An intriguing, albeit subjective, look at some of this century’s most interesting people. Lapierre (The City of Joy, 1985, etc.) has had the writing gig of the century. As a reporter for Paris Match, among other periodicals, he has traveled the world and chronicled some seminal historical moments. Here he recounts meetings with everyone from Mother Teresa to Mahatma Gandhi. Particularly rivetingand grippingly writtenis a chapter on the last days of death-row inmate Caryl Chessman, who insisted on his innocence to his dying breath. Lapierre interviews Chessman six times and records firsthand each last-ditch effort to save the man, who eluded execution eight times in 12 years. The California judge’s call to stay the execution one last time reached the prison five seconds after the cyanide pills had been dropped into the sulfuric acid. Interspersed with the interviews'' is Lapierre's own story, which raises this quibble: The book seems a tad self-serving at times. Was the famous bullfighter El Cordobes really a vital 20th-century figureone of the thousand suns’’ referred to in the Indian proverb from which the book derives its titleor is he a convenient, albeit fascinating, means to remind the reader that Lapierre and Larry Collins wrote a book (Or I’ll Dress You in Mourning) based on their Reader’s Digest profile of the Spaniard? Still, the book is lively and Lapierre a terrific tour guide. Besides, it’s hard to dislike an author who has used millions of dollars in book royalties to help bring medical care to desperately indigent people in Calcutta, a point Lapierre carefully annotates in an appendix that outlines the work he has accomplished there and in the Ganges Delta before giving addresses for readers who want to make donations. Memoir or selective chronicle of a century? Regardless, you’ll keep reading. (30 b&w photos) – Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Book Description
Among the premier journalists of our time, Dominique Lapierre has traveled to the four corners of the globe, witnessed world-shaking events, and met extraordinary people from all walks of life. Now this remarkable man shares his adventures and encounters in a book that aptly reflects a favorite proverb from India: that beyond the clouds, there are always…A THOUSAND SUNS.
Starting with his fledging days as a reporter for Paris Match. Lapierre candidly traces his growth from detached journalist to concerned participant in the great human dramas he was privileged to behold. Vividly and insightfully, he recaptures his personal involvements with many different kinds of heroes, such as:
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Caryl Chessman, the American prisoner who stalwartly staved off a death sentence for twelve yearsm and whose execution caused worldwide controversy over capital punishment
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Raphal Matta, chief warden of the Ivory Coast’s Bouna Game Reserve, who gave his life in his valiant fight to save the elephants of Africa from extinction
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Ehud Avriel, the modest man who, against all odds, commandeered the secret mass emigration of European Jews to Palestine, secured the first arms for a dawning, threatened Israel, and went on to become one of the founding fathers of that nation
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El Cordobs, the legendary Andalusian bullfighter whose passion and daring catapulted him from penniless obscurity to fame and fortune - and who embodied the hopes of Spain to escape from the chains of tyranny and join a modern Europe
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And the anonymous inhabitants of a Calcutta slum, whose struggles in the face of overwhelming poverty will reaffirm your faith in the courage, compassion, and dignity of the human spirit.
From Japanese terrorists in the Holy Land to freedom fighters fascists Portugal; from the spread of Nazism to the liberation of Paris; from Mahatma Gandhi to Mother Teresa, Lapierre delves eloquently into the very heart of the history of our time. Most of all, this international bestseller bears moving testimony to the ability of mankind to endure, to dream, and to triumph.
About the Author
Dominique Lapierre has roamed the planet continuously in search of great human epics. In association with Larry Collins, he wrote Is Paris Burning?..Or I’ll Dress You in Mourning, Oh Jerusalem, Freedom at Midnight, and The Fifth Horseman - all read by millions. On his own he produced The City of Joy and Beyond Love.