Not by the Sword

How a Cantor and His Family Transformed a Klansman

Häftad, Engelska, 2012

449 kr

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Not by the Sword tells the inspiring true story of how a Jewish cantor and his family changed the life of a virulent white supremacist leader. This riveting account begins in 1991, when Cantor Michael Weisser received his first threatening phone call from Larry Trapp, Grand Dragon of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Nebraska. But Cantor Weisser and his wife, Julie, refused to be intimidated by Trapp's escalating threats. Instead, they made a stunning offer of friendship. After an emotional confrontation with the Weissers, Trapp shocked everyone—including himself—by resigning from the KKK and breaking his ties with other neo-Nazi leaders.Not by the Sword recounts Larry Trapp's life as a racist, his startling transformation in response to the Weissers' kindness, and his subsequent crusade to redeem his past. Kathryn Watterson movingly describes how one family feared, fought, and then forgave a man who had tried to destroy them.This gripping tale gives the reader an inside view of hate mongering and offers a powerful testament to the triumph of the human spirit and the transforming power of love and tolerance.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2012-11-01
Mått152 x 229 x undefined mm
Vikt590 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor384
FörlagUniversity of Nebraska Press
ISBN9780803264762

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Preface to the Bison Books EditionPrefacePrologue: The Place and the People1: Sunday Morning2: A Heartland Community3: The KKK is Watching4: Dragon's Lair5: Vigilante Voices6: A Disease of Fear7: Broken Beyond Healing8: Heil White Power9: Hitler's First Laws10: You May Be Next11: Ricocheting Hatred12: Ring of Fire13: Face to Face14: Unmasking the Dragon15: Befriending the Enemy16: Whoever Shuns Evil17: Help Me Understand18: Flick of a Tail19: Working Miracles20: Amazing Grace21: A Family's Vision22: Atonement23: "Hear, O Israel . . ."24: The Trainman's Tracks25: Healing Truths26: Crown of an Honorable ManNotes and SourcesBibliographyAcknowledgmentsIndex

"This rare investigation of American hate-mongering provides a unique glimpse as well at the power of tolerance and love. Once Watterson places us inside the Lincoln, Nebraska, apartment of the 'Klansman' of the subtitle, it's almost impossible to put this book down."—Patricia Holt, San Francisco Chronicle "Watterson has written one of the most powerful, painful, yet healing stories about our most explosive issue: race. Her book [Not by the Sword] is not only literally true but also symbolically true for us as a people—if we acknowledge and transform who and what we are."—Cornel West, author of Race Matters "Not by the Sword tells an astonishing story of daring and resourcefulness in making contact with another who would negate one's very right to exist. . . . Watterson's account of the events is fascinating, and the story itself is so extraordinary that one cannot but be gripped by it."—Paul L. Wachtel, Washington Post Book World "Watterson wrote a book about true humanity and love for fellow man that conveys a new sense of what is possible. Her effort, Not by the Sword, is uplifting, yet not mawkish. It is chilling, yet not hyperbolic. She could have easily messed up such a dramatic story. Watterson did not."—John Hanchette, Washington Bureau, Gannett News "Not by the Sword has High Holy Days written all over it. It's an epic of teshuva, healing, and the great potential of human beings to change. . . . [Watterson] reveals much about Weisser's background that might explain why he worked so hard to give others the opportunity to change."—Sandee Brawarsky, Jewish Week"The underlying structure [of Not by the Sword] is a race against time. Readers will plunge ahead, increasingly awed by the events taking place in the story, eager to know what happens, amazed at each stage of Trapp's remarkable rebirth as a new—though still flawed and deeply troubled— human being."—Jim Baker, Kansas City Jewish Chronicle