Reviews for The Courage to Lead: One Man's Journey in Public Service

The average rating for The Courage to Lead: One Man's Journey in Public Service based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-07-14 00:00:00 Christine Nelson This book is a description of the events from 1961 - 1965 and the influence of Robert Moses. The book remains focused on the Mississippi struggle to attain votes for African-Americans and that is its' strong point. Robert Moses is presented as the "anti-leader" and cites the works of Albert Camus as an influence on his thinking. The author describes other events and people besides Robert Moses who were involved in the struggle for equality. There is a mild hint that Mr. Moses suffered burnout after the rejection of the Mississippi Freedom Party at the 1964 Democratic convention. Mr. Moses became visibly angry - an emotion absent during the arduous and often violent struggle to register voters. There are short sketches of Mr. Moses' life prior to and after the Mississippi period. Most of the depictions in this book are culled from other sources (books and magazines), which gives the book a certain remoteness or distance. There are no personal interviews with Mr. Moses. A favourite line in the book taken from Robert Moses (from page 238 of my volume): "Mississippi is unreal when you are not there, and the rest of the country is unreal when you are."

Review # 2 was written on 2016-01-14 00:00:00 Sean Crain SNCC is, in my opinion, the most compelling civil rights organisation of its era and Bob Moses has always danced in the background of other accounts of centralised leadership (especially Stokely's). He is that incredibly intriguing figure who shuns the spotlight and goes about quietly shaking the world. This book didn't quite do it for me but there is generally limited coverage of Moses (with the exception of the new biography out now). In part the problems in this book stem from Moses's noncooperation in publicising himself but nevertheless the period and place covered - Mississippi, early 1960s - did not quite emerge to me in its full richness nor did the very real threat to life faced by those courageous enough to try to register to vote.