As a person who takes an interest in the country of Haiti and its political figures, I was very excited upon discovering Aristide's "In the Parish of the Poor". This book, which includes a wonderful foreword by Amy Wilentz, contains all the intellect and emotional fervor that makes Aristide the highly-respected individual that he is. The book is well-written and even contains some of Aristide's sermons. I am in no means a supporter of Aristide; however, I must highly recommend this book to anyone. I have thoroughly enjoyed it.

Haiti- 600 miles from Florida, but it may as well be 600 light years! Jean Bertrand Aristide captures that magnificently in "In The Parish of the Poor". As an educator I have used passages from this book in class to provoke discussions on social justice and morality. And as someone who is drawn to Haiti as often as funds allow,I cherish it for its truth. A lot has happened to Haiti since Titid wrote this, but it has a spirit that is timeless.

This book is excellent! Having met Aristide- in Haiti, I know the absolute power of love that Aristide holds in his heart for the people of Haiti - and this book does just that. It gives the reader a look at the problems in Haiti, those that Aristide has experienced, and why he believes he can change the situation there. He gives the reader fact and feeling- true, honest feelings without the flowery-detail. The feelings in this book are human. Aristide calls out to his readers to take heed and see Haiti as a land of people with pride, love, and faith. He lets you see - from his point of view - the atrocities of standing against the powerful government....of what his vision is for Haiti's future and how faith and liberation theology will bring Haiti to a new level. An excellent read- a powerful book- with actual sermons given by Aristide at the end- that might change the reader's view of the society we live in and his/her place in it.

In The Rainy Season, Wilentz leads the reader through the world of Haiti and its people, both those who are corrupt and those who struggle each day against corruption. I will visit Haiti for the 6th time this summer but I have not previously read anything in-depth about Haitian history. This book opened my eyes to essential information that every traveller to Haiti should be aware of, out of respect to the violent history of Haiti and the people who have survived through it. No one should attempt to "help" the Haitian people without first understanding the results of "help" already rendered in the past. Wilentz makes these (often tragic) results clear, and humbles all of us in the process.

If you have gone to Haiti, or will go to Haiti, whether as a missionary, journalist, diplomat, or foreign aid worker, don't go ignorant. Read The Rainy Season (and more recent publications as well) first.

If you are trying to figure out the muddle that is Haitian political history, this book can help. Covering Haiti from the fall of Baby Doc until early 1989, Willentz gives a close-up look at the parade of dictators and terrorists running the (in theory) post-Duvalier country. She also provides a personal connection to Aristide, then a radical priest continually in hiding from a government wishing to silence him.

In addition to the internal political movements and terrorism, Willentz shows us the ties between Haiti's troubles and the United States. If you are not familiar with American policy in regard to Haiti, you will be in for a disappointing and infuriating surprise. We sucked!

The book also covers the standards to be found in every book on Haiti: voodoo, illiteracy, slave revolution rememberings, hunger, poverty, exploitation, class and racial imbalances.

Perhaps its greatest asset is the datedness of the text. Written after Duvalier and before Aristide, the view of both is fairly unbiased. If you want to learn more about Haiti's past, present and future, you should check this one out.

I just finished reading a copy of this book I found in a second-hand store. It's too bad it is out of print, because it is brilliant. It covers the period from 1986 to 1989, so it is a bit out of date -- a lot has happened in Haiti since then. But it remains relevant because it paints a vivid portrait of how challenging it is to change Haiti, something that remains true today. If you can find it, read it.

This book is one of the most extraordinary documents I have ever seen. Brave and ferocious and tender all at once.

What novel could be more timely and inviting than an intelligent, literate, readable, suspenseful, emotionally compelling, and thoughtful story treating the question: What--among the varied human experiences of family, friendship, history, culture, religion, tradition, heritage, territory, nationhood, ideals, values, competing loyalties, and the notion of truth itself--is worth living for, working for--and especially--killing and/or dying for?

To be sure, Wilentz never comes right out and asks these questions--instead, her beautifully plotted story subtly raises, explores, and offers insight into all of them, by offering a wide range of intelligent characters from varying ages, backgrounds, and experiences, who are arriving at a multiplexity of conclusions and viewpoints while facing intricately intertwined human dilemmas.

I know this book will provoke animated and thoughtful discussion in my book club.

I was first attracted to the book (when browsing in the "New Book Section" of our library) by Wilentz's beautiful writing style, as well as her very evident intellectual depth. She has clearly spent much time living in and reporting on Israel/The West Bank, but more importantly, she has thought long and respectfully about disparate approaches to politics, patriotism, and violence.

This is not a heavy, depressing book, it's a love story--in fact a compilation of moving and convincing love stories about the varieties of passionate human relationships. It's gripping--at times seeming to move inexorably toward a Greekly tragic conclusion (although I found the end surprisingly heartening.) I felt I understood each character's struggle to find integrity and meaning; Wilentz works hard to give each viewpoint a human face and a convincing history and testimony.

Wilentz has a talent for character and for realistic thoughts/dialogue. She makes all her characters appealing and believable (sometimes grotesquely so), all worthy of respect and understanding, in their individual struggles to make sense of the most difficult human challenges.

Although I'm fascinated with the political and spiritual questions Wilentz raises, and although I've read urgently in the areas of war, peace, politics, religion and philosophy, I have never been to Israel and know no Palestinians. I felt that Wilentz's pen was painfully sharp, cynical, and for the most part balanced, when aimed at the hypocrisies of both "sides," and also strongly empathetic and sympathetic, when focused on the pain and grievances of both sides.

But ultimately, this is not a book about Jews and Palestinians. It's a book about home, and integrity, and about the personal qualities, values, and actions that make a person deserve to call a building and a child and a spouse and a friend and a city and a land, "his/her own."

And although Wilentz never directly mentions the word "nationalism," I believe this is also a book about whether the concept of nationalism is ultimately helpful or hurtful to human life.

I couldn't put this book down. I loved the story, the style, the characters, the author, and learned a great deal about important issues I care deeply about. This is great writing from a great writer. I hope someday to read many more of her books....

I can scarcely do justice to Amy Wilentz's extraordinary first novel through a mere review. "Martyrs' Crossing" was the most haunting, touching work of fiction I have read in a very long time. No other novelistic treatment of the Middle East in recent years comes anywhere close to this book. What Ms. Wilentz offers is an insightful look at age-old causes that simply aren't amenable to conventional political and diplomatic interventions. She's captured her characters--Jews and Arabs alike--just right. What a moving book.

Better reporters than Amy Wilentz have found themselves caught short by the transition from journalism to fiction (for example Jimmy Breslin, whose novels always leave me hungry for his column). But im Martyr's Crossing Amy Wilentz has vaulted across in her very first attempt. The story takes an incident that could be from today's headlines (and, tragically, tomorrow's headlines as well): the death of a child in Israel. In this case, the child is killed by asthma and the lack of proper medical treatment, not by a bullet. Also in this case the child is Palestinian. But part of the triumph of this book is the way Wilentz's characters--Israelis and Palestinians--are three dimensional human beings, not cardboard caricatures of good and evil.

There are terrorists here, and terror, and the cold political calculations of men determined to hold on to power, willing to exploit any tragedy if it serves their purposes. But Wilentz's humane and gripping narrative is a million miles from the wooden gestures of the politcal thriller. The center of her attention, and ours, is the boy's mother, Marina, American born and educated, but drawn back to the Palestine described by her father, a Harvard professor. Wilentz's description of the tensions and passions between father and daughter is superb, as is her portrayal of the almost unendurable sorrow of a mother powerless to keep her child alive. But what makes the novel even more exceptional is Wilentz's equally compelling portrayal of the Israeli who first keeps Marina from passing his checkpoint (and getting her son to the hospital) then valiantly, but vainly, attempts to help.

Wilentz offers no easy answers. Instead, she allows both sides the full weight of their tragic collision. Beautifully written, and clearly informed by careful reporting, this is a triumphant fictional debut.