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Sharon Streeter has commented on (2) products.

A Short History of Progress by Ronald Wright

Sharon Streeter, November 20, 2010

Wright is to be applauded for condensing millions of years of history of the human race into a text of 132 pages (plus extensive Notes, Bibliography, and Index). His writing is precise, his mission clear: if we don't read the signs staring us in the face, we won't survive. With intelligence and good nature, and based on the evidence of past civilizations, he spells out our future. He reminds us that "we have the tools and the means to share resources, clean up pollution, dispense basic health care and birth control, set economic limits in line with natural ones." We have the means. Do we have the will? One poignant distinction: those who still believe that "progress" equates with goodness will continue to hinder our need to face difficult decisions. It is to those who understand that progress has a dark side that we look for leadership. Or are we the leaders we are looking for?

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World of Samuel Beckett, 1906-1946 (98 Edition) by Gordon

Sharon Streeter, March 15, 2009

True to her title, Lois Gordon offers fresh insights into the world inhabited by Beckett and his contemporaries. I have gained new knowledge about the Irish uprisings, the inhumane conditions in Ireland between the wars, and the infusion of German arms to the Rebels even as Irish soldiers were fighting against Germany. The well-worn phrase "Hitler's rise to power" has new meaning as Gordon details Hitler's fanatical, and very public, persecution of Jews as it appeared in the foreign press. The abuse of power, and the fact that world leaders capitulated or merely enabled through inaction, not only influenced Beckett's writing, but stand as yet another failure of humanity for those who would call themselves leaders today.

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