BOOK ENDORSEMENTS
Must read:
LIVING BEYOND TERRORISM: ISRAELI STORIES OF HOPE AND HEALING
Follow Zieva Konvisser’s blog on The Times of Israel website
Follow Zieva Konvisser’s blog on The Israel Forever Foundation website
Terrorism is more than statistics and casualty rates; it is also about the people who survived and the impact on extended families.… So many Israeli lives have been taken by terrorism and so many families shattered. This book tells a different story: the determination and will of Israelis to rebuild and, indeed, to triumph over the terrorists, a victory of the human spirit.
Daniel Kurtzer, Princeton University, Former United States Ambassador to Israel and Egypt
Zieva Konvisser has written a very important book about resilience and the indomitable power of the human spirit.… The stories are both heartbreaking and inspiring, as they humanize and personalize the devastating toll of terrorism as well as the profound courage of those who find a way to move on with life and to move forward with a purpose. The spirit of Viktor Frankl and his belief in healing through meaning echoes through every page of this remarkable book.
Steven M. Southwick, MD, Yale University School of Medicine, Glenn H. Greenberg Professor of Psychiatry, PTSD and Resilience
Thank you Zieva Konvisser for allowing us to enter the hearts and minds of terror survivors. Thank you for telling the stories of the extraordinary courage of ordinary people.
Sherri Mandell, author of The Blessing of a Broken Heart; Co-director, Koby Mandell Foundation
Again and again in her new book, Dr. Konvisser illustrates the gift of choice, not “Why me?” but instead “Why not me? What do I do now with my freedom to go forward from this moment?” In human profile after profile, the author poignantly shows her readers how some individuals allow their circumstances to shatter them while others are ennobled by their responses and endurance. Dr. Konvisser’s gift to you is an intimate challenge to choose hope and healing in your own life.
Viktor Frankl reminds us that “man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord’s Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips.” I join Zieva Konvisser in asking which one is your choice.
Robert C. Barnes, PhD, President, International Board of Directors, Viktor Frankl Institute of Logotherapy
If human resilience in the face of overwhelming trauma has baffled you, this book is the key to unlock the inspiring complexities of the little-understood phenomenon…of posttraumatic growth.… If terrorism aims at breaking the spirit of a civilian population, Dr. Konvisser’s unique book, packed with stories of resilience, proves terrorism has failed. The powerful stories of healing and hope in this volume are a reflection of how remarkable the human spirit is. This book is a must-read for anyone facing the darkness of tragedy.
Eli Somer, PhD, Clinical Professor of Psychology, School of Social Work, University of Haifa, Israel
The words of these survivors help to illuminate the process of posttraumatic growth, so that others may have a better idea of what gifts may be found as they struggle to cope with devastating events.
Lawrence Calhoun, PhD, and Richard Tedeschi, PhD,
Department of Psychology,
UNC Charlotte;
co-authors, Posttraumatic Growth in Clinical Practice
Zieva Konvisser has ensured that we will not forget the heroism of the terror survivors and the men and women who have guided them on their tough journey. With intelligence and compassion, she has given us valuable insights into these previously uncharted waters.
Barbara Sofer, Israel Director of Public Relations and Communications for Hadassah
Zieva Konvisser’s Living Beyond Terrorism: Israeli Stories of Hope and Healing takes us into the hearts and minds of people who have miraculously survived politically motivated bombings in Israel. On the basis of interviews exploring what resilience means to them years after the events, she illuminates the components of the “ability to thrive” after horrific experiences. Konvisser includes lengthy quotations from these interviews, so readers can tease out useful details. These reveal how the survivors represent both general patterns and unique individual responses. This book is a must-read in our age of terrorism and its aftermaths.
Shulamit Reinharz, PhD, Jacob Potofsky Professor of Sociology;
Director,
Hadassah-Brandeis Institute and Women’s Studies Research Center, Brandeis University
In the compelling narratives she has assembled, Zieva Konvisser opens for us the world of people who have survived terrorist attacks. Through her insightful presentation, their suffering and resilience are given voice, and we readers learn how such trauma can be managed and meanings created. This well-written and deeply empathic book puts a human face on what terrorism can mean to ordinary citizens and their lives.
Ruthellen Josselson, PhD, Fielding Graduate University; co-editor, Narrative Study of Lives series
These brave survivors remind us that in Israel too many parents buried their children, too many victims are still suffering from their injuries, and too much blood was spilled. Zieva Konvisser redeems their names and suffering. Her splendid book is about life winning over death. It shows why Israel will win her centennial war against terrorism.
Giulio Meotti, author of A New Shoah