Bone to Pick: Of Forgiveness, Reconciliation, Reparation, and Revenge - Hardcover

Cose, Ellis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743470664 ISBN 13: 9780743470667

Publisher: Atria, 2004

Synopsis

Draws on the insights of relationship experts in the fields of psychiatry and law as well as the experiences of individuals who have had to overcome or accept emotional pain, offering perspectives on the power of moving past pain and reconciling as part of ending destructive retribution cycles. 50,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

Ellis Cose, author of seven books, including the bestselling The Envy of the World, Color-Blind, and The Rage of a Privileged Class, is a columnist and contributing editor for Newsweek magazine. He has appeared on Nightline, Dateline, Good Morning America, PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, NPR, and other national television and radio programs. He lives in New York City with his wife and daughter.

Reviews

Newsweek contributing editor Cose (The Envy of the World) examines a broad spectrum of responses to the pain and trauma of personal violence as well as national tragedy. He visits American families victimized by crime and the World Trade Center attacks, consults a range of literature (e.g., Bernhard Schlink's The Reader and Laura Blumenfeld's Revenge) and travels around the world to see how ruptured societies cope with past human rights violations. While Cose meets several victims who agree that forgiveness helps them cope, he acknowledges that, for some, the return of normalcy and security remains a first priority. And forgiveness is not always forthcoming; Cose finds those molested by priests can forgive the molestor more easily than they can those who didn't stop him. While Cose acknowledges that some relatives and friends of homicide victims feel relief at the murder's execution, he's more inspired by those who transform wrath into "something more ennobling." He concludes that the truth and reconciliation commissions in South Africa and Peru provided more of the former than the latter; a Peruvian tells him that reconciliation must be rooted in fundamental change that has so far not been forthcoming in that country. Cose looks at reparations cases from Maori in New Zealand to Japanese-Americans interned in the U.S. during WWII. He contrasts the response to 1920s mob attacks on blacks in Tulsa, Okla., and Rosewood, Fla.; in Rosewood, unlike Tulsa, officials have supported restitution. As for reparations for American slavery (a book in itself), Cose acknowledges that the case can't be won in court, but makes it clear that the issue is still hovering and doing damage. The scope forces Cose to touch lightly and then move on, but the book gives readers a substantial nudge toward exploring the lessons of recent history.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cose, author of Envy of the World (2002), covers substantial geographic and emotional territory in exploring the quest of victims--both individuals and groups--to face their past suffering, the perpetrators, and the desire to move beyond their suffering. Cose weaves a tapestry of stories of individuals victimized by child abuse, incest, and random murders of loved ones, and their impulses for justice, revenge, and retribution, with stories of victims of national or ethnic violence seeking justice and reconciliation through the numerous truth commissions modeled after South Africa's experience. Victims seek acknowledgment as much as reparations. Cose is most poignant at interweaving successful efforts at reparations by victims of the Jewish Holocaust and Japanese internment in the U.S. against unsuccessful efforts by black victims of the assaults and destruction of Rosewood, Florida, and Tulsa, Oklahoma. Cose places these American atrocities within a broader context that exposes our own vulnerabilities and reluctance to face ugly truths, mainly that disclosure and recognition of wrongdoing are crucial before forgiveness and reconciliation can occur, and for the sake of internal peace. Vernon Ford
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Atria
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0743470664
• ISBN 13: 9780743470667
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224