“A complex, fascinating collection, full of surprises.”
…
The upcoming issue of Booklist will feature a great review of Believer, Beware, the new KtB anthology in stores now.
“A complex, fascinating collection, full of surprises.”
“many of the writers approach religion as if they were anthropologists intent on discovering the secrets of an obscure and mysterious tribe”
Can’t stand the suspense? Click those bright blue eyes to buy Believer, Beware today.
Here’s the whole thing:
Believer, Beware: First-Person Dispatches from the Margins of Faith.
Sharlet, Jeff (Editor) and Manseau, Peter (Editor)
Jul 2009. 288 p. Beacon, paperback, $16.00.
The online magazine Killing the Buddha is a forum for examining religious traditions from all angles and perspectives, especially by those with ambivalent feelings about religion. Drawn from the site, the contents of this collection are mostly quite brief and range in tone from angry to humorous to curious to detached. Reason and skepticism are the key characteristics here, and many of the writers approach religion as if they were anthropologists intent on discovering the secrets of an obscure and mysterious tribe. Peter Manseau writes about an organization that collects used Yiddish books; Patton Dodd, about a Christian summer camp; Elizabeth Frankenberger, about reading Anne Frank’s diary while mulling over her Jewish but decidedly nonreligious identity. Other pieces focus on a Catholic girls’ school, fundamentalists, Sufis, and so forth. The most moving and harrowing is by Jeff Sharlet. Raised in a nonobservant Christian-Jewish household but exposed to many different religious traditions, he recalls the brutal circumstances of his mother’s death but also finds humor in his unconventional upbringing. A complex, fascinating collection, full of surprises.
That’s review no. 3. Don’t miss our two other great reviews from Library Journal and Publishers Weekly!