Synopses & Reviews
Review
Praise for the Voice of Witness series:
These books are amazing
beautifully produced, with incredible editing and literary sensibility. Voice of Witness has done a better job than Ive seen anybody do with having people tell their stories in a way that really engages you.”
Rachel Maddow
The series does not so much weave a tapestry from different experiences as braid a rope, a lifeline by which we might haul ourselves into a less ignorant, more actively compassionate future. In them, the specific illuminates the general, destroying preconceptions, stereotypes, and cop-out responses along the way.”
Richard Vernon, Sojourners Magazine
In a time when history is told in cheap television re-enactments, if at all, and personal tragedy is gobbled up in rapidly digestible magazine photos and reality shows, this project goes against the grain.”
Guardian UK
Review
"Here are the real and unforgettable voices of Colombias long nightmare. They tell us of normal lives shattered by trauma, suffering, violence, and redeemed by love, resilience, courage or hard-earned wisdom. I read these oral tales with a knot in my stomach, frightened and moved, and finally amazed by this lesson: when people find the strength to tell us what has happened to them, no matter how horrendous, a terrible yet universal beauty somehow emerges, always casting light on the mystery of being human."
Francisco Goldman, author of Say Her Name
"Outside the U.S. media's lights and whir, the largest crisis in the world of forced displacement from home is taking place in Colombia. Throwing Stones at the Moon makes it personal through these narratives of loved and difficult life, vivid and specific to Colombia's places and to the families torn and struggling amid the long war. Brodzinsky and Schoening convey these people's tender and bitter stories, of resilience and loss, of cruelty and solidarity, in their own full voices. Stories that don't end with an act of violence, but that call out for compassion, and for justice."
John Lindsay-Poland, Director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Fellowship for Reconciliation
"Poignant."Kirkus
"Human rights journalists Brodzinsky and Schoening geographically organize intimate oral histories from individuals living through pervasive violence among Colombia's drug cartels, military forces, and rebels. Often astonishing quotes double as headings...piquing readers' curiosity and conscience...Readers concerned with human rights and Latin American politics will find this account of violence and survival both sad and inspiring."Publishers Weekly
Praise for the Voice of Witness series:
These books are amazing
beautifully produced, with incredible editing and literary sensibility. Voice of Witness has done a better job than Ive seen anybody do with having people tell their stories in a way that really engages you.”
Rachel Maddow
The series does not so much weave a tapestry from different experiences as braid a rope, a lifeline by which we might haul ourselves into a less ignorant, more actively compassionate future. In them, the specific illuminates the general, destroying preconceptions, stereotypes, and cop-out responses along the way.”
Richard Vernon, Sojourners Magazine
In a time when history is told in cheap television re-enactments, if at all, and personal tragedy is gobbled up in rapidly digestible magazine photos and reality shows, this project goes against the grain.”
Guardian UK
The soon-to-be-released book, Throwing Stones At The Moon (Voice of Witness, 2012) reads like a collection of literary short stories, but, in this case, the stories are both real and horrifying. The stories of those gathered in Moon are told by the Colombian victims of human rights abuses themselves
Given that these voices are rarely heard, this book is invaluable.”
Huffington Post
Synopsis
For nearly five decades, Colombia has been embroiled in internal armed conflict among guerrilla groups, paramilitary militias, and the countrys own military. Civilians in Colombia have to make their lives despite the threat of torture, kidnapping, and large-scale massacresand more than four million have had to flee their homes. The oral histories in
Throwing Stones at the Moon describe the most widespread of Colombias human rights crises: forced displacement. Speakers recount life before displacement, the reasons for their flight, and their struggle to rebuild their lives. Among the narrators:
JULIA, a hospital union leader whose fight against corruption led to a brutal attempt on her life. In 2009, assassins tracked her to her home and stabbed her seven times in the face and chest. Since the attack, Julia has undergone eight facial reconstructive surgeries, and continues to live in hiding.
DANNY, who at eighteen joined a right-wing paramilitarys enormous training camp in the Eastern Plains of Colombia. Initially lured by the promise of quick money, Danny soon realized his mistake and escaped to Ecuador. He describes his harrowing escape and his struggle to survive as a refugee with two young children to support.
About the Author
Max Schoening is the Colombia researcher in the Americas division of Human Rights Watch. He contributed research to
Violentology: A Manual of the Colombian Conflict, a forthcoming photography book documenting the history of the Colombian conflict by Stephen Ferry.
Sibylla Brodzinsky has spent more than 20 years writing about Latin American politics, human rights and social issues. She has worked and lived in Venezuela, Chile, and the Dominican Republic and currently is based in Colombia as a freelance journalist, as correspondent for The Economist, The Christian Science Monitor, and the Guardian. Her work has also appeared in Time Magazine, the Washington Post, the Miami Herald, the Houston Chronicle, MSNBC.com, USA Today, Business 2.0, the London Times, PODER Magazine, and on National Public Radio.