A worthy tribute to an inexhaustible humanitarian.
New York Daily News columnist Daly (Under Ground, 1995, etc.), a Pulitzer-Prize finalist for his 9/11 coverage, plumbs the life of the beloved former chaplain of the New York City Fire Department.
Born Robert Emmet Judge to Irish immigrants in Brooklyn, N.Y., Judge had always dreamed of becoming a priest. After the death of his father, he and his sisters (one, his twin) were left in the callous care of his stringent, “fierce” mother Mary Ann and the corporally sadistic teachers at the Catholic school. Ever determined, Judge graduated from life as an altar boy to the Franciscan Friars in his mid-teens. Though living within the celibate, all-male environment bolstered his burgeoning homosexual feelings, Judge quickly progressed to an ordainment of priesthood, a name change and assignments at churches in New Jersey. He began enriching the lives of parishioners and commoners alike with his gracious demeanor and gentle approach. His struggles were few but significant: A battle with alcoholism resulted in subsequent recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous, and differences with a few conventional priests caused problems. Known for his all-encompassing “omnisexuality,” Judge found his calling in HIV advocacy with the development of an AIDS ministry and eventually as chaplain for the FDNY, a physically and emotionally draining post. Though an illicit ongoing nonsexual love affair between Judge and a much-younger Filipino nurse spices up the text, Daly’s professional tact never falters. Judge’s life of tireless pastoral work ceased when the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed, ending his life at age 68. He was the first recorded casualty of 9/11. Using letters, journal entries and commentary from friends and family, Daly imbues his deft, comprehensive tribute with compassion and grace.
A worthy tribute to an inexhaustible humanitarian.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-30150-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2008
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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