In the Moment of Greatest Calamity: Terrorism, Grief, and a Victim's Quest for Justice

by Susan F. Hirsch

Book Overview

On August 7, 1998, bombs exploded at two United States embassies in East Africa. American anthropologist Susan Hirsch and her husband Jamal, a Kenyan, were among the thousands of victims, and Jamal died. From there, Hirsch went on to face devastating grief with the help of friends and families on two continents, observing the mourning rituals of her husband's community to honor him. When the alleged bombers were captured and sent to New York to stand...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691121362
• ISBN13: 9780691121369
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Susan Hirsch, In the Moment of Greatest Calamity

This is a very powerful nd readable book. I highly recommend it and hope it comes out in paperback for students to read.

An Amazing Book

This book I heard on an NPR story. A few years ago, I also heard the author, Dr Hirsch, interviewed after the US Embassy attacks in Africa. In which she lost her husband, and then attended the consequent trials of the alleged terorists, part of the then little known group, Al-Queda. She is a smart and articulate person, and her book is very imformative in today's sensationalist driven media. She is a voice of reason, offers clear and stunning analysis on contemporary culture and ethics. She is a Cultural Anthropologist, and actually focused her studies on Law. I highly recomend this book to anyone interested in modern culture and the growing tension between Islam and the West.

A unique and timely view on Justice!

Susan Hirsch's new book "In the Moment of Greatest Calamity: Terrorism, Grief, and a Victim's Quest for Justice" is a unique and vital introspection into the role justice can play in coping with political violence. Written from the authoratative position of being a participant in one moment of greatest calamity, while simultaneously focusing an analytical eye towards the legal anthropology this moment creates the book provides a remarkable blend of what social scientists often call the subjective and objective approaches to understanding social reality. Hirsch does a comendable job of weaving her personal story of loss together with insightful and honest analysis of what justice means in the aftermath of such calamity. Teasing out the distinctions of justice as determined by past culpability for actions AND by future projections of the good, Hisrch's work is an accessible read for both scholar and lay alike. This is a book that you will find hard to put down! If you are not captured by her story, then her analytical scholarship will surely draw you in.