What do you think?
Rate this book
My Brother's Keeper: A Memoir and a Message
In My Brother's A Memoir and a Message , one of America's most admired public figures tells the story of his life. Born in Germany in 1929, Amitai Etzioni escaped the Nazi regime and as a teenager dropped out of high school to fight as a commando in the Israeli War of Independence. He went on to earn his doctorate at Berkeley, teach at Columbia University and Harvard Business School, and serve as senior advisor to the Carter White House. Although he has authored or edited over 20 books, Dr. Etzioni's influence extends beyond academic circles as the founder of the communitarian social movement.
In his own words, Dr. Etzioni reflects on his vision of a society whose members care profoundly about one another, assume responsibilities and do not just demand rights, and attend not merely to themselves, but also to the common good. He traces how this message spread and is playing a significant role in the public life of the United States, United Kingdom, and many other free and liberated societies. Clearly and engagingly written, Dr. Etzioni's vision and story are at once compelling and inspiring.
In his own words, Dr. Etzioni reflects on his vision of a society whose members care profoundly about one another, assume responsibilities and do not just demand rights, and attend not merely to themselves, but also to the common good. He traces how this message spread and is playing a significant role in the public life of the United States, United Kingdom, and many other free and liberated societies. Clearly and engagingly written, Dr. Etzioni's vision and story are at once compelling and inspiring.
478 pages, Hardcover
First published May 25, 2003
35 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 5, 2010
Good writing (concise, clear, easy to read): 4 stars
Good ideas (generates new insights): 4 stars
An autobiography of an academic sociologist and social activist at Columbia U. (1940s-ish to 2000-ish). It combines:
*A philosophical treatise (the "third way" philosophy of communitarianism which synthesizes individual rights with community building)
*The process of growing that philosophy (how does one person's idea become alive to a larger group and substantially emerge as a societal philosophy? hint: it doesn't happen by accident)
*An individual life story (what ought I, who am interested in a variety of topics, to focus on in life?)
*An exposition of the highway connecting academia and social change (is the media an idea-killer or promoter? personal expectations of intellectual perfection vs. diversity and messiness in society, what it takes to get tenure and how is this related to doing policy work, how a professor got to the White House and what it was like there, etc.)
Good ideas (generates new insights): 4 stars
An autobiography of an academic sociologist and social activist at Columbia U. (1940s-ish to 2000-ish). It combines:
*A philosophical treatise (the "third way" philosophy of communitarianism which synthesizes individual rights with community building)
*The process of growing that philosophy (how does one person's idea become alive to a larger group and substantially emerge as a societal philosophy? hint: it doesn't happen by accident)
*An individual life story (what ought I, who am interested in a variety of topics, to focus on in life?)
*An exposition of the highway connecting academia and social change (is the media an idea-killer or promoter? personal expectations of intellectual perfection vs. diversity and messiness in society, what it takes to get tenure and how is this related to doing policy work, how a professor got to the White House and what it was like there, etc.)
March 25, 2012
Parts of this memoir were profound. Parts were engaging. And parts were egregiously self-congratulatory.
Amatai does a great job of narrating his early life and a few later encounters. I was immediately drawn in and became sympathetic. His descriptions of struggling to figure out how to effectively organize demonstrations were very good. Some of his depictions had true humility. His last chapter on his decay was very engaging.
On the other hand, some of his narrative, especially after he found success, was insufficiently self-critical. He convolutes personal reputation with soundness of ideas. He mixes opinion with science. This memoir put me off from investigating his communitarian ideas because he projects so much of his own opinions as moral absolutes.
The basic idea that we need to care for our neighbors and owe a duty to one another is sound. The idea that any of us know what's the optimal stance is difficult for me to accept (family configuration, welfare, military, etc).
Amatai does a great job of narrating his early life and a few later encounters. I was immediately drawn in and became sympathetic. His descriptions of struggling to figure out how to effectively organize demonstrations were very good. Some of his depictions had true humility. His last chapter on his decay was very engaging.
On the other hand, some of his narrative, especially after he found success, was insufficiently self-critical. He convolutes personal reputation with soundness of ideas. He mixes opinion with science. This memoir put me off from investigating his communitarian ideas because he projects so much of his own opinions as moral absolutes.
The basic idea that we need to care for our neighbors and owe a duty to one another is sound. The idea that any of us know what's the optimal stance is difficult for me to accept (family configuration, welfare, military, etc).
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews