Description
Book SynopsisPresenting interviews with five ordinary people who rescued Jews during the Holocaust, this title focuses on a question at the heart of ethics: Why do people risk their lives for strangers and what drives such moral choice? It offers a counterpoint to conventional arguments about rational choice.
Trade ReviewWinner of the 2005 Robert E. Lane Award, Division of Political Psychology, American Political Science Association Honorable Mention for the 2005 Giovanni Sartori Book Award, Qualitative Methods Section of the American Political Science Association "The Hand of Compassion is a compelling and powerful read, a terrific book filled with moving narratives of risk, loss, and sadness, and at the same time, the rescuers' affirmation that all human beings deserve the right to decent treatment. It is an analysis that takes social and political theory out of the text and places the reader in the midst of human suffering and courage."--James M. Glass, Perspectives on Politics "Approximately two-thirds of this volume is devoted to personal narratives of five rescuers, based on interviews conducted by Monroe. The autobiographies of the rescuers are substantial additions to the body of Holocaust testimony. To her credit, Monroe is an unobtrusive interviewer and a light-handed editor who allows the stories to unfold in illuminating detail."--Choice
Table of ContentsPREFACE ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv Stories That Are True 1 CHAPTER ONE: Margot 9 CHAPTER TWO: Otto 55 CHAPTER THREE: John 101 CHAPTER FOUR: Irene 139 CHAPTER FIVE: Knud 165 CHAPTER SIX: The Complexity of the Moral Life and: the Power of Identity to Influence Choice 187 CHAPTER SEVEN: How Identity and Perspective Led to Moral Choice 211 CHAPTER EIGHT: What Makes People Help Others: Constructing Moral Theory 239 A Different Way of Seeing Things 257 APPENDIX A: Narratives as Windows on the Minds of Others 267 APPENDIX B: Finding the Rescuers 287 NOTES 291 BIBLIOGRAPHY 331 INDEX 355
