A monthly letter from Orbis Books Editor, Robert Ellsberg

Dear Friends,

So many of our best books recount the courage and faithful witness of great souls. Several such books were published this month.

James W. Douglass is the author of the critically-acclaimed and best-selling JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters (now also available in a Kindle edition from Amazon). While working on his next work on the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, Douglass became engrossed in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, one of King's major influences. The result of being sidetracked is his new book: Gandhi and the Unspeakable: His Final Experiment with Truth.

Gandhi, the father of Indian independence and beloved prophet of nonviolence, was assassinated in 1948 by Hindu nationalists during a prayer meeting in New Delhi. Ostensibly, the conspirators were enraged by Gandhi's efforts to promote reconciliation between Hindus and Muslims. But Douglass presents a chilling examination of the role of Indian security forces in abetting the assassination. Following the theme of his study of JFK, Douglass shows how those who conspired to kill Gandhi hoped to destroy a compelling vision of peace, nonviolence, and reconciliation. In tracing the story of Gandhi's early "experiments with truth" in South Africa, Douglass shows how Gandhi had early on confronted and overcome the fear of death. And, as with the case of JFK's death, he shows why this story matters now: what we can learn from Gandhi's truth and his message for our world today.

In Ultimate Price: Testimonies of Christians who Resisted the Third Reich, Annemarie Kidder highights the witness of seven men and women who felt compelled by their Christian faith to resist the idolatrous Nazi regime. Some of these martyrs are well-known, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, imprisoned and executed for his part in a plot to overthrow Hitler. Others include Jesuit Alfred Delp, executed for his role in the anti-Nazi Kreisau Circle (see also Alfred Delp: Prison Writings); Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian peasant who refused to take a military oath (see also Franz Jägerstätter: Letters and Writings from Prison); and Sophie Scholl, a young university student and part of the doomed White Rose conspiracy. (The photo on the book's cover is a still from the extraordinary motion picture, "Sophie Scholl"; nothing so captures the courage and purity of her witness, surrounded by the emblems and power of an idolatrous state.) In tracing these martyrs' journeys, Ultimate Price challenges us to heed our own conscience, examine our own loyalties, and to take a stand with those Christ called "the least of these."

Finally, Mothers, Sisters, Daughters: Standing on their Shoulders by Edwina Gateley with drawings by Sandra Mattucci, gathers stories of great women who have gone before and whose courage and determination serve as an inspiration for women—and men—today. These twenty-two women include political activists, mystics, religious, poets, women from scripture, and more. Again, some are well-known—Rachel Carson, Emily Dickenson, Julian of Norwich. Others less so. As Gateley writes, "Saints or sinners—we are all part of this web of being. When we pray to the saints . . . we are participating in this mystery of connectedness. It follows (at least to me!) that we are capable of tapping into the energy of individuals who have gone before us. . . This book is about great souls. May they assist us on our own stumblings to God."

All the great souls in these books may serve as companions on our journey. And so may our own stumblings assist others along the way.

Blessings,
Robert Ellsberg
Publisher