Gabon

Out of My Life and Thought (The Albert Schweitzer Library)

Out of My Life and Thought is the autobiography of Albert Schweitzer, the theologian, musician, scientist, and medical missionary who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952 (and donated his prize to build a leper colony). Schweitzer's autobiography is a masterful and motley blend of confession, narrative, adventure, and philosophy. The chapters about how he came to write The Quest for the Historical Jesus and The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle are indispensable summaries of and apologies for those books; the chapter called "I Resolve to Become a Jungle Doctor" is a model of Rilke-style life-changing decision; and the chapters on Bach and on organs are full of fascinating historical and mechanical detail. For contemporary readers, Out of My Life and Thought may be most compelling for its epilogue, which describes the ethical mysticism that Schweitzer called "Reverence for Life," which he achieved in his later years. The epilogue is full of stirringly Germanic passages such as the following: "Once man begins to think about the mystery of his life and the links connecting him with the life that fills the world, he cannot but accept, for his own life and all other life that surrounds him, the principle of Reverence for Life. He will act according to this principle of the ethical affirmation of life in everything he does. His life will become in every respect more difficult than if he lived for himself, but at the same time it will be richer, more beautiful, and happier. It will become, instead of mere living, a genuine experience of life." Because Schweitzer believed Christianity implied such world-encompassing reverence, he had the confidence and faith to "demand from Christianity that it reform itself in the spirit of sincerity and with thoughtfulness, so it may become conscious of its true nature." --Michael Joseph Gross

" Out of My Life and Thought shatters the old myth and allows us to glimpse the real Albert Schweitzer, a man whose moral example is as relevant and compelling in the 1990s as it was in the 1930s on first publication. Eloquent and heartfelt." -- Los Angeles Times

Of the many highly esteemed books Albert Schweitzer penned in his life, he valued his autobiography the most. He had become a legend and he wanted to remind readers that he was just a man, and a man who had learned from many others. He had been fortunate to be in the right places at the right times, to meet people of thought and sympathy. He wanted to report his debts to them. He wanted to clarify his reasons and methods for his undertakings and to respond to some of his critics. And, he wished to honor something greater than he was -- reverence for life. Reverence for Life became his life's motto, and it brought him pain as well as joy as he sought to respect how precious and unique each life is. Schweitzer believed there was a way to live in the world, accept it, take joy from it -- and who could know this better than a man who had placed himself so much in it, given so much for it, and had been ready to receive experience as a gift to be thankful for.

In addition to a preface by Rhena Schweitzer Miller and Antje Bultmann Lemke, this translation incorporates revisions and additions Schweitzer made for the French translation of 1960 and those he made for thirty years in his own copy of the original German edition.

"This fascinating volume is the autobiography of the world-famous missionary doctor, organist, philosopher, theologian, and Nobel Peace Prize-winner, newly translated, researched, and corrected on the basis of recently discovered material." -- Booklist

"An authentic twentieth-century classic. Few books in our time have had a greater impact on the life and values of untold numbers of people." -- Norman Cousins

Last Place on Earth (National Geographic)

Black, Blanc, Beur: Rap Music and Hip-Hop Culture in the Francophone World

Black, Blanc, Beur is about the emergence and growing notoriety of rap music and hip-hop culture in the French-speaking world (France, Quebec, and Western Africa). It provides an introduction to many forms of expression of hip-hop cultures (rap music, hip-hop dance, and graffiti/tagging). In addition to a foreword by Adam Krims, a noted rap authority, this volume has contributions by some of the most renowned hip-hop scholars on both sides of the Atlantic and addresses hip-hop from the perspective of various disciplines.

A Workman Is Worthy of His Meat: Food and Colonialism in the Gabon Estuary (France Overseas: Studies in Empire and D)

My Days With Albert Schweitzer: A Lambarene Landscape

African Notebook (Albert Schweitzer Library (Syracuse, N.Y.).)

Albert Schweitzer was already world famous when he was first persuaded to share with the public these candid reminiscences of early days at Lambaréné, Gabon, Africa. The multitude of brief entries in the book capture the flavor of Schweitzer's mission in vignettes and philosophical musings on the history of the land, the culture and rituals of the native people, and his medical practice.

Albert Schweitzer's Mission: Healing and Peace

In 1952, Dr. Albert Schweitzer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work as a medical missionary in Africa. At that point, his career included--as well as medicine--theology, music and philosophy. His final quest was to wake the public to the dangers of nuclear war.

Norman Cousins visited Schweitzer in Africa. The friendship that grew from this meeting gave rise to a rich correspondence, most of it dealing with the arms race.

That correspondence forms the core of this volume, though letters from Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Jawaharlal Nehru and Nikita Kruschev are included.

"The body of letters is deeply revealing, intrinsically interesting and of profound historical significance." (Publisher's Source)

Gabon: Beyond the Colonial Legacy (Westview Profiles Nations of Contemporary Africa)

Last Place on Earth: Photographs

Mont Doudou, Gabon: A Floral And Faunal Inventory With Reference To Elevational Distribution