Product Description

In Anything We Love Can Be Saved, Alice Walker writes about her life as an activist, in a book rich in the belief that the world is saveable, if only we will act. Speaking from her heart on a wide range of topics--religion and the spirit, feminism and race, families and identity, politics and social change--Walker begins with a moving autobiographical essay in which she describes her own spiritual growth and roots in activism. She goes on to explore many important private and public issues: being a daughter and raising one, dreadlocks, banned books, civil rights, and gender communication. She writes about Zora Neale Hurston and Salman Rushdie and offers advice to Bill Clinton. Here is a wise woman's thoughts as she interacts with the world today, and an important portrait of an activist writer's life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #341959 in Books
• Published on: 1998-04-07
• Released on: 1998-04-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Amazon.com Review
Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple, is an international activist and self-professed womanist. This pleasing collection of short essays amounts to a very personal stroll through her psyche. Sharing touchstones and demons, she serves up a spirited defense of Winnie Mandela, accused of taking part in kidnapping and torture; a quest to mark the grave of Zora Neale Hurston, an "African AmerIndian" folklorist who chronicled the lives of Southern American blacks in the 1920s and '30s; poignant, angry witnesses at a conference in Ghana devoted to stopping female genital mutilation; and life lessons her daughter taught her. Walker's opinions are enriched by her poetry and highlighted by the whimsical phrases and titles with which she frames serious subjects.

From School Library Journal
YA. Students pondering the possibilities of becoming writers will embrace this account of one famous writer's odyssey. For poet and novelist Alice Walker, activism and writing are one. Her strong quest for justice resonates eloquently in deed as well as word in this collection of eclectic essays. Wide ranging and anecdotal, they cover topics as diverse as her cat; the scars on the face of Samuel Zan, general secretary of Amnesty International; the "Goddess-given" autonomy of women; and thoughts on an American film, Follow Me Home. Concrete, energetic, and clear, the author's sentences prove that George Orwell is right: "Never use a long word when a short one will do." The result is highly readable, albeit with Walker's lyrical touch: "My heart is by now in its rightful place, in proximity to my hands, which are made to reach out, as I write, to all those around me." And reach out she does, with a thoughtful, original selection of subjects illustrating a mind at work, evolving as she practices the writer's craft. This collection will be highly valued.?Margaret Nolan, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Noted African American writer Walker has strung together a little bit of everything here, using her activism as a unifying thread. She includes her work against the practice of female genital mutilation, already well known, as well as less well-publicized opinions like her devoted support of Fidel Castro, whom she sees as "a person with immense spiritual power," "a secular 'priest' who finally picked up the gun." That Walker writes better fiction than nonfiction is evident in the first section of this book, where she quotes a long selection from The Color Purple. This latest offering is not the place to start with Walker's work, but it is recommended where there will be demand for anything by her.
-?Mary Paumier Jones, Rochester P.L.,
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

great and touching, it makes you want to change the world!
i love alice walker, but i didn't get what i expected out of this book. i got more. it was so interesting, i read it in a day, causing people to ask me if i had something "due" (i'm a college student) soon. she's involved in some of the same issues that are important to me, including female genital mutilation. she presents the issues clearly and fairly, and gives her opinions on them. she also includes a theory of hers which i found so amazing i could not stop thinking about it for days on end (involving "mammy" dolls and marilyn monroe). i would recommend this book to anyone, but especially women. also, this book includes two of my favorite walker poems, "be nobody's darling" and "never offer your heart to someone who eats hearts", which i thought of as an added bonus.

Pagan to its Core!
This is one of the most wonderful books I have ever read. Anybody who wants to know anything about the soul of Paganism should burn all of their "So You Want to be A Wiccan" trash and read Anything We Love Can Be Saved. Walker's connection to the land, to Mother Earth, and to Spirit is as Pagan as it gets. This book is profoundly beautiful, profoundly Pagan. She understands that we belong to this wonderful planet, and that real worship of deity is not possible unless we're free, including free to explore and revel in our sexuality. She understands our connectedness to other animals, the nonhuman ones, and espouses their humane treatment as well.

Absolutely breath-taking and true!
This book of short stories, letters, and poems captures the soul and hear of its readers. I read the letter to President Clinton over and over. I first heard this letter read by Ms. Walker at a speech she gave at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and I was deeply moved. One does not realize the affects of the embargo against Cuba until reading this moving piece. I can hear her words over and over each time I read it. Also, her poems are always a MUST! This book is simply a classic that can be read for years to come!