Leader

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Judith Olmstead, a graduate student of anthropology from Columbia University, went to the Gamo Highlands of southwestern Ethiopia to do field research for her dissertation on the Dorze weavers and traders. As part of her research, she planned to visit neighboring villages to compare them to the Dorze. When she arrived at Dita, she was surprised to find that the village leader was a woman to whom she gives the pseudonym Chimate Chumbalo. Thirty years later, this is the story of that woman, how she lived her life, how she became a leader, and what made her a successful leader. In the Gamo Highlands, each village has a king who also has the job of being the local balabat, or judge. The balabat mediates disputes among villagers. When she was a teenager, Chimate married the third son of Dita's king. Soon, the king died and, on his deathbed, declared his third son, Chimate's husband, to be his successor king and balabat. Chimate's husband soon died declaring one of their sons to be his heir. Since the heir was still young, Chimate assumed the duties of acting balabat. Meanwhile, one of her husband's older brothers disputed her husband's and son's claim to kingship. It was resolved that her husband's brother became king while Chimate continued her work as balabat. In that area, at that time, it was unheard of for a woman to be balabat. Judith Olmstead has a clarity and simplicity to her writing style that brings to life the day-to-day activities of the Dita people. She tape recorded and then transcibed many of their songs and Chimate's stories. When she includes Chimate's stories in her text, the narration changes so that we hear Chimate's voice in the stories. Olmstead also includes a history of Ethiopia and past and current politics. Olmstead describes in great detail how Gome affects the lives of the people of Dita. Gome is the system of taboos, customs, and traditions that truly govern the Dita people. When something bad happens to somebody, the community looks for some way that person sinned or broke with the traditions. In order for the sinner's luck to change for the better, the sinner must repent, be forgiven, and then maybe pay a fine or sacrifice a sheep. Chimate, in her role as balabat, oversaw this process for the village of Dita. This is a fascinating, well-written book. I recommend it to you if you want to learn about the Dita people, the history and politics of Ethiopia, and a strong, wise woman. I enjoyed learning how she balanced her duties as a woman to raise children, cook and keep house, with her traditionally male duties as a balabat to mediate disagreements among the villagers and to be the village's spokesperson in area-wide issues. The two worlds in the title of the book refer to the world and customs of the local village of Dita and the world of the Ethiopian Empire. Chimate was adept at finding the commonalties between these two worlds. However, she also chose to abide by the traditions of only one of these two worlds when it suited her to do so. _Woman_between_Two_Worlds_ is a book I wish I could keep reading forever.

In recent years Christians have become increasingly polarized around the question of what and how women should serve in the church and in the world, with rival organizations, conferences, books and articles all catching the public eye. Competing explanations of scripture, of history, and of human nature all vie for attention, while on the ground, churches and Christian ministries find themselves in tension between members who not only disagree, but question the fidelity of those with whom they differ. Linda Belleville has served us well with a book that moves sure-footedly through the issues: she gathers and concisely presents evidence for the actual roles women played in New Testament times, sets well the context for understanding Biblical statements, and judiciously presents and weighs differing interpretations of crucial texts about women and about leadership in the church. This is a book to move the discussion forward, eliminating some points of contention, and clarifying what's at issue in others.

This short but highly informative and expertly written book is an excellent overview of powerful women in history, specifically those who have acted as heads of state. Covered are Cleopatra (Egypt), Queen Isabella (Spain), Elizabeth I (England),Catherine the Great (Russia), Queen Victoria (England), and others. I highly recommend the book for high school and college age readers, many of whom may be surprised at how strong women can be as rulers and administraters.

It's a wonderful book for women who desires with all their hearts to be an example of the Crhistian faith at home and everywhere! It contains the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit and it brings to us (women) how we should behave in every occasion! What is the best behaviour at home with your kids and husband? How to react in a difficult moment and prove the real meaning of Christianity? It's all in there! Read it. It will be your second Bible!

As a teacher of Oklahoma history, this book tells me everything I need to know that the student's textbook does not address! It is a teacher's delight! The book has great charts, detailed information on all of the southern tribes and is easy to read. This book is my primary source for sharing information about early Indians with my students and gives any teacher or reader the background of the various Indian groups without too much technical detail. It is also a book I would heartly recommend to students to use because of the easy reading and interesting factual details. Look no further---this one is a keeper!

A brilliant book, and I recommend it to all potential and practicing Worship leaders. It is difficult to find such practical advice from people who have, and are going through situations that you think you are the only one in the world going through. This is what this book provides.

"The Wounded Leader" is a wonderful new work for school leaders--however embattled we/they may find our/themselves in any particular context or at any particular moment. It is an eminently wise, provocative book, whose thesis is amply documented and very well illustrated by the various core narratives it offers its readers.
"The Wounded Leader" is about the healing power of stories and story-telling. For me, its subtitle gives a better sense of what this book is about: "How Real Leadership Emerges in Times of Crisis." Drawing from a diverse array of inspired sources (from Heifetz and Kegan and Gardner and Bennis to Parker Palmer and Daniel Goleman, e.g.), Ackerman and Maslin-Ostrowski masterfully synthesize an analysis of "how school leaders respond to and make sense of their wounds." Stressing the meaning-making and redemptive power of narratives, the authors show how the stories we tell ourselves and each other about the challenges we face ultimately inform and reveal who we are. The most successful leaders, they imply, are the most authentic ones. "Leadership," they write, "has been described as the capacity to be totally and utterly oneself, to be able to show up fully, to express oneself, and to share this self with an organization that one cares about and wants to influence. If this is the case, then wounding at its worst means leaving the self outside the school, becoming a hollow stranger to oneself and one's leadership altogether."
By framing "crisis [as] an emergent occasion for transformation," Maslin-Ostrowski and Ackerman reveal how we can be changed and tempered enough to learn and grow from our leadership wounds. Its fundamental message is thus profoundly affirmative and reassuring. Moreover, the book (at less than 150 pp.) is a slim (i.e. user-friendly!) volume written in readily accessible prose, enlivened by many aptly chosen narrative anecdotes. I recommend that educational leaders have a copy handy to review and refresh themselves at all times--either on our bookshelves at work or on our bedside tables at night--in order to help us regain our bearings whenever our leadership going gets toughest.

I used this to do a report about Yasir Arafat. It was a great book! Good photos and information. Also, it was easy to read. I learned that Yasir means "easy going." Pretty cool. I can't wait to read more books by Colleen Madonna Flood Williams. Her name is long, but it's still a nice name.

This book is a must buy for all you future Youth Ministers. This book introduces many new ways of teaching verse to younger teens (13-15). By applying each verse and lesson to a students day to day life almost any one can feel comfortable teaching these pre-planned lessons. This guide has eighty-ready to use studies providing the group with many diverse topics to discuss. A recommended version of the bible to study from is the youth new revised version. This book will aide everyone in their walk with Christ. Peace and God Bless!

I have found myself telling people stories and quotes from this book so often that I figured it was time for me to throw my two cents out there. Philip Yancey has almost surpassed C.S. Lewis as the most insightful Christian writer I have read. And while as a philosopher I greatly appreciate the idea-based insight that Lewis provides, Yancey's works seem to offer more practical advice and help to answer the question: "How then should we live?" After reading this book, I can't see Grace anymore as just one of those things that's meant to make us feel warm and fuzzy inside. I mean, Yancey's depictions often do bring those warm and fuzzy feelings, but more than that, it shows the unquestionable POWER and STRENGTH that is contained within grace. It's not just a nice, sweet little virtue that we do because it's easy. This book showed me that Grace is life changing and necessary. And when I read the part where the civil rights worker looks out the window and through laughter and tears first understands what grace really is, that was the moment when I truly began to understand what grace really is. And it truly is amazing.

Book of the Year winner, this is the best book, outside of the Bible, that I have ever read.

In WHAT'S SO AMAZING ABOUT GRACE, Yancey presents a radical picture of what grace, the last good word, really is. As usual, his writing style is very down to earth, human, empathetic, and insightful. Grace is unmerited favor; forgiveness when it is not deserved or earned. So how do we deal with the idea of grace in the context of things like Nazi Germany, KKK atrocities, and Columbine high school? Can we reconcile the two in our minds? We must, if we are to understand grace as it is presented in the Bible. Real grace is incredibly scandalous. But scandalous grace is what God demands of His church. Real grace forgives the unforgivable, loves the unlovable, and reaches even to the undesirable. And when such grace is given, the world sees Christ, for Christ's grace given to us is just as amazing.

Yancey's words are poignant but sometimes shocking, as it is difficult for the rational human mind to impart grace when we tend to so automatically demand justice (the old eye-for-an-eye idea). The conflict is worthy of the struggle, though, because the application of his ideas on grace is truly profound. The most beautiful part of this book is how it works on two levels. Understanding grace radically transforms the relationship between you and God, freeing you from the bondage of legalism and salvation-through-works. Grace also transforms the relationships between you and the world. This is not a relationship book, but it has affect me in that area more than anything that I have read, for if God can show such amazing grace to me who am I to treat my peers any differently? When grace is given and people are forgiven we find incredible freedom from the bondage of unforgiveness and bitterness on our hearts. And, as Martin Luther King Jr. demonstrated, the impact of radical grace can literally change the course of history.

Learning to impart grace, and in the process destroying the cycle of un-grace, will utterly change your world. There is no other book that I can recommend more to a Christian searching to be more like Jesus, love more like Jesus, and experience His love to the fullest at the same time. Five Stars.

This is one of my favorite books of all time. I've bought many copies and given them away. To me this book summarizes what Jesus was all about - love, forgiveness...GRACE.