Carol Off

I’ve just finished reading At a Loss for Words: Conversations in an Age of Rage by Carol Off. I have a much better understanding now of what far-right parties around the world hope to achieve, and it runs counter to everything I was brought up to believe in by a father who was, I expect, the first in his family to obtain a university degree and a mother who lived her Christian beliefs by helping other people. Carol Off says, “The Canadian system of redistributed wealth for the common show more good made sense to my father, based on his life experience, and it makes sense to me … What I hope for is that we find ways to renew our commitment to being citizens who contribute, and not serfs who labour and customers who bargain. It’s about reconstructing a government that takes care of its people (even those who fail to vote for it) and a political system that’s transparent … Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. said it best: taxes are the price we pay for civilization. My father was on his team and so am I.”

“We can still avert disaster. We have the ability to listen, to attempt to understand, to vote, to accept people who are not exactly like us into our societies and our circles to care for each other again. But we need to talk to each other, to be able to disagree with people’s opinions without hating them for expressing them.” show less

A very thorough look at the former Yugoslavia and the nasty conflict that took place there. Clears up what can be murky waters for most people, when thinking about this region. Also brings to light a battle and Canada's contribution, also little heard of, and the government's neglect of the soldiers that fought there.

Thank you to the publisher and Goodreads for a free copy of All We Leave Behind!

I went into this book with a great deal of respect for Carol Off as a journalist -- I think she's fantastic on As It Happens -- but this book left me with an even greater sense of respect.

All We Leave Behind does a number of things as a book. Firstly, it provides detailed, but never confusing or bogged down, political background for the conflict in Afghanistan. It paints a portrait of one family in particular. It show more shows how challenging and sometimes overwhelming it can be to work as a journalist in a warzone. It illustrates how challenging, bureaucratic, and frustrating it can be to navigate the immigration and refugee systems in Canada.

And finally (most compellingly, in my opinion), it examines what it means to be a journalist and if it's possible or right to remain an un-interfering third party.

Compelling, timely, informative, and well-written, this is a book that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys Carol Off's journalism or is interested in Canada's refugee process. show less

This was a book a long time coming. I had a friend who fought in Medak Pocket, and when he would tell people about what he did they would laugh at him and call him a liar... He wasn't and Canadians should be ashamed of the way those soldiers who returned were treated. They pulled off an nearly impossible task by risking their own lives enforce peace... the first time the UN had turned to open combat to do so. This was an excellent book that needed to be written for the soldiers who had to show more witness mass graves and risk their lives to prevent and document the ongoing genocide. Many are suffering today, but doing so in silence since their heroism has gone unrecognized by even their fellow soldiers for so long. show less