Granny D: Walking Across America in My Ninetieth Year

by Doris Haddock

Book Overview

"There's a cancer, and it's killing our democracy. A poor man has to sell his soul to get elected. I cry for this country." On February 29, 2000, ninety-year-old Doris "Granny D" Haddock completed her... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375505393
• ISBN13: 9780375505393
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: Villard Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.7" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Granny D, we love you

This book is about 90 year old Doris Haddock walking from Los Angeles to Wshington to call attention to the need for campaign finance reform. Regardless of your politial persuasion, I think you'll find Granny D's book a fun and inspiring read. She interspersesstories from her life with her pitches to run the money changers out of the Capitol. Her charm is reflected near the end of the book where she says, " Well, I am finished with this book, but I am not finished with my life or with my passion for campaign finance reform. There is almost always time to find another victory, another happy ending. I hope that is your feeling about life, too. I thank you for the time spent with me between these covers. I apologize for preaching far more than I intended, but I 'm sure you skipped through the worst of it"Oh that we should all be able to pursue such adventure in our life, let along in our 90th year.

Granny D is real!

Granny D is real. That's the highest praise I can bestow. You feel you've met the real person and that she's presented herself, warts and all. I actually read this book with pen in hand, marking points to write down to form a synopsis of her wit and wisdom for later reference. This is certainly not something I do more than once in a decade. I'd expected more of a description of the walk itself, and less of a memoir, but I was delighted with what I got. I loved her and the people she met along the way. Though she and I have differing viewpoints on several issues, I thoroughly respected her and was nearly overwhelmed with the magnitude of her undertaking and her optimism.

GREY-HAIRED ACTIVIST VOICES A CAUSE & MEANING OF HER LIFE

This is an inspiring story on two levels: as a chronicle of an elder woman's courageous effort to mobilize attention and action to the cause of campaign finance reform, which she considers a step in the redemocratizing of America; and as her spiritual autobiography, the summation of her life experience and perspective.Granny D speaks to me when she says that "people have a great, unmet need that expresses their passions and values . . . they think they are being cheated out of that life--that they will die and it will have passed them by. They see an old woman doing something she believes in, and she somehow carries this ineffable something for them. Our shallow culture makes us people of great longing, for we are not always provided with opportunities to live out our most meaningful beliefs."What begins as a journal of her remarkable trek, walking along roadsides at the pace of ten miles a day from California to Washington DC, transforms into another kind of account, the inner journey that brought her to this enterprise, the singular incidents and loving relationships that shaped and fostered her through her long life. By the end of this book, she can examine both her triumphs and trials and ask, "Do we see who we are, finally? Do we see, behind the curtain, the scars and insecurities that have controlled us? And when we see them and look them squarely in the eye, do they lose their power over us, backing down from their bullying bluster? Indeed they do. We become free to take our life in whatever shape it has become, and find a good and enjoyable use for it, serving others and ourselves."Granny D shows that old age doesn't have to be synonymous with dotage, with being passive and indifferent to our world, to what goes on around us--to what the future may hold. She shows that age and accompanying infirmities are, at worst, inconvenience, not an excuse to block or ignore the desires of the heart and the active mind. She demonstrates, no matter the immediate outcome, the power of one. And she reminds me of a remark attributed to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., that if one does not have a cause to live for, then one has no reason to die.

This Land Is Your Land

Even if you don't care about campaign finance reform, the cause that sent Doris Haddock walking across the country, you will probably enjoy the stories she tells. Doris kept a diary, so we know about her adventures and the people she met along the way. If nothing else you will find out that advanced age, even 90, is not an excuse to pack it in, but rather to pack up and get going for what you believe in. Be inspired, learn something, but mostly have a lot of fun reading this book. I sure did.

A great patriot and physical phenomenon

This is a story well told. Not fiction, and very, very real. Doris Haddock achieved a virtually impossible goal of walking across the United States through her entire 90th year and more. In doing that, she grew more aware of just how great the people of this country are, and how important it is to return the power of the government back to those people - and away from the corrupting influences of the special interests. It is more than just a textual journal of this trip. It lets you get to know the real GrannyD, from her early days through the tortures experienced in her cross country trek. She is truely a great American and makes you wish there were more like her - especially in the decision making positions in government. And, you will meet many other wonderful people along the way. The story does not drag in any part, and keeps you wanting to see what is coming up next.Easy reading, and a wonderful book to have and share with others.