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Reviews
Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War by Leymah Gbowee
your_true_shelf's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
bellavictoria's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
applegnreads's review
5.0
Amazing. Makes you proud to be a woman. I suspect the word sex was chosen by the publisher to be put in the title, because she deals with the sex boycott in a paragraph and pretty much says it didn't really do anything. Still, an amazing story from a less than perfect woman which makes it all the better. I'd recommend it for anyone but particularly women and those who are interested in peace.
shirleytupperfreeman's review against another edition
Oh the costs of war... Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee and her band of women were relentless in their pursuit of peace for their beloved Liberia. Her memoir doesn't gloss over her mistakes or the costs to their personal lives but these women finally brought the men to their senses. Their bravery and persistence is an inspiration. Gbowee is called to work for peace - after meeting her, perhaps you will be too.
kimball_hansen's review against another edition
4.0
Great book. Very sad, though. I love learning more about what goes on in other countries. Especially the crappy ones and how people make it out alive somehow and come to America and tell their story.
What language do they speak in their country?
Like the other Africa books I still don't know who is the bad guy, the rebels or the government? They both sound awful.
How did America not become like these African countries? Did we stifle the rebellion or the natives too much where they couldn't fight back? We were in the same boats as these countries yet we prevailed, thankfully.
I wish she didn't spoil what happened by saying she got pregnant and stayed with Daniel reflecting on it 20 years later. I wanted to be surprised.
How do you get your breast cut off and still live? That's a major appendage like an arm, I'd imagine. Won't you bleed to death?
Wow, how does she just stand up to the government like that. It's like a real life Katniss and President Snow.
Maybe I missed something but why are the women crying women's rights when the whole country is suffering. To me it's like treating a broken leg when the head is bleeding profusely. The leg can wait until after the head is fixed.
Who did she have her last child with?
What language do they speak in their country?
Like the other Africa books I still don't know who is the bad guy, the rebels or the government? They both sound awful.
How did America not become like these African countries? Did we stifle the rebellion or the natives too much where they couldn't fight back? We were in the same boats as these countries yet we prevailed, thankfully.
I wish she didn't spoil what happened by saying she got pregnant and stayed with Daniel reflecting on it 20 years later. I wanted to be surprised.
How do you get your breast cut off and still live? That's a major appendage like an arm, I'd imagine. Won't you bleed to death?
Wow, how does she just stand up to the government like that. It's like a real life Katniss and President Snow.
Maybe I missed something but why are the women crying women's rights when the whole country is suffering. To me it's like treating a broken leg when the head is bleeding profusely. The leg can wait until after the head is fixed.
Who did she have her last child with?
thisfeministrox's review
4.0
"This is not a traditional war story. It is about an army of women in white standing up when one else would—unafraid, because the worst things imaginable had already happened to us. It is about how we found the moral clarity, persistence and bravery to raise our voices against war and restore sanity to our land. You have not heard it before, because it is an African woman's story, and our stories rarely are told. I want you to hear mine."
“Because of women like her, because of women like us, I believe that in the end, tyranny will never succeed, and goodness will always vanquish evil. Although I may not see it in my lifetime, peace will overcome. I believe, I know, that if you have unshakable faith in yourself, in your sisters and in the possibility of change, you can do almost anything. The work is hard. The immensity of what needs to be done is discouraging. But you look at communities that are struggling on a daily basis. They keep on—and in the eyes of the people there, you are a symbol of hope. And so you, too, must keep on. You are not at liberty to give up.”
“Because of women like her, because of women like us, I believe that in the end, tyranny will never succeed, and goodness will always vanquish evil. Although I may not see it in my lifetime, peace will overcome. I believe, I know, that if you have unshakable faith in yourself, in your sisters and in the possibility of change, you can do almost anything. The work is hard. The immensity of what needs to be done is discouraging. But you look at communities that are struggling on a daily basis. They keep on—and in the eyes of the people there, you are a symbol of hope. And so you, too, must keep on. You are not at liberty to give up.”
villianess's review
5.0
What a powerful story of the amazing women in Africa. Leymah is a women that is forced to run from the horrors of the civil war in Africa, from her home to other countries that are ill prepared for the influx of people running for safety. Not only does she start a movement, become educated, give up her family for a greater cause, but she also loves deeply and stays to help women not only in Africa but around the world. Her story is heart wrenching, uplifting, infurating, and unrelatable. Yet it is a must read for all women to understand the power that we have when we stand together.
It has been said that if we don't learn from the past we are destine to repeat it.
It has been said that if we don't learn from the past we are destine to repeat it.
peacelovemath's review
3.0
Hard to read about such brutal violence, but an amazing story. Ultimately it's the story of Gbowee herself, and the story of the turmoil in Liberia and its hard road to peace is incident to Leymah's story. I will be discussing this with a book group of Lutheran women tomorrow, and I am interested to hear how they respond; I have a hard time knowing what to "do" (philosophically) with stories like this, because the struggles in my daily life are never going to be this extreme and black-and-white. I do find it valuable to have this kind of insight into what it's like to be in the middle of one of the many extreme conflicts that have happened and are continuing to happen in some African countries, and it has made me curious to learn more about the conflict that is still happening in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the backdrop of one of my favorite fiction books, [b:The Poisonwood Bible|7244|The Poisonwood Bible|Barbara Kingsolver|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327881914s/7244.jpg|810663], which took place starting in the 1960's, so the conflict there has been going on for WAY longer than Liberia's lasted!