The Courage of Strangers: Coming of Age with the Human Rights Movement

After reading this incredible first person account of Jeri Laber's remarkable life and accomplishments you feel that you know her well. From a solid but not prominent upbringing to a growing awareness of the world and a possible role for her in changing it, you walk step by step through her early years into her development as one of the most influential if unsung human rights advocates in history.It has been famously said that 'evil triumphs when good men do nothing.' This autobiography is a classic example of the opposite: how much good even one person is able to do when she sets her mind to accomplish the seemingly impossible. Ms Laber fills this story with understated but chillingly suspenseful stories of acts of personal bravery that put story-book heroes to shame. Like a classic secret agent Ms Laber carried out her misions under the constant threat of discovery and arrest.Travel with her as she carries funds for Czech dissidents past stone-faced border guards who would be predisposed to arrest and abuse if they caught her. Learn tradecraft with her: She perfects a system of writing notes on meetings with a microscipically tiny had then crumpling them in her pocket or bag to read later in safety. She mentally rehearses cover stories about these seeming scraps of trash to use in case questioned. She lives in an underword of pantomine, gesture and whispers for fear of secret recording equipment and straining ears of barbaric police forces.Not satisfied with winning the human rights fight in the field, Ms Laber takes on the bureaurcatic wars within her own organization and with outside agencies. She successfully expands Helsinki Watch to encompass a global mission and receives presidential level recognition when the Soviet occupied countries of Eastern Europe achieve independence.This is a must-read for all who revel in stories of special people meeting extraordinary challenges. It moves quickly and reflects the workmanlike compentence of Ms Laber as a writer, yet another of her amazing array of talents. One suspects that even in this work she has left many stories untold and the reader will close the book hoping for a follow-on work.

Jeri Laber?s ?Courage of Strangers? is a touching book about her journey as an early human rights activist. The book starts with Laber?s early life to a fortunate family. Yet, the real essence of the book comes into concentration when Laber begins to tell about the early human rights movement. She writes about traveling to communist countries to quietly meet with dissidents, smuggling her notes out of the countries, taking a contraband computer into a communist country, reporting on the horrors of torture, and other narratives to which many can only imagine. All of these accounts are intertwined with stories about Laber?s personal life. She talks about her abrupt divorce, attempting to keep a balance between work and home life, and her dedication to the dissidents who relied upon her to tell their stories and bring aid to their plights. A very relevant book to the world we live in today, and a wonderful book chronicling the beginnings of Human Rights Watch.

The Courage of Strangers is a wonderful combination of important and intimate: Jeri Laber's personal awakening, in her mid-40s, as a single mother in the wake of a divorce that shook up her "perfect" life, and the awakening of the human rights movement that we take so much for granted today but which barely registered a generation ago. Laber brings off the difficult challenge of making her own journey a major part of this beautifully-written memoir -- and her honesty about herself, her family and her colleagues is in itself an act of courage -- while honoring the stories of the others whose courage has inspired her. I have been giving this book to many people, particularly young women friends who are eager to learn about the pioneers who came before them. As a longtime activist in the human rights movement -- and a colleague of Jeri's for many years -- I am thrilled she has written this book because anyone can connect with it. Because of it, many more people can begin to "get" the work that human rights advocates do through a gripping story about what happened in the amazing time she writes of, as a first-hand observer and participant in the fall of repressive regimes in the Soviet world. Jeri Laber carries this off this feat of storytelling without sacrificing the sophistication and expertise she acquired in helping to build one of the world's leading human rights organizations and serving as a crucial partner of those whose courage toppled governments.