The Book of Calamities
Subtitle: Five Questions about the Meaning of Suffering
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; Little, Brown
Published: August 27, 2008
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 256
ISBN-13: 9780316158794
Subjects: Essays; Ethics & Moral Philosophy; General; Sociology - General; Social Science / Sociology / General; Social Science; Literature - Classics / Criticism; Sociology
Description: What does it mean to suffer? What enables some people to emerge from tragedy while others are spiritually crushed by it? Why do so many Americans think of suffering as something that happens to other people-who usually deserve it? These are some of the questions at the heart of this powerful book. Combining reportage, personal narrative, and moral philosophy, Peter Trachtenbergtells the stories of grass-roots genocide tribunals in Rwanda and tsunami survivors in Sri Lanka, an innocent man on death row, and a family bereaved on 9/11. He examines texts from the Book of Job to the Bodhicharyavatara and the writings of Simone Weil. THE BOOK OF CALAMITIES is a provocative and sweeping look at one of the biggest paradoxes of the human condition--and the surprising strength and resilience of those who are forced to confront it.