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Mighty Be Our Powers
Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War a Memoir | Leymah Gbowee, Carol Mithers
12 posts | 7 read | 25 to read
As a young woman growing up in Africa, Leymah Gbowee was broken by a savage civil war that destroyed life as she knew it, depriving her of the education she yearned for and claiming the lives of relatives and friends. As war continued to ravage Liberia, Gbowee's bitterness turned to rage-fueled action as she realized it is women who are the silent sufferers in prolonged conflicts. Passionate and charismatic, Gbowee was instrumental in galvanizing women across Liberia in 2003 to force a peace in the region after 14 years of war. She began organizing Christian and Muslim women to demonstrate tog.
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Texreader
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Pickpick

At the time Gbowee wrote this autobiography, she apparently didn‘t know she was being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and won it in 2011. I didn‘t know it until I finished the book and googled her to see what she has done since. Talk about a woman who pulled herself up by the bootstraps—she is it. She grew up in a fairly stable #Liberia until she turned 17, when the first of its civil wars began. She married young to a fierce abuser ⬇️

Texreader who fathered 4 of her children, at which point she finally left him. Depressed in a world that offered no hope, she finally devoted her life to organizing women in the face of the worst odds to bring peace to her country and all of Africa. I felt it was a bit self-aggrandizing at times, but then hey, she earned the Nobel Peace Prize so I agreed she deserved to recognize herself & her worth. My 2nd to last country for #readingafrica2022! 2y
Bookwormjillk Wow, what do you have left? 2y
Texreader @Bookwormjillk The island of São Tomé and Principe 2y
Librarybelle You are so close to finishing! Well done!!! 2y
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Texreader
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Speaking about refugees from war-torn Sierra Leone:

“Even if you‘re poor and struggling, you don‘t kick out someone who comes to your house in need.”

#Liberia #readingafrica2022 @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB

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Texreader
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#wondrouswednesday

1) Nowhere Bookstore—it‘s become my go-to store for the most part since it‘s in my neighborhood
2) “Monsen Mega Book and Craft Store”
3) Tagged

Eggs Love #2😀 2y
kspenmoll Lucky! A bookstore in your neighborhood! 2y
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Texreader
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I started this last night getting ready to roll back into non-#scarathlon challenges. It‘s for #Liberia #readingsfrica2022 @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB But I‘m also counting it for appropriate challenges for #teamslaughter @Clwojick @StayCurious and #20in4 @Andrew65

Andrew65 I still need to get to Liberia for #ReadingAfrica2022 2y
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bookwrm526
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Mehso-so

Finished this one today on audio while I was making some orange olive oil cakes. It is an amazing, heart-wrenching yet ultimately hopeful story, but at times the writing was very distancing and unemotional. In fairness that could have been more to do with the narrator, but it made the story less impactful in the end.

LeahBergen Oh, YUM. 7y
rubyslippersreads Could you please bake one of those for every Litten? 😂😋 7y
bookwrm526 @rubyslippersreads I would love to, but I don't think I have enough oranges! It's a recipe from Dinner at Tiffani's on the cooking channel if that helps @LeahBergen (edited) 7y
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LeahBergen @bookwrm526 I'll look it up. Thank you! 7y
Gissy The book was so so but those pound cakes I bet they are delicious 😋 7y
bookwrm526 @Gissy I think they are! They were supposed to have a glaze but I thought they were plenty sweet without it. 7y
Gissy @bookwrm526 Someday I could try to bake one 😬 I'm a terrible cook! Enjoy, I know they are just perfect with or without the glaze 😍 7y
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heatherspoetlife
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Today is #HumanRightsDay so here are some of the bools I've read on people fighting for human rights. Most of them include ways that anyond can help in the fight.

angrylilasian This is a great list! Thank you! 8y
readordierachel ❤️ 8y
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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#TBT Throwback Thursday! What was I reading last year at this time? Mighty Be Our Powers! A great Memoir by Leymah Gbowee about women's organizing and protesting movements to end the war in Liberia, as well as her personal story and what led her to the movement, and what the war and movement cost her in her life. Moving story.

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heatherspoetlife
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Of the 896 total Nobel awards, only 48 have been awarded to women. This year there was not one. Now, I'm not going to go on a tirade about all the problems this represents, I don't have the room. Instead, I will rejoice in that 48 makes it possible to read a book by or about each of these women by the next time the Nobels awarded. Well, some don't even have a book, but those who do.

Anybody else wanna do a Nobel women challenge for next year?

BookishFeminist I'd do it. I read Shirin Ebadi's memoir earlier this year and was in awe of her work 8y
BookishFeminist Also Aung San Suu Kyi's book is really good. 8y
heatherspoetlife @BookishFeminist I haven't read either of those. I read this one and I Am Malala and Toni Morrison's Beloved. Though the last one isn't a memoir, she was awarded for her literature, so I count it. I started a list on Goodreads: Reading Women Nobel Laureates. Not all the books are on it yet. 8y
heatherspoetlife @BookishFeminist Those two books are definitely on the list. 8y
BookishFeminist @StoredFeminism I've read those two as well! They're great. If you want to connect on goodreads I'm at goodreads.com/thebookfeminist 😊 So many amazing books!! Herta Muller and Svetlana Alexievich are also AMAZING. Alexievich writes some of the best stuff I've ever read. 8y
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Dvmheather
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Dvmheather
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Human interest vs the "real news"

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Dvmheather
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My library keeps annoying me with their classifications. Mighty Be Our Powers is the story of an African woman but it has an African-American sticker just because the author is black. Everfair is written by an African-American woman but no sticker because it is SF so isn't shelved with the real fiction.

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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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My belated #WWW #Recommendsday pick!I first saw Leymah Gbowee interviewed on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart & eventually read her book. It is the story about her personal struggle and her efforts in organizing a woman's action group protesting for peace during Liberia's long civil war. Definitely eye opening and worth the read. I still hear about their 'sex strike' mentioned by pundits & commentators and smile to myself having read the book.😉

brendanmleonard Wow, sounds great - you have so many cool reccs! 8y
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