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A Place Called Home |
| Section: BOOK WORLD / REVIEWS |
| Author: Brian McCombie |
| Publication:
The World & I Online |
| Issue Date: 4/1/2003 |
| Size: 1,991 Words, 11,724 Characters |
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POPULATION: 485
Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time
Michael Perry
New York: HarperCollins, 2002
234 pp., $24.95
In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the media have made much of the heroic actions of firefighters and police officers who risked, and in many cases lost, their lives trying to save others. Rightly so. Yet that focus on the heroic doesn't always leave much room for another very central component to the story: the singular importance of community that these actions represent.
The firefighters and police who died in the attacks lost their lives trying to save strangers, strangers they were committed to helping. True, they were paid to do this job, but no amount of money is ever really enough to compensate someone for running into a burning building. Certainly the chance to be a hero motivates some, as well as the need to prove oneself and the thrill of action.
There is also the very strong idea of community at work, the notion of helping each other, strangers as well as neighbors. That sense of community lies at the heart of Population: 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time, by Michael Perry. A volunteer firefig...
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...deavors in the world of the "pink palmed" with the toil of fighting fires and rushing to the aid of people in harm's way.
In an age when so many of us know our neighbors only by sight and the occasional nod, it is rather startling to find someone who defines himself by those people he lives near and assists. Perry does this artfully, with gentle humor and a keen eye for the human heart at work.
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Publication Details
(The World & I Online) |
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The World & I Online is a
comprehensive academic resource that encompasses a broad range of
articles by scholars and experts in the areas of Global Studies,
Liberal Arts, Fine & Applied Arts, General Science, and Spanish.
Originally published monthly in print as The World & I, our site
includes the complete contents since 1986 and continues to publish
a new issue online each month. |
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