In his 12th book, Rabbi Harold Kushner offers a place of comfort and hope amid the deepening worries of life in this 21st century.

Through chapters organized around change, divorce and unemployment, natural disasters and terrorism/war, and infirmity and death, Kushner acknowledges our fear (“Something terrible is likely to happen”) but refutes our implied helplessness (“Something terrible is likely to happen and there is nothing you can do about it”). Thus, while he doesn’t diminish the reality that events will likely cause us pain, he does help us to discard the hobbling layer of suffering (our emotional response to pain): “Fear, accepted and embraced, is no longer fear but at most a realistic concern with some future event.” His own wisdom is supplemented with stories from his family, congregants and colleagues, plus examples from popular fiction, nonfiction and the Bible (I wish he had included a bibliography).

Conquering Fear offers comfort more so than a checklist, and a gathering peace and confidence more so than revelation. Its focus on faith, spirituality and personal strength -- and not specifically religion -- makes it widely accessible. ( )