to leading ICBL (International Campaign to Ban Landmines). The Nobel Peace prize was awarded to Jody because of this organization.
Jody took up the task and starts to really get into the organization. Jody is head of ICBL but in the book you never get a sense of superiority, all the people working at ICBL play a contributing role and help the story and Jody’s life along in some way.
About second half of the chapters focus on Jody Williams work with the ICBL. The autobiography ranges from whom she dislikes in ICBL, to the plane tickets she buys. Jody goes all around the world to get nations on board with banning landmines. This is a task that Jody at first viewed as impossible but as ICBL grows and the support starts to show Jody decides its something to really fight for.
Although Jody won the Nobel Peace Prize, the books point is to show the readers that what the people do makes a difference in today's world, and you don’t have to win the Nobel Peace Prize to prove it.
Jody’s life was on of great happiness, but also times of great confusion. She had trouble deciding what to do in the times of confusion. To know if Jody’s life was more happy than confusing read My Name Is Jody Williams.
January 25, 2014
An insight into the logic of NGOs
[Through my ratings, reviews and edits I'm providing intellectual property and labor to Amazon.com Inc., listed on Nasdaq, which fully owns Goodreads.com and in 2013 posted revenues for $74 billion and $274 million profits. Intellectual property and labor require compensation. Amazon.com Inc. is also requested to provide assurance that its employees and contractors' work conditions meet the highest health and safety standards at all the company's sites.]
The most valuable parts of the book to me were those providing an insider perspective into the work of NGOs. I think this input is also the reason why this book is included in a series on public anthropology.
The impression you are given is that of "solutions looking for problems" rather than the other way round. The true heroes of this account are the two activists that decided to tackle their problem - antipersonnel landmines - in a radical way, and asked the author to set up a campaign to ban them. The contrast of this rationality with the previous experiences of the author is striking. The failed attempts at teaching disadvantaged students - that hated it and sabotaged the teachers' cars; the tours around Nicaragua for US citizens, to let them understand the reality of the political situation of the country; the programme that took children from El Salvador to cure them in the US, eradicating their families, even if for a good advocacy cause - all seem grotesque in comparison. It is true that "there a thousand hacking at the branches of evil for one who's striking at the root".
Another impression the book conveys is how easier it seems to take action abroad than in the author's country. My country - one of the major producers of landmines globally - made landmines illegal at the very outset of the campaign, putting its manufacturing companies out of business and leaving hundreds jobless. The US on the other hand never signed the ban treaty, with the result that Lockheed Martin and othe US weapon manufacturers have been granted near monopoly in the production of landmines.
If public anthropology is the study of the unintended consequences of programmes aimed at bringing about some kind of change, this book offers many clues.
[Through my ratings, reviews and edits I'm providing intellectual property and labor to Amazon.com Inc., listed on Nasdaq, which fully owns Goodreads.com and in 2013 posted revenues for $74 billion and $274 million profits. Intellectual property and labor require compensation. Amazon.com Inc. is also requested to provide assurance that its employees and contractors' work conditions meet the highest health and safety standards at all the company's sites.]
The most valuable parts of the book to me were those providing an insider perspective into the work of NGOs. I think this input is also the reason why this book is included in a series on public anthropology.
The impression you are given is that of "solutions looking for problems" rather than the other way round. The true heroes of this account are the two activists that decided to tackle their problem - antipersonnel landmines - in a radical way, and asked the author to set up a campaign to ban them. The contrast of this rationality with the previous experiences of the author is striking. The failed attempts at teaching disadvantaged students - that hated it and sabotaged the teachers' cars; the tours around Nicaragua for US citizens, to let them understand the reality of the political situation of the country; the programme that took children from El Salvador to cure them in the US, eradicating their families, even if for a good advocacy cause - all seem grotesque in comparison. It is true that "there a thousand hacking at the branches of evil for one who's striking at the root".
Another impression the book conveys is how easier it seems to take action abroad than in the author's country. My country - one of the major producers of landmines globally - made landmines illegal at the very outset of the campaign, putting its manufacturing companies out of business and leaving hundreds jobless. The US on the other hand never signed the ban treaty, with the result that Lockheed Martin and othe US weapon manufacturers have been granted near monopoly in the production of landmines.
If public anthropology is the study of the unintended consequences of programmes aimed at bringing about some kind of change, this book offers many clues.
February 25, 2013
What I found fascinating about Williams' book is that it is a story about a (relatively) normal American girl, raised in Vermont, who became a Nobel Peace Prize recipient. I almost wrote Prize "winner," but the Nobel
Peace Prize is not something she won, but is something she and many others fought for over many years. This book is about her life, it's trials, it's many passions including a variety of causes to which she has been serially devoted to, and to her interpretation of the meaning of it all. Jody comes across as an every-woman and, in any ways she is. However, the fact that she has maintained some sense of normalcy belies what I assume is an iron will, a passion for justice, and amazing humility. God bless Jody for all that he has done, does, and will continue doing to make this. Better world.
Peace Prize is not something she won, but is something she and many others fought for over many years. This book is about her life, it's trials, it's many passions including a variety of causes to which she has been serially devoted to, and to her interpretation of the meaning of it all. Jody comes across as an every-woman and, in any ways she is. However, the fact that she has maintained some sense of normalcy belies what I assume is an iron will, a passion for justice, and amazing humility. God bless Jody for all that he has done, does, and will continue doing to make this. Better world.
October 29, 2014
I saw Jody speak at an event here in New York during climate week, and really liked her. I didn't know anything about her before, even though she's from Vermont. I did know someone had run a campaign to ban landmines...but now I know ALL about it.
This book is good, not the most amazing writing, but still pretty well written, and overall an intriguing story. A few tangents now and then...but still good.
Made me feel like more of us should take issues we care about and really do something about them. I wish I could chat with her in a room and get more of her thoughts on what we should do about climate change. Maybe I will try to track her down in vermont.
This book is good, not the most amazing writing, but still pretty well written, and overall an intriguing story. A few tangents now and then...but still good.
Made me feel like more of us should take issues we care about and really do something about them. I wish I could chat with her in a room and get more of her thoughts on what we should do about climate change. Maybe I will try to track her down in vermont.
February 18, 2013
fabulous book.i think that if jody sees injustice, she will act, no matter what the stakes or repercussions. very refreshing in today's world.
this book was easy to read and packed with information on the international landmine campaign, amongst other issues (el salvador, honduras, for ex.).
i will try to write a more thorough review on this when i get a chance; this book deserves that.
this book was easy to read and packed with information on the international landmine campaign, amongst other issues (el salvador, honduras, for ex.).
i will try to write a more thorough review on this when i get a chance; this book deserves that.
August 25, 2013
2.5
I wanted to like this so much more than I did and would probably give it a slightly higher rating for adult readers. Other than the fact that this is written by and about a woman from Vermont who does crazy amazing things with her life, I can't think of a reason why a teen would want to read, or enjoy, this book.
I wanted to like this so much more than I did and would probably give it a slightly higher rating for adult readers. Other than the fact that this is written by and about a woman from Vermont who does crazy amazing things with her life, I can't think of a reason why a teen would want to read, or enjoy, this book.
February 12, 2015
I loved her perseverance. Lots of details about land mine meetings and such that I found uninteresting but that wouldn't stop me from reading the book. We all know how to skim to get to the good stuff. Really glad I read this book!
March 16, 2016
Jody is a really inspiring individual. However, her writing does not lend itself to a good narrative or smooth transitioning. The epilogue where Jody shares her philosophy on peace was the best part and something that will stick with me for life.
February 25, 2013
I enjoyed reading this book about Jody's life. It's a powerful reminder of how all and any of us can make a difference in the world by standing up for what we are passionate about.
March 3, 2013
Full review forthcoming
May 10, 2013
Inspiring book and woman, especially because she comes from such an ordinary background. Well written
July 17, 2013
Inspiring story of a modern US citizen becoming the change she hoped to see in the world.
October 18, 2013
At times intense .... Worth the read.
December 22, 2013
Jody Williams writes a memoir without varnish. Her valiant activist work in ridding many mine fields is to be commended.
July 20, 2015
Solid memoir of an interesting and successful woman and her story. It's concise and moves at a good pace and covers many aspects of her life
August 8, 2015
Although sometimes artless in writing about her relationships, the history of the campaign to ban land mines is a as riveting as it is a how-to manual for campaigners and community organizers.
May 1, 2014
Interesting story told in a straightforward manner.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews