The Kindness of Strangers

Product Information

The Kindness of Strangers' explores what it means to be vulnerable and to be helped by someone we've never met before. Someone who could have walked past, but chose not to. A sweeping psychological history of human goodness -- from the foundations of evolution to the modern political and social challenges humanity is now facing.

What started out as (I thought) a sappy story soon became an amazingly illuminating read that could easily serve as educational, were it actual nonfiction. In honesty, I could not put it down..even so much as taking it to lunch with my husband and reading it before the food arrived. Painful, poignant, promising....and, unfortunately, more than possible. This was a tough book for me. Child abuse and animal abuse are subjects I avoid. Books such as these prey on my mind. I have difficulty processing how the innocents of our world are targets for such madness. The book was well done, giving many character's perspective on the crisis. And while the subject was so serious, there were moments of relief written in. It was obvious from the beginning of the story that the drivers were going to be bad guys. What was disturbing to me was how totally selfish and life-threateningly inconsiderate the narrator was if his critically ill, severely dehydrated girlfriend.

Reference

I've read many books about group selection and why cooperation developed via altruism within tribes, but this book shed new light on the topics. McCullough also details the interesting history of social work and social services, which I was unaware of prior to reading the book. Nate convinces Sarah to become Jordan's foster mother with both parents in jail, since she's always taught her boys to reach out to others in need. We just didn't have any idea how needy Jordan is. I literally groaned reading this, knowing it is fiction, but for some children this is their life. From 1989 to 1992 she served as Chair of PEN American Center, West. Currently, she is Emeritus Professor of English at California State University, Sacramento. When she comes to the aid of a friend's young son, she finds herself embroiled in the exposure of a child sex ring. Disbelief, horror,guilt are just some of the emotions she struggles to come to terms with as the legal case against her friend grows. The Kindness of Strangers: Child Abandonment in Western Europe from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance, a 1988 book by John Boswell

Many of the stories take place in troubled parts of the world, like the middle east and Africa. Reading travel experiences in areas that you aren't likely to visit is, to me, the easiest way to deepen your understanding of the history and politics of the region. A welcome contrast to the last book I read (The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich), the Kindness of Strangers lays out a history of humanity’s gradual cultural movement towards kindness and towards altruism. Without beating you over the head with it, the overall sentiment is that kindness works because it benefits individuals and society and ultimately makes for the things we all want in the world: peace and prosperity. McCullough seems to lay out an argument that modern globalism is an extension of understanding your neighbors, that since we are so much more aware of each other it is incumbent upon all people to show global compassion as an inevitable next step in our “kindness evolution”. After reading quite a few books about inequality, racism, and other issues that plague the world, this book was a bright light that was much needed in my reading rotation. I've been waiting for this book for months from Michael McCullough, and it was phenomenal. The Kindness of Stranger is a perfect blend of evolutionary psychology along with effective altruism, and I learned a ton by reading this book.Her enjoyment of her job is unwavering: 'But I loved Northern Ireland' or 'One of the curiosities of rioting is the extent to which it is fun...' She takes us on a dizzying globe-trot (you feel like something squashed at the bottom of her suitcase by the end) to Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Libya, Tiananmen Square, the Gulf - and is at her best in action. This book was really difficult for me to read. Being abused as a child and dealing with the questions of "why didn't you tell" have been subjects that I have had to deal with my whole life. I am still and will always be dealing. The love for a parent and the protection of "family" are the strongest bonds a child can have as well as the most desired bonds a person can long for. The stories are as varies as the people who have written them; one writer tries to outrun a blizzard on her bicycle, an out of work forestry worker who would join Ed Stafford on the longest walk of his life and two men who wanted to do the Lands End to John O Groats route starting only in their underwear and who were utterly reliant on the generosity of strangers to clothe and feed them. You don't have to have been a victim of incest to understand and experience the terror, shame and confusion that young Jordan is subject to in this eerily accurate account of familial sexual abuse. As the author gives us access to the thoughts and feelings of three main characters and their different reactions to the plot via rotating viewpoints, we get a full circle view of the goings on in this devastating story, and see how so many are affected by its brutality. Before I go any further, just know that you NEED to read this. It is heartbreaking. It is raw. It is real, with no pieces of truth extracted. Even if you only read to escape life's woes, please consider giving this a chance. This is a story that needs to be told & although it is told over & over, it is unlike Kittle's creation. This doesn't even feel like you're reading a fictitious novel, just a parent's worst nightmare unfolding right before your eyes.

i found a lot of the material in the middle of the book, dealing with the growth of government in dealing with poverty, not very interesting.While her poetry has mainly centered around the traditional lyric themes of love, death, and nature, her novels have ranged from the Midwestern United States to the Goddess-worshiping cultures of Neolithic Europe. A screenwriter as well as a novelist, she has sold feature scripts to Warner Brothers as well as to various independent film companies. This book introduced me to author Katrina Kittle and I've since read every novel she has written. She is one of my favorite authors and I'm always looking forward to her next book. The Kindness of Strangers is a wonderful companion for travel. It enlarges us, reminds us that serendipity is one of the ultimate joys of life's constant journey. - AMY TAN This book both made me want to travel, or more specifically to adventure, to more historically "out of bounds" or perhaps less trodden places but also offered some valuable life lessons. For example, sometimes taking is the best gift you can give (think restoring the dignity of refugees in, for example, the jungle).

The arrogance is again, not only awful, but he doesn’t even seem to recognize that he really almost killed his girlfriend in multiple ways. It’s very much a typical American style narrative - with the locals portrayed as quite some weirdos, or bizarre people. No offence to any Americans though. It’s just that I’ve observed Europeans to not be so self-centered and they don’t talk about locals like they’re those weird strangers. Von diesen Reisen erzählt Katie Adie nur wenig, aber das ist auch nicht nötig, denn das kann man sich in den Archiven der BBC immer wieder ansehen. sie erzählt von einem Mädchen, das schon früh die Dinge zu hinterfragen begann und sich gegen alles auflehnte, was ihre Freiheit einengte. Die als junge Frau fast durch Zufall zur BBC kam und sich dort erst behaupten musste.

Reader Reviews

I guess we need more Nate's in the world to convince us we have enough to give, Danny's to not hold a grudge and forgive and Sarah's to have patience and well, be the mom. I read this book about 8 years ago and it's one of those books that has stayed with me ever since. It will probably always be one of my favorite books. Even though it is also one of the most difficult books I have ever read. It's the book that comes to mind whenever someone asks for a recommendation. I had originally meant to write a review but somehow it slipped my mind.