Prisoners of Hope or The Papers of Martin Luther King Jr

Prisoners of Hope: The Story of Our Captivity and Freedom in Afghanistan

Author: Dayna Curry

The gripping and inspiring story of two extraordinary women—from their imprisonment by the Taliban to their rescue by U.S. Special Forces.

When Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer arrived in Afghanistan, they had come to help bring a better life and a little hope to some of the poorest and most oppressed people in the world. Within a few months, their lives were thrown into chaos as they became pawns in historic international events. They were arrested by the ruling Taliban government for teaching about Christianity to the people with whom they worked. In the middle of their trial, the events of September 11, 2001, led to the international war on terrorism, with the Taliban a primary target. While many feared Curry and Mercer could not survive in the midst of war, Americans nonetheless prayed for their safe return, and in November their prayers were answered.

In Prisoners of Hope, Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer tell the story of their work in Afghanistan, their love for the people they served, their arrest, trial, and imprisonment by the Taliban, and their rescue by U.S. Special Forces. The heart of the book will discuss how two middle-class American women decided to leave the comforts of home in exchange for the opportunity to serve the disadvantaged, and how their faith motivated them and sustained them through the events that followed. Their story is a magnificent narrative of ordinary women caught in extraordinary circumstances as a result of their commitment to serve the poorest and most oppressed women and children in the world. This book will be inspiring to those who seek a purpose greater than themselves.

Publishers Weekly

This is the eagerly anticipated story of the two Christian aid workers from Waco, Tex., who were imprisoned by the Taliban in Afghanistan shortly before the September 11 attacks on America. Because so many Americans followed their plight in the press, the behind-the-scenes details of their 105-day ordeal will inevitably be riveting. Unfortunately, the narrative is told in a weaving fashion that shuttles back and forth between Curry's voice, Mercer's voice and their joint perspective. Moreover, much of their story of monotonous prison life does not lend itself well to straightforward chronological narrative. Instead, the book is organized loosely by themes, places and people, and often leaps ahead of itself in confusing ways. Despite these frustrations and a surprisingly weak fade-to-black ending that barely mentions God or the faith that has sustained the missionaries throughout, the book is compelling. Readers will learn of the individual paths that led Curry and Mercer first to Christ and then to Kabul. Especially heartbreaking are the stories of all the Afghan families who were relying on the women for life-saving support and who were abruptly cut off at the time of their arrest. Perhaps most powerful is the honesty with which Mercer discusses her spiritual difficulties in captivity. This is not the story of larger-than-life heroines whose faith never wavers in the face of persecution; readers are allowed glimpses into Mercer's very real despair and the rift it caused in the group of prisoners. This gritty sense of the real life of ordinary, believing Americans keeps the pages turning. (June) Forecast: Curry and Mercer have become media-appointed American paladins, so this should garner some strong attention in both the Christian and secular markets. It is a main selection of the Crossings Book Club and a featured selection of the Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Clubs. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Book review: Mercadotecnia de Servicios:la Gente, Tecnología, Estrategia

The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Symbol of the Movement, January 1957-December 1958, Vol. 4

Author: Martin Luther King Jr

Acclaimed by Ebony magazine as "one of those rare publishing events that generate as much excitement in the cloistered confines of the academy as they do in the general public," The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. chronicles one of the twentieth century's most dynamic personalities and one of the nation's greatest social struggles. King's call for racial justice and his faith in the power of nonviolence to engender a major transformation of American society is movingly conveyed in this authoritative multivolume series.
In Volume IV, with the Montgomery bus boycott at an end, King confronts the sudden demands of celebrity while trying to identify the next steps in the burgeoning struggle for equality. Anxious to duplicate the success of the boycott, he spends much of 1957 and 1958 establishing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. But advancing the movement in the face of dogged resistance, he finds that it is easier to inspire supporters with his potent oratory than to organize a mass movement for social change. Yet King remains committed: "The vast possibilities of a nonviolent, non-cooperative approach to the solution of the race problem are still challenging indeed. I would like to remain a part of the unfolding development of this approach for a few more years."
King's budding international prestige is affirmed in March 1957, when he attends the independence ceremonies in Ghana, West Africa. Two months later his first national address, at the "Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom," is widely praised, and in June 1958, King's increasing prominence is recognized with a long-overdue White House meeting. During this period King also cultivates alliances with the laborand pacifist movements, and international anticolonial organizations. As Volume IV closes, King is enjoying the acclaim that has greeted his first book, Stride Toward Freedom, only to suffer a near-fatal stabbing in New York City.