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Encounters with the Beginning, the End, and our Place in the Middle
by Sarah Krasnostein
An unforgettable tour of the human condition that explores our universal need for belief to help us make sense of life, death, and everything in between.
For Sarah Krasnostein it begins with a Mennonite choir performing on a subway platform, a fleeting moment of witness that sets her on a fascinating journey to discover why people need to believe in absolute truths and what happens when their beliefs crash into her own. Some of the people Krasnostein interviews believe in things many people do not: ghosts, UFOs, the literal creation of the universe in six days. Some believe in things most people would like to: dying with dignity and autonomy; facing up to our transgressions with truthfulness; living with integrity and compassion.
By turns devastating and uplifting, and captured in snapshot-vivid detail, these six profiles of a death doula, a geologist who believes the world is six thousand years old, a lecturer in neurobiology who spends his weekends ghost hunting, the fiancée of a disappeared pilot and UFO enthusiasts, a woman incarcerated for killing her husband after suffering years of domestic violence, and Mennonite families in New York will leave you convinced that the most ordinary-seeming people are often the most remarkable and that deep and abiding commonalities can be found within the greatest differences.
Vivid, unconventional, entertaining, and full of wonder, The Believer interweaves these stories with compassion and empathy, culminating in an unforgettable tour of the human condition that cuts to the core of who we are as people, and what we're doing on this earth.
"Journalist Krasnostein delivers an illuminating meditation on the nature of belief and the quest for meaning...Krasnostein is measured and respectful of her interviewees while being forthright about beliefs she finds unconvincing or even distasteful. The result is a compassionate and engrossing look at 'how the stories we tell ourselves to deal with the distance between the world as it is and as we'd like it to be can stunt us or save us.'" - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"How does one confront the unknown and unknowable? That is the central question in Krasnostein's thoughtful meditation on humans' desire for certainty, security, and solace...A sympathetic inquiry into the vicissitudes of faith." - Kirkus Reviews
"A fascinating portrait of the human condition, Sarah Krasnostein's latest explores a range of belief systems through six profiles―of a death doula, a geologist, a ghost-hunting neurobiologist, ufologists, a woman accused of murder, and Mennonite families living in New York. A great read for our 'deeply fractured times.'" - LitHub
"This collection of essays will be great for groups looking for something approachable but thoughtful as Krasnostein explores all kinds of strangers' beliefs about the afterlife, a higher power, and everything in between and what happens when their beliefs clash with the beliefs of others. It's definitely a poignant piece for today and will open up lots of discussion possibilities for book groups." - Book Riot
"Sarah Krasnostein takes us on an unexpected journey through strains of belief that range from dubious to bizarre. It is sometimes disconcerting, sometimes deeply beautiful, and never simple." - James Gleick, author of Time Travel: A History
"Sarah Krasnostein holds a mirror to the world we inhabit but don't fully understand, helping us see how our lives are shaped by beliefs at once wholly strange and unexpectedly familiar. Lyrical, haunting, endlessly curious, The Believer will restore your faith in the power of stories to bridge the gaps between us." - Peter Manseau, author of The Apparitionists
This information about The Believer was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Sarah Krasnostein is a writer and a lawyer with a PhD in criminal law. A fourth generation American and a third generation Australian, she has lived and worked in both countries. Her essay, "The Secret Life of a Crime Scene Cleaner," was published on Longreads and listed in Narratively's Top 10 Stories for 2014. As a law lecturer and researcher, her areas of specialization are: the history of crime and punishment, comparative criminal law, sentencing law and criminal justice policy. She lives in Melbourne and spends part of the year working in New York City.
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