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docdubbs's review against another edition
5.0
Great book for teachers to use with middle or high school students.
panda_incognito's review against another edition
2.0
This collection of 35 biographical profiles introduces young readers to a diverse range of heroes who stood up against injustice. Sometimes, I found this book profoundly moving, but I cannot recommend it, because the author omitted and misrepresented facts in some of the chapters. Biographical sketches that span three to five pages can only contain so much information; however, if you undertake the project of educating children about history's heroes, you have a responsibility to include and fact-check the most important elements of their lives and legacies.
This book spans from 1429 to the present. Each chapter begins with a beautiful portrait of its subject, and a quote that sums up their ideology or approach to justice. At the end, the author synthesizes that person's legacy into a "Resist Lesson," and even though some of these are cheesy and trite, others are thought-provoking. For example, the one that celebrates Samuel Adams’s labor for American independence states, "The steadiness of commitment can do more in the long term than unsustainable sparks." One of the positive aspects of this book was how thoroughly it covered different forms of resistance, showing that our actions are worthwhile even when they don’t seem glamorous.
This book contains a lot of important lessons, and its chapters cover people of different sexes, races, nationalities, sexual orientations, socioeconomic statuses, ages, and personal causes. This diverse approach to the topic of resistance serves as a primer on a vast number of different social issues, but because of this, many people will read and recommend this title without realizing how limited the material actually is. Even though this book seems thorough, many of its chapters leave out important information.
Exhibit A: Dietrich Bonhoeffer
This chapter begins with the famous quote, “The church… must not simply bandage the victims under the wheel of oppression, but put a spoke in the wheel itself.” Great line! However, according to this book, when Bonhoeffer returned to Germany and got involved in the resistance there, all he did was work against the Gestapo by helping evacuate Jewish refugees. That was a wonderful, brave, humanitarian thing, but do you know what ELSE Bonhoeffer did? This man joined a conspiracy to try to ASSASSINATE HITLER.
That fact is JUST SLIGHTLY IMPORTANT. That quote about putting “a spoke in the wheel itself” isn’t just an observation. It crystallizes the reasoning behind Bonhoeffer’s soul-searching decision to put aside his pacifistic convictions and actively engage in efforts to end Hitler’s life. Unfortunately, he and his co-conspirators failed in their repeated efforts, and Bonhoeffer went to prison. The Nazis executed him on April 9, 1945, just shortly before the end of the war. THIS MATTERS.
Bonhoeffer is one of my personal heroes, and when you rip out the most important elements of his story, you disrespect his sacrifices. This gentle, studious pastor was willing to take drastic measures to resist the epitome of evil, and he paid for this resistance with his life. Telling his story without these details does injustice to his legacy, misleads readers, and forfeits an opportunity to deeply inspire.
Exhibit B: Sitting Bull
This chapter ends on a triumphant note, with Sitting Bull and his tribe defeating US General Custer and his troops. That’s nice, but white Americans killed Sitting Bull in a later confrontation, and you can’t just ignore this. Telling a story of resistance requires context, and if you’re asking children to rise up and resist tyranny in their day, you should be honest about the fact that a lot of these people died while doing so.
(Note: This was the one thing I had to research after reading the book. I wasn’t 100% sure that he died because of the US government, but all it took was a Google search to learn that he died in an encounter with police.)
Exhibit C: Harvey Milk
The chapter on this gay-rights advocate and politician fails to mention that he designed the Gay Pride flag. That seemed odd, but then the chapter ended like this: “Harvey had a lot of fun that first year in office. He became known as an effective lawmaker who also loved to pull pranks. Having fun and doing good, that was the Harvey Milk way.”
AND THEN SOMEONE ASSASSINATED HIM.
Facts matter, folks. You can’t just cut off your chapter at a high point! You have to be honest about what life was actually like for Harvey Milk, and how his advocacy for himself and people like him ultimately cost him his life. This book is an absolute joke. “He had a lot of fun! He liked to play pranks! Pay no attention to the fact-checker behind the curtain!”
I just hope no kid ever uses this book as a source for a school assignment, because it's so selective in which facts it thinks young readers should know. Does this woman just have something against death? Does she think that middle grade readers are old enough to start resisting injustice, but too young to grapple with the potential costs?
Exhibit D: Martin Luther
Now we get to MY FAVORITE! Complete misrepresentation of key facts!
Up to this point, I’ve only written about omissions, but in the chapter about Martin Luther, the author sums up his split with the Catholic Church like this: “He dreamed of a simpler way – a church where people could pray in their own language, where men and women could take their prayers directly to their god. He believed forgiveness should be not bought, but earned.”
That last sentence is a LIE.
Luther believed in grace. He knew that people could never earn forgiveness, because after years of long, painful struggle, trying to attain holiness and atone for his sins through religious obligations, he learned that he didn’t have to go through church ritual or his own good works to meet God. Instead, Jesus serves as the mediator between God and man. Jesus lived the perfect life that we could not, and in his death on the cross, he bore the punishment for human sin. When someone accepts Jesus's sacrifice in faith, believing that it is enough to make them right with God, Jesus’s righteousness is credited to their account. They are forgiven, and they have God's approval without having to earn it. As Luther famously claimed, salvation is through Christ alone, through grace alone, through faith alone, for the glory of God alone.
This is the gospel that Luther believed and spent the rest of his life propagating. As soon as he understood that salvation came through grace, not works, he experienced tremendous relief, no longer spending his life plagued with doubt and fear. The reason he split with the Catholic Church, and the reason that he had the courage to do so, was because he knew they were peddling a false gospel. He couldn’t stand for that. He wasn’t just concerned about religious freedom in the abstract, or greater equity for common people, although these were important. He believed that the Catholic Church had abandoned the fundamentals of true faith.
I don’t expect a short biographical sketch to delve into all those details and implications, but the least it can do is avoid OUTRIGHT FALSEHOOD. It’s understandable that someone would think, “Well, if he didn’t think people should buy forgiveness, he must have thought they should earn it,” but a quick glance at the Wikipedia entry about Martin Luther would show otherwise.
Even though it appears that this woman's research didn't even reach Wikipedia-levels of accuracy, she does list recommended resources in the back pages of this book. These include a documentary and graphic novel about Martin Luther, but she must not have paid close attention to either, because how could she miss this key detail? I know nothing about her religious beliefs, but even if Protestant Christianity seems irrelevant to her, she still has a responsibility to present facts accurately, and Martin Luther did NOT think that anyone should earn forgiveness. He knew that no one could.
This book is such a disappointment. It has a great concept, beautiful pictures, inspiring quotes, and some great stories, but because I had the historical knowledge to tear apart some of its chapters, I felt no confidence in the rest. Whenever I read a chapter about someone I wasn’t familiar with, I had to keep telling myself, “You don’t know how accurate this is. You don’t know what she’s leaving out, or what she’s misrepresenting.” That’s not a very inspiring experience.
Although some chapters in this book are just fine the way they are, this book as a whole does not pass the fact check muster. I wish that I had an alternate title to recommend, but unfortunately, I don’t know of another book that accomplishes the same goal with the same scope and diversity. I hope that other people will write similar projects in the future, because this book is not enough. Kids may read it and feel inspired, and I hope they go on to do great things, but this book is too weighed down with egregious omissions and even outright lies to fill the gap it seeks to address in juvenile literature.
This book spans from 1429 to the present. Each chapter begins with a beautiful portrait of its subject, and a quote that sums up their ideology or approach to justice. At the end, the author synthesizes that person's legacy into a "Resist Lesson," and even though some of these are cheesy and trite, others are thought-provoking. For example, the one that celebrates Samuel Adams’s labor for American independence states, "The steadiness of commitment can do more in the long term than unsustainable sparks." One of the positive aspects of this book was how thoroughly it covered different forms of resistance, showing that our actions are worthwhile even when they don’t seem glamorous.
This book contains a lot of important lessons, and its chapters cover people of different sexes, races, nationalities, sexual orientations, socioeconomic statuses, ages, and personal causes. This diverse approach to the topic of resistance serves as a primer on a vast number of different social issues, but because of this, many people will read and recommend this title without realizing how limited the material actually is. Even though this book seems thorough, many of its chapters leave out important information.
Exhibit A: Dietrich Bonhoeffer
This chapter begins with the famous quote, “The church… must not simply bandage the victims under the wheel of oppression, but put a spoke in the wheel itself.” Great line! However, according to this book, when Bonhoeffer returned to Germany and got involved in the resistance there, all he did was work against the Gestapo by helping evacuate Jewish refugees. That was a wonderful, brave, humanitarian thing, but do you know what ELSE Bonhoeffer did? This man joined a conspiracy to try to ASSASSINATE HITLER.
That fact is JUST SLIGHTLY IMPORTANT. That quote about putting “a spoke in the wheel itself” isn’t just an observation. It crystallizes the reasoning behind Bonhoeffer’s soul-searching decision to put aside his pacifistic convictions and actively engage in efforts to end Hitler’s life. Unfortunately, he and his co-conspirators failed in their repeated efforts, and Bonhoeffer went to prison. The Nazis executed him on April 9, 1945, just shortly before the end of the war. THIS MATTERS.
Bonhoeffer is one of my personal heroes, and when you rip out the most important elements of his story, you disrespect his sacrifices. This gentle, studious pastor was willing to take drastic measures to resist the epitome of evil, and he paid for this resistance with his life. Telling his story without these details does injustice to his legacy, misleads readers, and forfeits an opportunity to deeply inspire.
Exhibit B: Sitting Bull
This chapter ends on a triumphant note, with Sitting Bull and his tribe defeating US General Custer and his troops. That’s nice, but white Americans killed Sitting Bull in a later confrontation, and you can’t just ignore this. Telling a story of resistance requires context, and if you’re asking children to rise up and resist tyranny in their day, you should be honest about the fact that a lot of these people died while doing so.
(Note: This was the one thing I had to research after reading the book. I wasn’t 100% sure that he died because of the US government, but all it took was a Google search to learn that he died in an encounter with police.)
Exhibit C: Harvey Milk
The chapter on this gay-rights advocate and politician fails to mention that he designed the Gay Pride flag. That seemed odd, but then the chapter ended like this: “Harvey had a lot of fun that first year in office. He became known as an effective lawmaker who also loved to pull pranks. Having fun and doing good, that was the Harvey Milk way.”
AND THEN SOMEONE ASSASSINATED HIM.
Facts matter, folks. You can’t just cut off your chapter at a high point! You have to be honest about what life was actually like for Harvey Milk, and how his advocacy for himself and people like him ultimately cost him his life. This book is an absolute joke. “He had a lot of fun! He liked to play pranks! Pay no attention to the fact-checker behind the curtain!”
I just hope no kid ever uses this book as a source for a school assignment, because it's so selective in which facts it thinks young readers should know. Does this woman just have something against death? Does she think that middle grade readers are old enough to start resisting injustice, but too young to grapple with the potential costs?
Exhibit D: Martin Luther
Now we get to MY FAVORITE! Complete misrepresentation of key facts!
Up to this point, I’ve only written about omissions, but in the chapter about Martin Luther, the author sums up his split with the Catholic Church like this: “He dreamed of a simpler way – a church where people could pray in their own language, where men and women could take their prayers directly to their god. He believed forgiveness should be not bought, but earned.”
That last sentence is a LIE.
Luther believed in grace. He knew that people could never earn forgiveness, because after years of long, painful struggle, trying to attain holiness and atone for his sins through religious obligations, he learned that he didn’t have to go through church ritual or his own good works to meet God. Instead, Jesus serves as the mediator between God and man. Jesus lived the perfect life that we could not, and in his death on the cross, he bore the punishment for human sin. When someone accepts Jesus's sacrifice in faith, believing that it is enough to make them right with God, Jesus’s righteousness is credited to their account. They are forgiven, and they have God's approval without having to earn it. As Luther famously claimed, salvation is through Christ alone, through grace alone, through faith alone, for the glory of God alone.
This is the gospel that Luther believed and spent the rest of his life propagating. As soon as he understood that salvation came through grace, not works, he experienced tremendous relief, no longer spending his life plagued with doubt and fear. The reason he split with the Catholic Church, and the reason that he had the courage to do so, was because he knew they were peddling a false gospel. He couldn’t stand for that. He wasn’t just concerned about religious freedom in the abstract, or greater equity for common people, although these were important. He believed that the Catholic Church had abandoned the fundamentals of true faith.
I don’t expect a short biographical sketch to delve into all those details and implications, but the least it can do is avoid OUTRIGHT FALSEHOOD. It’s understandable that someone would think, “Well, if he didn’t think people should buy forgiveness, he must have thought they should earn it,” but a quick glance at the Wikipedia entry about Martin Luther would show otherwise.
Even though it appears that this woman's research didn't even reach Wikipedia-levels of accuracy, she does list recommended resources in the back pages of this book. These include a documentary and graphic novel about Martin Luther, but she must not have paid close attention to either, because how could she miss this key detail? I know nothing about her religious beliefs, but even if Protestant Christianity seems irrelevant to her, she still has a responsibility to present facts accurately, and Martin Luther did NOT think that anyone should earn forgiveness. He knew that no one could.
This book is such a disappointment. It has a great concept, beautiful pictures, inspiring quotes, and some great stories, but because I had the historical knowledge to tear apart some of its chapters, I felt no confidence in the rest. Whenever I read a chapter about someone I wasn’t familiar with, I had to keep telling myself, “You don’t know how accurate this is. You don’t know what she’s leaving out, or what she’s misrepresenting.” That’s not a very inspiring experience.
Although some chapters in this book are just fine the way they are, this book as a whole does not pass the fact check muster. I wish that I had an alternate title to recommend, but unfortunately, I don’t know of another book that accomplishes the same goal with the same scope and diversity. I hope that other people will write similar projects in the future, because this book is not enough. Kids may read it and feel inspired, and I hope they go on to do great things, but this book is too weighed down with egregious omissions and even outright lies to fill the gap it seeks to address in juvenile literature.
eatreadbreathe's review against another edition
3.0
I received a digital review copy through Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review.
This brief, collected biography includes not only common, household names from history, but lesser-known people as well (a few I had not heard of before). While it's always nice to read about the usual important people, it is refreshing to read about other courageous people I probably never would have otherwise. Overall, a decent collection of biographies of tenacious people.
Something important I feel is missing are the dates/years the subjects lived, and their locations. This information would have been nice to have at the beginning of the subject's section along with their name. The hashtag #Resist and one date is included with each subject's name, though, which does add a bit of reference. The phrase #ResistLesson at the end of each section was also a little much, partially because hashtags are over-used and partially due to the very overt attempt at edification.
This brief, collected biography includes not only common, household names from history, but lesser-known people as well (a few I had not heard of before). While it's always nice to read about the usual important people, it is refreshing to read about other courageous people I probably never would have otherwise. Overall, a decent collection of biographies of tenacious people.
Something important I feel is missing are the dates/years the subjects lived, and their locations. This information would have been nice to have at the beginning of the subject's section along with their name. The hashtag #Resist and one date is included with each subject's name, though, which does add a bit of reference. The phrase #ResistLesson at the end of each section was also a little much, partially because hashtags are over-used and partially due to the very overt attempt at edification.
carysn's review against another edition
4.0
Maybe would work better reading it rather than as an audiobook as it‘s quite short!
curlyandcarbonated's review against another edition
3.0
Resist by Veronica Chambers offers 35 short summaries of ways that ordinary people stood up to injustice. Chambers organizes her book chronologically and usually spends 2-4 pages per resister.
Although reading short biographical pieces on different people isn't in my reading wheelhouse, I really appreciated all of the parallels that Chambers was able to highlight in resistors from Samuel Adams to Sitting Bull to Ghandi to Chavez to Garza, Cullors, and Tometi. She highlighted the idea that anyone, no matter their age, gender, social class, or background, can cause change.
I think this book has a great place in a classroom library, and I could see it being used as a reference, especially at the beginning of a unit of study on groundbreakers or change-makers.
Although reading short biographical pieces on different people isn't in my reading wheelhouse, I really appreciated all of the parallels that Chambers was able to highlight in resistors from Samuel Adams to Sitting Bull to Ghandi to Chavez to Garza, Cullors, and Tometi. She highlighted the idea that anyone, no matter their age, gender, social class, or background, can cause change.
I think this book has a great place in a classroom library, and I could see it being used as a reference, especially at the beginning of a unit of study on groundbreakers or change-makers.