Böcker av Laurie E Levinger

In 2004, Laurie Levinger left her home in Vermont for Guatemala, where she planned to teach English to Maya university students. But on the first dayof class, Levinger became the student instead of the teacher when a young man named Fernando introduced himself by saying, ""My father was killedwhen I was four months old. I am a survivor of the Guatemala civil war.""Shocked, Levinger''s first thought was, ""What war?""Beginning in 1960, fighting between the Guatemalan military and guerrilla fighters raged across this Central American country. By 1980, this violence--which began with a CIA-backed coup and efforts by the United Fruit Company to protect its financial interests--turned into the massacre of Maya people in every corner of Guatemala. By the time peace accords were signedin 1996, over two hundred thousand Maya people had been murdered, ""disappeared,""or forced into exile by their own government.Levinger''s students had been young children when these atrocities were committed. Many lost their parents. Many had relatives who ""disappeared.""All had suffered the loss of their culture, their family ties, their sense of safety, their personal identities.As a clinical social worker, Levinger believes in the importance of bearing witness, of speaking the unspeakable out loud. After her initial trip, shereturned to Guatemala, this time with a tape recorder and a mission: to record the testimonies of her students, to document their enduring love for their Maya culture, and to honor their unflagging search for truth.In What War? Levinger brings us stories, told in the spare and eloquent language of truth-tellers, reminding us all that the true cost of war is borne by the survivors. And so is the hope for peace.""I only once or twice experienced any one speaking as openly about The Violence, la violencia, asdo these young people. Their candor is extraordinaryand gives me hope.""--Staughton Lynd, author, historian,peace activistLaurie Levinger is a retired psychotherapist who lives and writes in Vermont.

Description:Love and Revolutionary Greetings: An Ohio Boy in the Spanish Civil War is the story of Sam Levinger, a young man who went to Spain in 1937 to join the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Civil war raged in Spain as the fascist army of Francisco Franco sought to overthrow the democratically elected Republic. Levinger, a dedicated idealist, made the commitment to go to a foreign country to fight fascism. Love and Revolutionary Greetings is placed in the historical context of the 1930s, when freedom everywhere was threatened by Franco, Hitler, and Mussolini.The book is based on Sam Levinger's letters, poems, and stories that he sent home from Spain, interspersed with those of his mother, Elma Levinger. Told in the words of a soldier son and his mother, as well as other members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, the book offers an eyewitness account of the hardships and the politics of the times. Men and women from all over the world went to Spain to fight with the International Brigade to defend Spanish democracy. Twenty-eight hundred men and women from the United States joined the International Brigade. Sam Levinger was one of them. Sam died in Spain when he was twenty years old. The author, Sam Levinger's niece, traveled to Spain to search for his unmarked grave. Love and Revolutionary Greetings tells the emotional and political story of American involvement in the Spanish Civil War in the language of people who lived it.Endorsements:""The story of the 2,800 Americans who defended the Spanish Republic against fascism in the 1930s has sparked many compelling accounts, but few as moving as this one. Laurie Levinger has unearthed a cache of stunningly powerful testimony, most of which has never been published, and carefully crafted a . . . multi-voiced tapestry that takes us from the Depression years in Columbus, Ohio, to the Spanish trenches.""--Sebastiaan Faber Chair, Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives""Levinger's book is a compelling collage in which love and memory illuminate fascinating fragments of American social history. It tells of twenty-year-old Sam Levinger, who died in 1937 fighting Franco's Nazi-backed rebels in Spain . . . Sam, the gifted, writerly boy who lives again now in Levinger's book through his letters home-their crystalline prose, shot through with wry humour, hints too at the sparse intensity of a soldier's experience.""-Helen GrahamAuthor of The War and Its ShadowAbout the Contributor(s):Laurie Levinger is a freelance writer. She is the author of two books, What War? Testimonies of Maya Survivors and Just a Dropped Stitch.

Description:En ¿Cuál Guerra? Testimonios de Sobrevivientes Maya, algunos jóvenes que fueron víctimas de ""la violencia"" relatan sus historias. En sus propias palabras, nos cuentan cómo sus vidas fueron devastadas por el trauma, el terror y la muerte. La violencia es colocada en contexto histórico con capítulos específicos que enfocan en el exilio forzado, las experiencias únicas sobrellevadas por mujeres y niños, el empacto en la vida familiar, la lucha por mantener la identidad maya y el efecto de los Acuerdos de Paz.La realidad es que se necesita de un profundo coraje para ""romper el silencio"" y hablar de esta dolorosa historia personal. Estos sobrevivientes están comprometidos a decir la verdad de sus propias experiencias. Aquí lidian con el futuro, rehacen sus vidas y tienen el compromiso de crear una nueva Guatemala. About the Contributor(s):Laurie Levinger is a retired psychotherapist who lives and writes in Vermont. She is the author of Just a Dropped Stitch and What War? Testimonies of Maya Survivors.

Description:Love and Revolutionary Greetings: An Ohio Boy in the Spanish Civil War is the story of Sam Levinger, a young man who went to Spain in 1937 to join the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Civil war raged in Spain as the fascist army of Francisco Franco sought to overthrow the democratically elected Republic. Levinger, a dedicated idealist, made the commitment to go to a foreign country to fight fascism. Love and Revolutionary Greetings is placed in the historical context of the 1930s, when freedom everywhere was threatened by Franco, Hitler, and Mussolini.The book is based on Sam Levinger's letters, poems, and stories that he sent home from Spain, interspersed with those of his mother, Elma Levinger. Told in the words of a soldier son and his mother, as well as other members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, the book offers an eyewitness account of the hardships and the politics of the times. Men and women from all over the world went to Spain to fight with the International Brigade to defend Spanish democracy. Twenty-eight hundred men and women from the United States joined the International Brigade. Sam Levinger was one of them. Sam died in Spain when he was twenty years old. The author, Sam Levinger's niece, traveled to Spain to search for his unmarked grave. Love and Revolutionary Greetings tells the emotional and political story of American involvement in the Spanish Civil War in the language of people who lived it.Endorsements:""The story of the 2,800 Americans who defended the Spanish Republic against fascism in the 1930s has sparked many compelling accounts, but few as moving as this one. Laurie Levinger has unearthed a cache of stunningly powerful testimony, most of which has never been published, and carefully crafted a . . . multi-voiced tapestry that takes us from the Depression years in Columbus, Ohio, to the Spanish trenches.""--Sebastiaan Faber Chair, Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives""Levinger's book is a compelling collage in which love and memory illuminate fascinating fragments of American social history. It tells of twenty-year-old Sam Levinger, who died in 1937 fighting Franco's Nazi-backed rebels in Spain . . . Sam, the gifted, writerly boy who lives again now in Levinger's book through his letters home-their crystalline prose, shot through with wry humour, hints too at the sparse intensity of a soldier's experience.""-Helen GrahamAuthor of The War and Its ShadowAbout the Contributor(s):Laurie Levinger is a freelance writer. She is the author of two books, What War? Testimonies of Maya Survivors and Just a Dropped Stitch.