In the year before his death in 2017, retired literature professor Richard Lettis compiled many of his thoughts on atheism, as well as the convictions of philosophers, poets, and scientists, living and dead, on the topic. The result is “A-Theism: Believe It or Not.”Read More
Ethical Culture Review of Books
Welcome to the Ethical Culture Review of Books, reviews written by members and friends of the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County and, we hope soon, by members and friends of Ethical Culture societies nationwide. We invite your comments on any review.
We also invite original reviews, not yet published, of current books for consideration. For details and a copy of the author guidelines, please send an email to reviews@ethicalfocus.org.
Editorial Board: Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County members Marc Bernstein, who is also former archivist for the American Ethical Union; Joseph Chuman, leader of the Society, and Theresa Forsman.
Memoir bridges the ordinary and extraordinary in medicine and life
In this memoir, lucky survivor Gabriel Brownstein takes the reader into doctors’ offices and emergency rooms but also into his life, including his happy marriage, his work, and his hobbies. The journey, says reviewer Doris Friedensohn, is riveting.Read More
Ethical Review: ‘Airports are for Waiting and Other Traveler’s Tales’
Author: Doris Friedensohn (Full Court Press, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 2018) Reviewed by Theresa Forsman “The charm, one might say the genius of memory, is that it is choosy, chancy, and temperamental: It rejects the edifying cathedral and indelibly photographs the small boy outside, chewing a chunk of melon in the dust.” Elizabeth Bowen, Irish-born author, 1899-1973 […]
Continuing the Conversation on White Privilege, Part Two
Click here to read Part One A veteran activist, wizened and white, recently gave me this advice: I used to think I needed to understand how black people suffer from racism. I thought, if it’s really that bad, then explain it to me — when it happens, how it works. But then someone asked why […]
The Lives of Erich Fromm: Love’s Prophet
By Lawrence J. Friedman (Columbia University Press, 2013) Reviewed by Joseph Chuman Erich Fromm changed my life–in very big ways. Vogue authors abounded on college campuses in the 1960s. Names such Herman Hesse, Aldous Huxley, Alan Watts and Jack Kerouac were among those at the top of the list. For students poetically inclined […]
Speaking of Ethics: Living a Humanist Life
Author: Joseph Chuman (CreateSpace, North Charleston, S.C., 2014) Reviewed by Doris Friedensohn On the cover of Joseph Chuman’s Speaking of Ethics, a silhouetted male figure holds a bullhorn in his right hand. With his left hand extended, index figure pointing upward, he rallies his troops. Women and men gesticulating wildly join him in protest. Action […]
