Amazing Grace, Jonathan Kozol
Amazing Grace, Jonathan Kozol
4 Rating(s)
List: $35.99 | Sale: $25.20
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Amazing Grace
The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation

Author: Jonathan Kozol

Narrator: Dick Hill

Unabridged: 9 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download (DRM Protected)

Published: 02/19/2010

Synopsis

Amazing Grace is an audiobook about about the hearts of children who grow up in the South Bronx—the poorest congressional district of our nation.The children we meet through the deepening friendships that evolve between Jonathan Kozol and their families defy the stereotypes of urban youth too frequently presented on TV and in newspapers. Tender, generous, and often religiously devout, they speak with painful clarity about the poverty and racial isolation that have wounded but not hardened them."It's not like being in a jail," says 15-year-old Isabel. "It's more like being hidden. It's as if you have been put in a garage where, if they don't have room for something but aren't sure if they should throw it out, they put it there where they don't need to think of it again."Without rhetoric, but drawing extensively upon the words of children, parents, and priests, this book does not romanticize or soften the effects of violence and sickness. Amazing Grace makes clear that the postmodern ghetto of America is not a social accident but is created and sustained by greed, neglect, racism, and expedience. It asks questions like—what is the value of child's life? What do we plan to do with those whom we have decided are superfluous? How tough do we dare to be?

About Jonathan Kozol

Jonathon Kozol has been awarded the National Book Award and the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. His previous books include Amazing Grace and Savage Inequalities. He lives in Byfield, Massachusetts.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Alina on February 15, 2020

such a moving book. a bit difficult to read at times, because your brain does not want to process the amount of pain and grief these children experience. highly recommend......more

Goodreads review by John on May 20, 2023

Originally bought this book as required reading for one of my Religious Studies classes but didn't read it properly the first time. On second reading I'm glad that I didn't toss this book to the curb. Kozol crafts an eye-opening piece on the impact of inequality on the lives of children living in th......more

Goodreads review by Christie on February 04, 2008

In 1996 this book changed my life. Because of this book my 16th year became a mission to better the lives of the students of Taft High School (a school that is discussed in the book). I visited the school, the churches and neighborhoods talked about in the book. I established an exchange program bet......more

Goodreads review by Emmy on August 12, 2017

This was an extremely eye opening read, which taught me all about life for children and adults in the South Bronx. I would never have imagined all of the terrible things people live through in those neighborhoods. Hearing the stories was moving!......more

Goodreads review by Amy on March 21, 2008

New York City slums from the perspective of the kids that live there. The author's sincere attempt to describe life for a select group of kids by compiliting the results of numerous interviews. I knew there was extreme poverty in parts of New York City (and crime, drugs, higher rates of AIDS, gangs)......more

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