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A review by rosellala
Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War by Leymah Gbowee
4.0
Leymah Gbowee’s memoir tracks her journey from optimistic, confident, and even privileged child in Liberia to a woman broken by a nation at war and domestic abuse until finally she sees the necessity to band women together and campaign for peace in Liberia.
Gbowee’s writing often feels intimate and conversational, which drew me into her story. Through this style of writing I saw how vulnerable Gbowee is allowing herself to be. She reveals not just the successes of her life, but the darkness and depression she more often faced. As a counterpart to her conversational tone, she can also be factual. Throughout her memoir she peppers in information about the different organizations she worked for as well as information about the previous and current political situation that plays a vital part in the Liberian Civil War. These two styles blend to form an insightful and easy to read narrative.
Here I’ll mention that I read this memoir in a class about leadership, so I will address some themes of leadership that were addressed.
Gbowee’s memoir reveals her values of peace, justice, and her faith and how these values have fluctuated over the many years she writes about. Values guide one’s principles and behavior and it’s clear in her writing how her values impacted her actions. Most obviously, Gbowee’s value of justice is fostered when she begins her social work with children soldiers and other women. When she is confronted with the discrimination she and other women face, her sense of justice grows until it’s a driving force in her life. Closely tied to her sense of justice is her sense of peace. Without peace there cannot be justice. Faith is a touchy subject in her life. She often feels that God motivates her to do more, but she also feels at conflict with religion because aspects of her personal life to not adhere to her religious traditions.
As a leader, her story also reveals how she enlisted others to her cause. Her job with a trauma center gave her the foundation she needed to meet and connect with other women. She quickly realized that the civil war was having an enormously negative impact on the livelihood and dignity of women. Gbowee was able to relate to these women and with them created the vision to seek peace for Liberia so that the brutality women and children encountered could begin to decrease. She also enlisted others by being passionate about the cause. She devoted her life to make sure this protest achieved the women’s goal. In doing so she made great sacrifices that prove that leadership does not come easily.
Overall, this was an inspiring memoir about rising from the tragedies of life to create something greater then oneself. However, there were some things that I felt lacking.
First, while Gbowee gives detailed descriptions of the events in her life which contribute to a better understanding of what shaped her into such a compelling leader, I felt that I may have preferred if she had chosen fewer moments to divulge and reflected more deeply on what she felt in that moment and what she realizes now in retrospect. After all, she is writing about her life over many years and 250 pages of minute details can easily get confused, especially with the numerous names and acronyms mentioned.
Second, while I understand this is a memoir, I am still curious about the people that inspired and supported her and worked alongside her. Gbowee lists many organizations and people she encountered but it all seems surface level. I would have liked to learn more about these people. What traits did they exhibit? What was it about them that inspired Gbowee? What faults did she find with them? I feel that having more information about these people would help me understand how Gbowee became a leader and maintained that leadership.
Despite these flaws, I immensely enjoyed getting a look into Leymah Gbowee’s mind during some of the darkest moments of her life and how she persevered to become such an inspiration to women’s rights in Africa.
I would recommend this memoir to people who are interested in seeing examples of conflict resolution and peace building. Gbowee’s memoir is honest about the many obstacles in conflict resolution. From uniting different groups to funding, she shows the difficulty of achieving a goal and the personal doubt and exhaustion that may occur. She is also a wonderful example of the persistence and determination needed to achieve something great.
I would also recommend this to people who want the chance to learn about incredible women leaders in the world. If you’re anything like me, you were not often given the chance to learn about women leaders and Leymah Gbowee is a good place to start. She is also an example of women empowering women and continuing the fight for women’s rights.
Gbowee’s writing often feels intimate and conversational, which drew me into her story. Through this style of writing I saw how vulnerable Gbowee is allowing herself to be. She reveals not just the successes of her life, but the darkness and depression she more often faced. As a counterpart to her conversational tone, she can also be factual. Throughout her memoir she peppers in information about the different organizations she worked for as well as information about the previous and current political situation that plays a vital part in the Liberian Civil War. These two styles blend to form an insightful and easy to read narrative.
Here I’ll mention that I read this memoir in a class about leadership, so I will address some themes of leadership that were addressed.
Gbowee’s memoir reveals her values of peace, justice, and her faith and how these values have fluctuated over the many years she writes about. Values guide one’s principles and behavior and it’s clear in her writing how her values impacted her actions. Most obviously, Gbowee’s value of justice is fostered when she begins her social work with children soldiers and other women. When she is confronted with the discrimination she and other women face, her sense of justice grows until it’s a driving force in her life. Closely tied to her sense of justice is her sense of peace. Without peace there cannot be justice. Faith is a touchy subject in her life. She often feels that God motivates her to do more, but she also feels at conflict with religion because aspects of her personal life to not adhere to her religious traditions.
As a leader, her story also reveals how she enlisted others to her cause. Her job with a trauma center gave her the foundation she needed to meet and connect with other women. She quickly realized that the civil war was having an enormously negative impact on the livelihood and dignity of women. Gbowee was able to relate to these women and with them created the vision to seek peace for Liberia so that the brutality women and children encountered could begin to decrease. She also enlisted others by being passionate about the cause. She devoted her life to make sure this protest achieved the women’s goal. In doing so she made great sacrifices that prove that leadership does not come easily.
Overall, this was an inspiring memoir about rising from the tragedies of life to create something greater then oneself. However, there were some things that I felt lacking.
First, while Gbowee gives detailed descriptions of the events in her life which contribute to a better understanding of what shaped her into such a compelling leader, I felt that I may have preferred if she had chosen fewer moments to divulge and reflected more deeply on what she felt in that moment and what she realizes now in retrospect. After all, she is writing about her life over many years and 250 pages of minute details can easily get confused, especially with the numerous names and acronyms mentioned.
Second, while I understand this is a memoir, I am still curious about the people that inspired and supported her and worked alongside her. Gbowee lists many organizations and people she encountered but it all seems surface level. I would have liked to learn more about these people. What traits did they exhibit? What was it about them that inspired Gbowee? What faults did she find with them? I feel that having more information about these people would help me understand how Gbowee became a leader and maintained that leadership.
Despite these flaws, I immensely enjoyed getting a look into Leymah Gbowee’s mind during some of the darkest moments of her life and how she persevered to become such an inspiration to women’s rights in Africa.
I would recommend this memoir to people who are interested in seeing examples of conflict resolution and peace building. Gbowee’s memoir is honest about the many obstacles in conflict resolution. From uniting different groups to funding, she shows the difficulty of achieving a goal and the personal doubt and exhaustion that may occur. She is also a wonderful example of the persistence and determination needed to achieve something great.
I would also recommend this to people who want the chance to learn about incredible women leaders in the world. If you’re anything like me, you were not often given the chance to learn about women leaders and Leymah Gbowee is a good place to start. She is also an example of women empowering women and continuing the fight for women’s rights.