Wangari MaathaiReseñas

This is the memoir of Wangari Maathai who went from being a girl in a Kikuyu village to being the winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, the first African woman to win this award, the first to earn a PhD in East and Central Africa and to head a university department in Kenya. She began the Green Belt Movement in 1977 which has been responsible for planting 51 million trees in Africa and helping more than 30,000 women gain employment. She served as a member of Parliament
and assistant minister for the environment in 2003-2005 after significant struggles and opposition in her journey to get there.

I enjoyed her descriptions of rural village life in Kenya in the 1940s and 50s. I also appreciated her recount of the difficulties she faced getting involved in politics and environmentalism, in particular the challenge of being expected to be subservient as an African woman.

I did feel, however, that the memoir was much less personal as it went on, and more about her public life and achievements. There was very little comment on her feelings and personal life as an adult. She faced great difficulties after her very public divorce and at one point had to leave her children with her ex-husband, but very little is detailed about any of this or her response to it. Overall I found this to be a powerful story of courage and persistence by an inspiring woman.

Incredibly inspiring story written in an accessible and heartfelt style.

Highly recommended for anyone who has an inkling of concern for our planet. It was wonderful hearing Wangarai Waathai speak at St. John's the Divine, her answering my question about who her role models/heroes are and then chatting with her briefly as she signed my copy!

Fascinating memoir. It's amazing how threatening tree planting is deemed by the powerful.

A book outlining the difficulties facing the people and countries of Africa, and what can be done to overcome them.

The book's chapters cover topics such as foreign aid and debt, leadership and corruption, loss of traditional cultures, the tension between ethnicity and nationality, and environmental issues. Given the large breadth of topics covered, much of the content consists of broad generalizations, while the solutions offered often seem overly abstract and non-specific. For example: leaders should serve the people rather than seeking to stay in power, citizens need to hold their governments accountable, poor people must take initiative and not wait for foreign aid to save them, and so on. The parts of the book I found most interesting were when the author described specific issues in Kenya and her own work with the Green Belt Movement, rather than speaking in generalities.

Ultimately, I think this book is hampered by its overly-broad scope and lack of focus. While it does provide a rough outline of many of the issues facing Africa in the modern day, it doesn't offer much beyond that.

"Democracy does not solve problems. It does not automatically combat poverty or stop deforestation. However, without it, the ability for people to solve problems or become less poor or respect their environment is, I believe, impossible."

This book is Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai's autobiography, covering her life from childhood threw her receipt of the Nobel Prize. The book traces Maathai's career in the Green Belt Movement and, more broadly, in activism work in Kenya. It was definitely really interesting to read about the author's work in Kenya; I knew about broad strokes of the Green Belt Movement but definitely wasn't entirely familiar with her work. I will say that my favorite portion of the book was definitely the beginning portion, about Maathai's childhood, adolescence, and education, as that definitely felt the most personal. Later, while a lot of important topics and moments are addressed, the writing was a little more distant.

There is a lot of interesting history in this book, but I found the writing "clunky." I don't think it's reasonable to put this down to "it's not her native language" when the author is highly educated and had the means and opportunity to have this edited for style. That said, I also found the early parts of the memoir cliche and trite. Maathai promotes the "pre-colonial Eden" view of Africa that is neither true, nor particularly interesting to me. However, this is, after all, a memoir, and it might be unfair of me to judge Maathai's view of events. It's her story, after all. But I really got tired of being talked down to and having events and social currents oversimplified to the point of inanity. If you don't know much about Kenya, or East Africa, or the Greenbelt Movement, you'll probably really like this book, if you don't mind poor sentences and vague word choice. However, don't take this as the last word. Remember this is one person's interpretation of events and hero worship is seldom an accurate way to view history.

Review: Unbowed by Wangari Maathai. If you are environmentalist this is the book to read. A memoir of an African women going against all odds for three decades to defend Africa’s environment and the democracy of Kenya for future generations. Having to endure being put in jail numerous times, beating’s and personal losses to establish a poor people’s environmental group.

There were many troubled issues to bring forth that she took upon herself even when she had to fight with the Government politicians to resolve the way the country was run. It’s amazing to read about all the corruption in government in her country. For the life of me, I can’t understand why all the dishonesty for personal gain exist in so many countries!

Wangari Maathi inspired us in 1977 when she founded the Green Belt Movement which followed up with the sister’s advocacy The Green Belt International Movement that many countries and people follow today. The day she rejoiced was when she was elected into the Parliament and appointed assistant minister in the Ministry For Environment and Natural Resources in Jan, 2003.

I thought it was well written, informative, educating and interesting. A few slow spots for me when political issues, rules and laws were entwined into the discussion…..

1940-2011, 2004 Friedens-Nobelpreis, seit 1977 45 Mio. Bäume in Afrika gepflanzt,

Kenya.

Wangari Maathai brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and evidence to this sweeping critique of colonial and post-colonial policy in Africa. Though she often gives examples from Kenya, she addresses issues from many African nations and micro-nations. I don't agree with all of her arguments and opinions, but some are so persuasively made that I assume I ought to rethink the ones I questioned. I still have a strong impression that she reveals her own tension about how to validate and reclaim African history pre-colonialism. She has plenty to say about what's been problematic about colonial and post-colonial policies and practices, but little critique of pre-colonial life. This creates some over-valorization, but raises the excellent question of how to reclaim a suppressed and forgotten history.

Die Friedensnobelpreisträgerin Wangari Maathai zeigt, dass es möglich ist, das Thema Umweltschutz aus der Perspektive der Spiritualität zu betrachten. Die Autorin hat sich Zeit ihres Lebens mit vollem Einsatz für den Umweltschutz engagiert. Aus jeder ihrer Zeilen spricht die Leidenschaft für ihr Anliegen. Es ist nicht zu übersehen, dass Wangari Maathai eine große Ehrfurcht vor dem gesamten Kosmos, vor unserem Planeten und vor allem, was darauf lebt, empfand. Diese Ehrfurcht will sie dem Leser vermitteln. Es ist ihr ungeheuer wichtig, klar zu machen, dass es für unser aller Überleben notwendig ist, den Planeten zu schützen. Auf sehr anrührende Weise stellt sie heraus, dass jedes einzelne Lebewesen seine Bedeutung für die Gesamtheit hat. Sie begnügt sich dabei nicht damit, zu behaupten, „dass alles mit allem zusammenhängt“, wie heute von vielen so vage geschrieben wird, sondern zeigt, dass die Lebewesen aufeinander angewiesen sind und dass die Auslöschung von Spezies letztendlich auf uns selbst zurück schlägt, auch, wenn es nur eine vermeintlich unwichtige Froschart oder eine unscheinbare Pflanze war. Wangari Maathai empfiehlt zum besseren Verständnis dieser Ehrfurcht, sich einmal klar zu machen, wie lange dieses Universum schon existiert und welche Zeiträume es gedauert hat, bis sich die heutige Artenvielfalt entwickelt hat. Auch erzählt sie von dem Blick auf die Erde, den Kosmonauten tun dürfen: Alle sind sich darin einig, dass aus der großen Entfernung erst die Zerbrechlichkeit und Schutzwürdigkeit unseres Planeten deutlich wird. Ein Wechsel der Perspektive kann ihrer Meinung nach also helfen, eine respektvollere Beziehung zur Umwelt zu entwickeln als gemeinhin üblich.

Die Autorin stellt weiter heraus, dass sich aus allen Formen menschlicher Spiritualität der Aufruf zur Bewahrung und zum sorgfältigen Umgang mit der Schöpfung ableiten lässt, und schlägt so den Bogen zu den Religionen. Wenn sich jeder Mensch an die Vorgaben seiner Weltanschauung halten würde, was den Schutz der Ressourcen betrifft, wäre der Planet Erde vermutlich in einem gesünderen Zustand. Dabei blickt Wangari Maathai durchaus kritisch auf die Religionen und prangert zum Beispiel christliche Kirchen an, die Naturreligionen und deren Weisheitsschatz für immer auslöschen. Oder sie tadelt den christlichen Klerus, der sich von armen Gemeindemitgliedern aushalten lässt, obwohl er ihrer Ansicht nach selbst seinen Lebensunterhalt bestreiten könnte.

Wangari Maathai, die das Green Belt Movement ins Leben gerufen hat, eine weltweite Aktion zur Wiederaufforstung von vernichteten Wäldern, hat ein warmherziges, persönliches Buch geschrieben. In jeder Zeile merkt man ihr, die sich zeitlebens für Umweltbildung engagiert hat, ihre Betroffenheit wegen der Umweltzerstörung an. Z. B. beschreibt sie, wie sie einmal Zeugin des Fällens eines Urwaldriesen wurde und wie ergriffen sie davon war. Offensichtlich ist dieses Ausmaß an Betroffenheit notwendig, um sich aktiv für den Umweltschutz – oder ein anderes Anliegen – einzusetzen. Sehr bedauerlich, dass Wangari Maathai bereits gestorben ist. Sie hätte uns bestimmt noch mehr zu sagen gehabt. „Die Wunden der Schöpfung heilen“ enthält ihre Weltsicht als Vermächtnis an uns. Es ist kein leicht lesbares Buch, da es in jeder Zeile an unsere Verantwortung für die Schöpfung und an unser ökologisches Gewissen appelliert. Wer für solche Anliegen offen ist, wird sich von diesem Buch angesprochen fühlen.

This book was assigned as summer reading for the history department of the school where I work. I think it would make an excellent textbook for a class on modern Africa, however, I do not think it is a good summer reading book for high schoolers. Maathai does a good job of laying out what needs to be done to strengthen Africa and its countries, but many times she is repetitive. While she is certainly an accomplished woman, there is also a bit much of her tooting her horn so to speak.

Several places she has great analogies that fit with her argument and/or topic, but they are front-loaded and the end of the book seems to drag. The last few chapters in particular. I would recommend to anyone who wants a closer look at current African problems and to see how one woman would make changes.½

Wahgari is an inspiration to women world-wide. She deserves to be the President of Kenya. Her journey has been long and arduous but she never gives up. Thank God for the Wangaris of the world!!!

Wangari Maathai is a Kenyan activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. She founded the Green Belt Movement, planting trees across Kenya to stop the soil erosion resulting from deforestation during the colonial years. She was vocal on both women's and environmental issues, challenging the government and organizing protests.

While her life has been interesting and her contributions significant, my attention flagged halfway through. The writing was uninspired, often with extraneous detail. There was little insight to her personal life and emotions, so she came across as single-minded. About two thirds of the way through this book, I set it aside to read something else. When I picked it up again I still couldn't get into it, and skimmed the last 100 pages.

Beautifully written and captivating true story. This is an author and woman to watch.

Unbowed is the memoir of Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan woman who founded the Greenbelt Movement and in the process took on what seemed at times like the entire Kenyan government. The book describes her life in beautiful poetic detail from her childhood in a small village, to her life at boarding school and then in America for college, and then her return to Kenya and her struggles to assert herself there. Along the way she describes all special things that she did or that happened to her. From the outset Maathai makes it clear that she is special and was born that way. This constant building up of herself is furthered by the first person narrative, which prevents the opinions of others from coming through. Considering the kinds of political and personal controversies she has been involved with, this is a rather pressing flaw. Because or in spite of this however, Unbowed is the kind of book that never stops being interesting, no matter what the author is talking about. It is the village kid made national hero story for the modern age, and considering the effect that Maathai has had on the environmental movement, an important story too.

The most refreshing aspect of this book is its author's humility and "ordinary extraordinariness": though Dr. Maathai has been the recipient of numerous international awards and has for the past few decades been one of Africa's most prominent leaders, she tells her story in a humble tone that speaks of profound inner peace.

Much like Archbishop Desmond Tutu's tale of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, No Future Without Forgiveness, Maathai's memoir allows us to understand that many of those who are recognized for success in making deep and lasting positive changes in the world have led lives as pedestrian as "our" own: like so many others Wangari Maathai has gone to school, gotten married, gotten divorced, been evicted, lost her job...her life is no different than that of millions of others; the difference lies in the ways she has chosen to react to adversity and opposition.

The memoir deals primarily with the birth and growth of the Green Belt Movement, the organization she founded thirty years ago to encourage sustainable environmental policy, to promote reforestation and conservation. Cutting across this tale are the side-stories of Kenyan politics, particularly as they deal with environmental policy and human rights issues.

While the focus of the memoir is on Africa, there are lessons to be learned in the United States as well. I found heartening her assessment of the American spirit. In describing her return to her native Kenya after six years of study in the United States, she spoke of this country hopefully: "There is a persistence, a seriousness, and a vision to America: It seems to know where it is going and it will go in that direction, whether you like it or not. In America, if you can find your place you can be treated very well, because its people are very generous. But you have to be tenacious, innovative, and strong. Besides, you have to keep moving, because the machine will grind on, whether you are on board or not" (pp. 95-96).

RIP Wangari. ;(