Loyal to the Sky: Notes from an Activist

By Marisa Handler

Book Overview

"In this brightly detailed blend of personal memoir and political reportage, Handler recounts her life of activism . . . an] absorbing call to action." --Booklist

Born in apartheid South Africa, Marisa Handler emigrated to Southern California at the age of twelve. Her gradual realization that injustice existed even in this more open, democratic society spurred a lifelong commitment to activism that would take her around the world and back again.

Handler shares intimate details of her life as a global justice activist to offer a revealing perspective on what drives the movement. Tracing her own evolution as an activist, her story crisscrosses the globe, examining current sociopolitical issues from apartheid and racism to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, corporate globalization, and the wars of the Bush administration. Along the way, Handler paints compelling portraits of the people she's encountered, shares gritty details of the sometimes-harrowing events that have changed and shaped her, and describes how she came to advocate a spiritually based, nonviolent activism as the best means for building the kind of world we wish to see.

" Handler's] wisdom transcends her youthfulness; she writes with grace and insight, and she never stumbles over her own self-importance." --San Francisco Chronicle

"Marisa Handler takes a brutally honest look at herself, the activist community, and the world. She writes with wit and beauty, preaches with passion and love." --Medea Benjamin, Cofounder, Global Exchange and CODEPINK

"Handler has put her values into action with tenacious creativity. She ably conveys the histories of places many people couldn't find on a map in a lively, moving and funny voice." --Publishers Weekly

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1576753921
• ISBN13: 9781576753927
• Release Date: February 2007
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Putting the Apathy and Inspiration to Words

Ever wonder why a fraction of the world's population is lavished in wealth, yet emotionally impoverished, while others eek by on little to nothing feeling rich? Handler beautifully responds to this global dichotomy in "Loyal to the Sky." Her social commentary about our common humanity divided by numbing drive for success and oppressive politics that maintain the status quo is spot on. Her inner-voice unfiltered by political correctness, is hysterical. And, her courage to engage strangers, from Nepalese politicians to the Miami-Dade police is inspirational. Handler's memoir is a breath of fresh air in a world of stifling avoidance. Don't miss this colorful work.

Super read!

Author Marisa Handler takes you along on her courageous journey through many lands and through many formative, life experiences exposing different cultures and the struggles they encounter. She eloquently articulates the injustices that are taking place throughout the world and in her own backyard. Highlighting political demonstrations Ms. Handler provides a voice for those who are not otherwise heard. The author's passion for justice combined with her astute way of guiding the reader through history and through her own personal accounts makes this book one not to be missed.

A must read!

Short of having the opportunity to travel the world yourself, read this book and be transported to lands near and far as if it were actually you, in search of global justice. Handler's vivid and colorful narrative of her experiences invite the reader along as if she/he were traveling in the author's back pocket. The tales of humanity - from an Indian man's description of local Muslim-Hindu race relations to the perspectives on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict voiced by University students around the country - are conveyed with passion that do justice to the "human voice"; something that is so real in each of the geographic experiences described by Handler.

A beautiful book

When I finished this book I sighed and closed my eyes in gratitude, as if I'd finally found clear cool water after being thirsty for years. Marisa Handler comes across as an enormously likable reluctant hero, mouthing off at hecklers, running like hell from cops, and - in one of the book's funniest moments - gamely mediating a protest group's argument over whether their placards should say "Stop War" or "Stop the War." But the greatest achievement of the book is Handler's steady wholeness of vision. In scene after scene she reminds us that those who befoul the world are not evil but lost, alienated from their own true nature. Love and compassion are the best tools we have to save them - and ourselves. In a world of poisoned political discourse, Handler's fiercely tender memoir will remind weary Americans that it's still possible to be angry without hating, and to fight while remaining compassionate.

A great read

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. In these uncertain and often dark days, this is a relevant and hopeful book about making a difference. And, it manages to be humorous and entertaining too. Handler writes beautiful and accessible prose. She comes across as an honest, lovable, brave and inspiring person. You'll wish you had been with her as she traveled the globe and was an eyewitness to (and in some cases participant in) many of the recent social and political shifts of our time. Luckily, you can read about it.