Book Description
Thirty years ago, Pulitzer Prize—winning author and journalist Philip Caputo crossed the deserts of Sudan and Eritrea on foot and camelback, a journey that inspired his first novel, Horn of Africa, and awakened a lifelong fascination with Africa. His travels have since taken him back to Sudan, as well as to Kenya, Somalia, and Tanzania, and from those experiences he has fashioned Acts of Faith, his most ambitious novel. A stunning and timely epic, it tells the stories of pilots, aid workers, missionaries, and renegades struggling to relieve the misery wrought by the civil war in Sudan.
The hearts of these men and women are in the right place, but as they plunge into a well of moral corruption for which they are ill-prepared, their hidden flaws conspire with circumstances to turn their strengths–bravery, compassion, daring, and empathy–into weaknesses. In pursuit of noble ends, they make ethical compromises; their altruism curdles into self-righteous zealotry and greed, entangling them in a web of conspiracies that leads, finally, to murder. A few, however, escape the moral trap and find redemption in the discovery that firm convictions can blind the best-intentioned man or woman to the difference between right and wrong.
Douglas Braithwaite, an American aviator who flies food and medicine to Sudan’s ravaged south, is torn between his altruism and powerful personal ambitions. His partners are Fitzhugh Martin, a multiracial Kenyan who sees Sudan as a cause that can give purpose to his directionless life, and Wesley Dare, a hard-bitten bush pilot who is not as cynical as he thinks he is and sacrifices all for the woman he loves.
They are joined by two strong women: Quinette Hardin, an evangelical Christian from Iowa who liberates slaves captured by Arab raiders and who falls in love with a Sudanese rebel; and Diana Briggs, the daughter of a family with colonial roots in Africa, who believes that her love for her adopted continent might be enough to save it.
Pitted against them is Ibrahim Idris ibn Nur-el-Din, a fierce Arab warlord whose obsessive quest for an escaped concubine undermines his faith in the holy war he is waging against Sudan’s southern blacks.
In a harsh yet alluring landscape, these and other vividly realized characters act out a drama of modern-day Africa. Grounded in the reality of today’s headlines, Acts of Faith is a captivating novel of human complexity that combines seriousness with all the seductive pleasure of a masterly thriller.
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Acclaim for Acts of Faith
“Philip Caputo, from Vietnam onwards, has understood the hardest truths of the modern world better than almost anybody. Acts of Faith is a stunningly unflinching novel. On the surface it is set in Africa, but in fact its true landscape is the ravaged soul of the twenty-first century. Philip Caputo is one of the few absolutely essential writers at work today.” –Robert Olen Butler
“In Acts of Faith Philip Caputo has fashioned a gripping cast of characters and placed them in a spellbinding story. You can’t get any better than that.” –Winston Groom
“Caputo’s ambitious adventure novel, set against a backdrop of the Sudanese wars, makes for a dense, riveting update on Graham Greene’s The Quiet American . . . Caputo presents a sharply observed, sweeping portrait, capturing the incestuous world of the aid groups, Sudan’s multiethnic mix, and the decayed milieu of Kenyan society.” –Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Acts of Faith offers an image of Africa deserving comparison with Conrad, Hemingway, Peter Matthiessen, and Jan de Hartog’s forgotten near-masterpiece The Spiral Road.” –Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Philip Caputo is a splendid, muscular story teller who possesses the crucial power to make endearing ordinary men from diverse fragilities and stubborness.” —Gloria Emerson, Los Angeles Times
“For the past twenty years, Caputo has written parables of hubris upbraided, populated by outsiders whose defects lead them into trouble as unerringly as does fate.” —David Haward Bain, New York Times Book Review
“Caputo lets no one and nothing off the hook.” —Richard Bausch, Washington Post Book World
“Caputo takes on most of the hot-button issues of our time–racism, random violence, disempowerment, the decay of social fabric, even the nature of evil itself–and more than lives to tell the tale.” —Roget L. Simon, Los Angeles Times
Acclaim for Philip Caputo's previous books:
The Voyage
“An adventure filled sea story.” —Andrea Barrett, The New York York Times Book Review
“Genuinely exciting . . . Caputo’s prose is a pleasure . . . The ending satisfies completely, adding layers of intriguing meannig to the already rich adventure story.” —Debra Spark, Chicago Tribune
“A compellig novel that offers both rousing adventure and penetrating insight into the mystery that is family.” —Library Journal
“A high seas classic combined with a mystery . . . a complicated psychological drama . . . an engaging study of the emotional life of young me . . . [their struggles] toward independent adulthood, their rage and love for an unapproachable father.” —Paul Kafka, San Francisco Chronicle
“Caputo is a conjurer of rich atmosphere; he knows the sea and sailing. But he also knows the ways of building finely shaded characters. Readers will find all his talents on display here.”--Brad Hooper, Booklist
“Strongly imagined . . . those who plunge headlong into its dark waters will not soon forget the experience.” Kirkus Reviews
Exiles
“What makes Exiles extraordinary is the lead story, “Standing In,” . . . Here Mr. Caputo brings fresh subtlety to the psychology of exile. It is one of the most engaging works of fiction he has yet produced.” --Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, New York Times
“Philip Caputo is a splendid, muscular story teller who possesses the crucial power to make endearing ordinary men from diverse fragilities and stubborness.” —Glor
Customer Reviews:
600 pages of people hooking up in the middle of the Sudan.......2007-09-17
Acts of Faith is a book about a cast of characters who strive to do humanitarian work in the Sudan for a good reason, but slowly drift away from their original reason of why they came there in the first place.
Douglas Braithwath, the main "entrepeneur" of the operation runs an airline company called Knight Air that drops relief supplies illegally in the Southern Sudan mountains, and while his dreams of helping the Sudanese people are legit at first, he eventually becomes obsessed with profit margins and getting more planes. The story is fleshed out by Doug's cast of pilots and relief workers that are under his command or use his airline regularly for Sudan travel.
This book written by Caputo as his latest creation explores "somewhat" the crises in Sudan during the mid 90s. Caputo is an exceptional creative writer, giving the reader a feeling of "being there" in the Sudan, even to the point of feeling the tics and flys biting you while you read the novel. The pace of the novel moves fairly slow, with a few moderately intense action scenes. Beyond the surprise attack air raids and the injuring of a few key cast members, the focus of the book is each person's inner monologue.
And what a monologue these characters portray. In the process of the novel, every female character written into the story sleeps with another person. The book details with pinpoint accuracy the events leading up to one person sleeping with another, so much so that its just plain boring with 20 or more pages of it devoted to each person's affair. Am I supposed to be reading about the atrocities of the Sudan, or how people want to have sex with one another in the middle of a war?
The premise of the book is just not interesting, and it's largely unexplored until Michael, an SPLA officer in the story explains it by the middle of the book. People believe in acts of faith for a better tomorrow, which is why people like the characters in the story do what they do. The central theme however is masked with so much love and sexual tension towards one another that Caputo writes in the novel, I'm not at all impressed by the ending. I believe Caputo intended this to happen, but after reading the sexual stories of Quinnette and Michael, Lady Diana and Fitzhugh, Tony and Mary and Wes Dare (which was a horrid name choice for a character, Dare???), it was just a moot point that could have been explained in less words.
I feel like this was a book written for romance novelists or avid porn watchers who want a really good storyline before getting to the juicy "sex scene". I wish this novel explored more of the inner workings of the characters rather than the animal desires each of them had toward each other. It didn't contribute to the story, and made for a boring read. At 600 pages long, I recommend reading something else to bide the time.
Fantastic...except for a bad habit of simile..........2007-08-31
My review will be brief, as I have only one bone to pick with the author. What I thought was first an issue that demonstrated a sexist and dehumanizing behavior within third person limited narrative, I was dismayed to discover that this "bad habit" (of comparing women with animals) was a offensive crutch Caputo leaned on throughout the novel. My evidence:
Her black skin sparkled with sweat, and when she pressed down, the muscles in her arms and along her ribs stood out, like those in a slightly underfed leopard. (196)
Oh, and the way she would whisper 'I am here,' and then turn over on the sleeping mat and arch her back, presenting herself like a lioness in heat... (197)
She made some animal-like croaking sound. (251)
Her skin was as black as a panthers and she moved like one... (310)
"I don't think so. I looked at you and thought, 'she has the legs of a gazelle.'" (396)
She rose to her knees in a feline crouch, sighed through clenched teeth as he penetrated her... (424)
They made love like wildcats... (528
There was something about Yamila that Quinette sensed intuitively--she was an implacable natural force, as unconscious as a lioness seeking a mate. (540)
There she stood, all feline sinew, leverage in her braided muscles... (542)
Yamila's demeanor and expression underwent a dramatic change whenever he was near, the she-leopard domesticating herself instantly into a demure kitten. (557)
Women are consistently dehumanized to animals--particularly large cats--in this novel, especially when they are in a sexual situation (either complicit or forced) and when two women interact. Because this happens with regularity in ACTS OF FAITH, I find it to be an unforgivable habit of Caputo's. I nearly stopped reading this book because of this regular crime of comparison, but was unable to because of the compelling and significant subject matter. It's unfortunate that such a fantastic book (and writer) has stooped to such a level. I hope that Caputo, writers, and readers are able to see this damaging cliché for what it is.
If you enjoyed The Poisonwood Bible..........2007-07-12
Well-developed characters with an intriguing plot. 200 pages into the book, I began to fret about the book coming to an end. The "cheat sheet" list of characters was helpful to refresh my memory when I didn't have time to read for a few days.
Fantastic Depiction Of Compromise's Aftermath.......2007-06-08
Acts of Faith is one of those rare works of fiction that takes the reader to someplace outside of their realm of experience, and leaves them feeling better for taking that journey. Caputo does a masterful job of depicting an environment where selfless action is a coincidental byproduct of fulfilling personal interest. Best of all, he does it with energetic prose, realistic characters with which a reader can identify, and dialog that is believable. The result is a book that is epic in scope, yet intimate in its portrayal of the compromises which bring life to the cliché that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Acts of Faith is a monumental work that deserves a place on everyone's reading list.
Understanding Sudan .......2007-05-16
This was such a great book! The characters are so well described, I felt like I was almost a part of their life, and right there with them. His descriptions of Sudan itself, the flying, the Nuba region and people, certainly helped me to understand how complex the political situation is in Sudan. I read in the paper about current events (2007), and Mr. Caputo's book now helps me to put them in perspective. There isn't any easy solution, but at least now I can read between the lines of the media accounts.
The review that mentioned the fast pace towards the end of the book , is so true. I didn't want it to end, yet my eyes were racing over the pages to keep up with the action.
Book Description
Imagine you're a young boy—maybe as young as three or four—separated from your family by civil war, traversing deserts and mountains with little food or water, no medical care, and no protection from wild animals. Imagine watching hundreds of boys perish around you from hunger, disease, or attacks by enemy soldiers and wild animals. To most of us, it is unimaginable, but this was reality for "The Lost Boys of Sudan," thousands of young boys who were separated from their families and forced to walk approximately 1,000 miles to reach safe refuge from war and certain death.
For the first time, this award winning book offers readers a chronological timeline of the epic journey taken by these children, beginning in their rural villages of Southern Sudan and ending with their arrival as young men to the United States. Narrated through the voice of Joan Hecht, one of their American mentors, whom they lovingly call "mom" or "Mama Joan;" "The Journey of the Lost Boys" is a compelling story of courage, faith and the sheer determination to survive by a group of young orphaned boys. Because of Joan Hecht's personal relationship with them, she is able to portray their story in a way that most famous reporters and authors cannot. In addition to her extensive research of the political and historical events surrounding the long lasting civil war in Sudan, are the heart-rending personal stories and original drawings of the boys themselves. A must read for anyone interested in the the true story of the Lost Boys of Sudan!
Customer Reviews:
The tragedy of the children of Sudan.......2007-03-31
I can only summarize my comment about this book in a few words. The author Joan Hecht did a wonderful task in narrating the frightening and heartbreaking experience of the thousands of lost boys of the Sudan,Africa's largest country. Their dangerous journey involving thousands of miles in a very hostile landscape is incredible. The author's very kind heart,sincere consideration and admiration for these children is worth more than all the gold of the world. Very highly recommended for young and old.
Learning about Sudan? START HERE.......2006-10-15
This is the book you need to read if you are unfamiliar with the background of the issues in Sudan, the Lost Boys, and the issues faced by refugees who come to America. Ms. Hecht might not be an " academic", but she is the person with an enormous amount of first hand information on these subjects, and she breaks it down into managable pieces. Even if you are knowledgable on these subjects, this book is still useful as a clarifying tool. Ms. Hecht is also very committed, and that comes through on every page.
OUTSTANDING BOOK .......2006-08-11
Readers of this book will be touched by the stories of these incredible young men, who, at an early age, were separated from their parents and families. The atrocities witnessed by the boys are unspeakable. The author has provided the readers with stories that make those who have lived a life without fear take a new appreciation for the freedoms we enjoy in the United States.
A good term paper.......2006-07-26
The endless conflict in Sudan is another calamity that the press should have been bombarding us with daily for years. A tragedy of such dimensions should torment our collective conscience. This is exactly why it deserves a better telling than Ms. Hecht is able to offer us. The writing is amateurish and the text cries out for the editing it appears not to have been subjected to. Easy streamlining and the correction of some grammatical errors would make the book more readable and more powerful. Ms. Hecht's devotion to the cause of the Lost Boys is clearly sincere and praiseworthy, however, and she does deserve thanks for contributing to making us aware of the atrocities that go on in the world while we turn the other way.
An accurate, heartfelt and well-written account.......2006-06-28
Joan Hecht's "Journey" is in this reviewer's opinion the most interesting and accurate book available on the topic of the Lost Boys. As a former foster father to one of the lost boys and a fellow author and researcher, I recommend the book without hesitation. It presents an extraordinarily complicated situation in a manner that is comprehensible, fascinating and accurate. It gives the reader a true sense of the horror, courage and hope that has gripped a generation of young Sudanese men.
For its rare photos, clear and organized presentation and sincere prose, I highly recommend this informative and inspiring book and thank the author for her outstanding efforts.
Customer Reviews:
Very sensitive look at war torn people.......2006-04-05
This is a beautifully written book, and is easily read in a sitting or two because it flows so well. Mostly it is the story of the Nuba mountain people- the country of Sudan is seen through the prism of these easy to like folk. Their generosity of spirit makes their suffering all the more poignant, and the feeling of helplessness as one reads of the many obstacles to aid for the country all the more painful. One learns of the key players, a bit of the root causes, but since this is more of a book of the Nuba, Dafur (for example) is not given a lot of ink, just enough to hint that it is part of a larger picture. It was news to me that the black people of the Dafur region are primarily Muslim, that the war is an ethnic war of oppression by Arab Islamist elites against the black Sudanese of all faiths. It is difficult to simplify it even to this degree, as some of the government soldiers and even high-ranking officers are black and even Nuban. A complex problem, to put it mildly, but several senators (Brownback and others) and the much maligned Bush administration seem to have been doing a lot to help negotiate some permanent-looking cease-fires. The photography is interesting, but perhaps it only rises to the level of the recipient- I really didn't find it as moving as the average National Geographic. Now that I think of it- that's not quite true- the picture on the cover moved me to buy the book- it is haunting and unforgettable.
Finally, as for faith in the Sudan, that part did not quite come through for me. I couldn't tell by the author's stories whether the people he met were authentic Christians, or just cultural/political ones. The animists' religion only surfaced as regards the customs and rituals that were more social than religious. In other words, it's a good book, but it probably could've gone with a less ambitious title.
An account of gravity, dignity and beauty.......2005-11-22
An accomplished poet and a veteran journalist who has covered turmoil in the Balkans and Holy Land, Gabriel Meyer guides the reader through the violence in central Sudan at the close of the country's second civil war in 2005.
Unlike socio-political books with their overview approach, the narrative of War and Faith in Sudan is energized by the author's life among the Nuba people. Meyer lived in a number of Nuba villages and travelled the rugged countryside with them, seeing first-hand the effects of the vicious warfare that the Khatroum government waged against these people. Readers will be shocked and grieved to read the vivid account of an aerial bombing of school children. Meyer's closing chapter leaves us with a memorial to this atrocity, and to the children of Central Sudan who have had to endure so much.
The book also does a fine job of contextualizing the conflict. Senior Sudan scholar, Frances M. Deng, contributes a wide-ranging (if a bit dense) foreward, One of the most notable chapters is Meyer's needed "deconstruction" of previous romantic notions about the Nuba: "On the Nuba and Modernity." By the end of his book, and with compassion and judiciousness, he has given us these people in their full humanity.
Accompanying the text are numerous photographs (including 8 in color) by James Nicholls that hold photojournalistic and aesthetic concerns in an admirable balance.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from National Catholic Reporter, published by Thomson Gale on March 10, 2006. The length of the article is 901 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Understanding the history of the Nuba people.(Book review)
Author: Christopher D. Ringwald
Publication:
National Catholic Reporter (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 10, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 42
Issue: 19
Page: 17(1)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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War and Faith in Sudan.(Book review): An article from: Church History
Peter P. Garretson
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
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ASIN: B000OV1AK4
Release Date: 2007-03-26 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Church History, published by Thomson Gale on March 1, 2007. The length of the article is 884 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: War and Faith in Sudan.(Book review)
Author: Peter P. Garretson
Publication:
Church History (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 76
Issue: 1
Page: 225(3)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
Targeted at senior and first year graduate level courses in combustion, this text covers more material than can be covered in a single semester course, but at a level that is easily comprehended by undergraduate students. There is a tremendous need for undergraduate students interested in the thermal sciences to have a basic knowledge of combustion science and its applications. This text is the first to present the essential theory and background material that is helpful for understanding the more complex literature on combustion, in a format that is teaching rather than reference-oriented. The theory is reinforced by examples, review questions and problems within each chapter.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Introduction to Combustion.......2007-01-01
I became acquainted with this book when it was used as one of several references for a graduate level mechanical engineering course in combustion. The book does an excellent job of explaining chemical equilibrium and chemical kinetics - particularly if the reader has very little previous exposure to these topics.
I would have liked to see more solved example problems but this is probably a desire of any student when using an engineering text.
This book is well written and presents much complex material for the non-chemist in a clear and concise manner. Those working with internal combustion engines will find the materials on pollutant formation (Chapter 15) very useful, including the 78 end of chapter references.
-John
Readable.......2003-03-21
This book is used at UCLA for a senior mechanical/aerospace engineering course. I would only recommend it to someone interested in pursuing graduate level course work in combustion. Suggested Prereq: Heat & MassX, Fluids, Chemistry, Thermodynamics, Differential Equations (ODE, PDE, CPU).
The good
It has good references to modern combustion sources/codes. good introduction to whats possible.
The bad
A lot of derivations are made, but the equations arent solved, except for the trivial or ultra-simplified cases. So its not too useful for a practicing engineer.
The ugly
He mispells prior as priori about 20 times, and refers to variable as rs. You dont know if it is r times s, or if it is multiple r's.
An Introduction to Combustion : Concepts and Applications.......2000-12-29
An excellent introductory book on combustion. Suitable for an undergraduate course or for self-study. Fundamental concepts are clearly explained with many calculation examples and problems to solve. The material is presented in a very attractive and easy to read way. Also, has numerous references to webpages with useful information, plus computer programmes to solve basic problems, like equilibrium composition. The overall approach is to provide tools to make practical calculations using computational tools.
a good cobustion course textbook.......2000-06-20
An appreciable attempt to cover the basics of all aspects of combustion science on a first comburtion-science course level, this book does manage to be very clear and structured, with good examples and clarifying illustrations, students of combustion science will find it a very helpful introduction. However, as many science books often are, it fails to present a synthetic view of this field, and the reader is left wondering if such a view is even possible, but the different chapters may serve those interested specifically in them.
Steve Turns makes Combustion easy.......2000-06-17
I think Steve has abilities to convey scientific ideas in a simple, easy to understand manner. His interaction with industrial clients, industrial applications and combustion equipment has given him an insight for explaining basics as applied to the real world. He also understands utilities of various combustion properties, parameters and correlations. He also knows how you can apply it for the maximim benefit for a given process. I recommend this book to any practicing engineer in the combustion field. Steve is a great communicator and a friend of combustion industry. At Air Liquide I have used this book to design burners, flames and combustion processes for steel, glass, chemical and process industries. Sincerely, Dr. Mike Joshi, Combustion Scientist, Air Liquide, Chicago Research Center, Countryside, IL 60525
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, published by Thomson Gale on July 1, 2005. The length of the article is 4564 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
From the author: Keywords: Buffer, crops, farm, income, management, poplar, riparian, water
Citation Details
Title: Riparian forest buffer income opportunities: a hybrid poplar case study.(RESEARCH)
Author: C.J. Henri
Publication:
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 60
Issue: 4
Page: 159(5)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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