Searching for Values: A Grandmother, a Grandson, and the Discovery of Goodness

By Stuart Muszynski

SEARCHING FOR VALUES chronicles the powerful and positive effect of a grandmother on one man's search for goodness. The book dramatically interweaves the story of the author's struggle to recover from chronic fatigue syndrome with the life and death choices his grandmother and parents must make in order to survive after the Nazis invade their native Poland. In the process, he discovers what he stands for and how he wants to lead his children and the children of the world.Read SEARCHING FOR VALUES to rediscover yourself, life's meaning, and the universal power of kindness.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0976789906
• ISBN13: 9780976789901
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: Hiram College Press
• Length: 196 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 7.0" x 9.1"
• Age Range: 13 years and up

Customer Reviews

Captivating & Motivating Reading!

This is not just 'another Holocaust book'! It's a starkly honest, quick moving, inspiring tale of personl struggle, tragedy and rebound. I felt as if the author was sitting right in front of me and retelling the story directly to me. The authors' life takes some unpredicatble turns, which he ultimatly turns into a world changing campaing to spread love and understanding. I strongly recommend this for any caring person - enjoy! SW

A memoir, a visualization, and an urgent missive to counter greed and dishonesty run rampant in mode

Searching for Values: A Grandmother, a Grandson, and the Discovery of Goodness is a memoir, a visualization, and an urgent missive to counter greed and dishonesty run rampant in modern culture. Author Stuart Muszynski, bedridden for over a year with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, visualized his grandmother's life and home town in Poland, and the ethical values that inspired five Christian families to hide her and his parents during the Holocaust. Exploring history and the cruel choices that once had to be made to survive during and after the Nazi occupation of Poland, Searching for Values recounts chilling tales of the Third Reich's methodical genocide while marveling at the compassion of those who risked their lives to defy it. A profoundly moving blend of the lessons of present and past in the quest for building a fulfilling life and community, and passing on positive values to one's children.

Coming to Grips with A Violent Past

I was moved by Stuart Muszynski's work, both for its bold message of hope and its unanswered questions. His book convincingly discusses how a terrible trauma affected his family in the past and still affects him today. Utilzing a juxtapositioning of chapters to continuously effect sensibilities, Mr. M shows how the horrors of WWII Poland for Jews are very much a part of first generation Americans' psyches. His emotional angst leads the reader to understand how deeply he was affected by his parent's tragedy, and the concrete steps he took and continues to take to build himself, and more nobly, his community. As a child of Holocaust survivors myself, I understand the pain Mr. M has confronted, yet ultimately it is his very personal journey that leaves uneasy feelings about how few of us in difficult circumstances are motivated to do good by our fellow man. From the deepest darkness, he has summoned a lightening bolt of consciousness. Amen.

I'm a bit biased, but....

I had the opportunity to read this book when it was still in the stages of being written and perfected, and I had the honor of contributing to its editing. I think that teenagers and adults alike will enjoy this book, for it teaches the importance of origins as building-blocks of a human being. I certainly learned a lot from reading it! It is also well-written, interesting, and engaging. A must-read for entire families!

Your Search is Over!

The summary of this book doesn't adequately convey how gripping this story is as Muszynski recounts the life and death moment-to-moment choices his grandmother and parents made to survive in Nazi-occupied Poland, intercutting that story with the challenges he himself faced growing up as the child of Holocaust survivors in a suburb of Cleveland. It was incredibly refreshing to read a story that so fully reveals the humanity of all the people described, including the Polish Christian families that helped protect the Muszynskis from the Nazis at great risk to their own lives. Also - we always hear about 'cycles of violence' handed down through generations, a story that the nightly news never lets us forget. Here is an inspiring story about a 'cycle of kindness' handed down through generations, that has led to the spread of kindness to tens of thousands of American teens today. A great story to give to grandparents and to teens.