Audiobook11 hours
Unbowed: A Memoir
Written by Wangari Maathai
Narrated by Chinasa Ogbuagu
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, Wangari Maathai has been fighting for environmental responsibility and democracy in her native Kenya for over 35 years. Unbowed recounts the incredible journey that culminated in her appointment to Parliament in 2002. Despite repeated jailings, beatings, and other obstacles along the way, Maathai created the Green Belt Movement and never relented in her goal to bring democracy to Kenya.
Author
Wangari Maathai
WANGARI MAATHAI (1940-2011) was recognized internationally for her environmental and social activism and was the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize. She was also the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree, and in 2002 she was elected to the parliament of Kenya as Assistant Minister for Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife.
Related to Unbowed
Related audiobooks
Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years With a Midwife in Mali Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The People of Ostrich Mountain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twelve Years a Slave Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Price of Stones: Building a School for My Village Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Challenge For Africa Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One Day I Will Write About This Place Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dragons, the Giant, the Women: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Travelling While Black: Essays Inspired by a Life on the Move Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Woman of Firsts: The midwife who built a hospital and changed the world Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I Am a Girl from Africa Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gratitude in Low Voices: A Memoir Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDance of the Jakaranda Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Madame President Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In Dependence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Of This Our Country: Acclaimed Nigerian writers on the home, identity and culture they know Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beneath the Tamarind Tree: A Story of Courage, Family, and the Lost Schoolgirls of Boko Haram Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Radiance of Tomorrow: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House of Rust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Here We Are: American Dreams, American Nightmares (A Memoir) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa's First Woman President Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Nigerian: A Guide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black Tax: Burden ... or Ubuntu? Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Born on a Tuesday Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Madonna of Excelsior Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Democracy and Delusion: 10 Myths in South African Politics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow Dare the Sun Rise: Memoirs of a War Child Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5GraceLand Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Africa Is Not a Country: Notes on a Bright Continent Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Personal Memoirs For You
Own It All: How to Stop Waiting for Change and Start Creating It. Because Your Life Belongs to You. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Night: New translation by Marion Wiesel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Woman in Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Stay Married Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pageboy: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Making It So: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Finding Me: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Stolen Life: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yes Please Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love, Pamela: A Memoir of Prose, Poetry, and Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Counting the Cost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not My Father's Son: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: My Year of Psychedelics: Lessons on Better Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5While Time Remains: A North Korean Girl's Search for Freedom in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Glass Castle: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Summer of Fall: Gravity is a bitch, but I'm still standing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love, Lucy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for Unbowed
Rating: 3.9454546254545453 out of 5 stars
4/5
110 ratings8 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Enlightening. Their struggles are what we are facing now in my country.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I really loved this book. She is such a strong and inspiring person.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Amazing book, amazing woman, she teaches so much about persistence and what it really means to be a human being, loving and supporting towards your neighbor. Inspirational!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fascinating memoir. It's amazing how threatening tree planting is deemed by the powerful.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5"Democracy does not solve problems. It does not automatically combat poverty or stop deforestation. However, without it, the ability for people to solve problems or become less poor or respect their environment is, I believe, impossible."This book is Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai's autobiography, covering her life from childhood threw her receipt of the Nobel Prize. The book traces Maathai's career in the Green Belt Movement and, more broadly, in activism work in Kenya. It was definitely really interesting to read about the author's work in Kenya; I knew about broad strokes of the Green Belt Movement but definitely wasn't entirely familiar with her work. I will say that my favorite portion of the book was definitely the beginning portion, about Maathai's childhood, adolescence, and education, as that definitely felt the most personal. Later, while a lot of important topics and moments are addressed, the writing was a little more distant.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5There is a lot of interesting history in this book, but I found the writing "clunky." I don't think it's reasonable to put this down to "it's not her native language" when the author is highly educated and had the means and opportunity to have this edited for style. That said, I also found the early parts of the memoir cliche and trite. Maathai promotes the "pre-colonial Eden" view of Africa that is neither true, nor particularly interesting to me. However, this is, after all, a memoir, and it might be unfair of me to judge Maathai's view of events. It's her story, after all. But I really got tired of being talked down to and having events and social currents oversimplified to the point of inanity. If you don't know much about Kenya, or East Africa, or the Greenbelt Movement, you'll probably really like this book, if you don't mind poor sentences and vague word choice. However, don't take this as the last word. Remember this is one person's interpretation of events and hero worship is seldom an accurate way to view history.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Wangari Maathai is a Kenyan activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. She founded the Green Belt Movement, planting trees across Kenya to stop the soil erosion resulting from deforestation during the colonial years. She was vocal on both women's and environmental issues, challenging the government and organizing protests.While her life has been interesting and her contributions significant, my attention flagged halfway through. The writing was uninspired, often with extraneous detail. There was little insight to her personal life and emotions, so she came across as single-minded. About two thirds of the way through this book, I set it aside to read something else. When I picked it up again I still couldn't get into it, and skimmed the last 100 pages.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The most refreshing aspect of this book is its author's humility and "ordinary extraordinariness": though Dr. Maathai has been the recipient of numerous international awards and has for the past few decades been one of Africa's most prominent leaders, she tells her story in a humble tone that speaks of profound inner peace.Much like Archbishop Desmond Tutu's tale of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, No Future Without Forgiveness, Maathai's memoir allows us to understand that many of those who are recognized for success in making deep and lasting positive changes in the world have led lives as pedestrian as "our" own: like so many others Wangari Maathai has gone to school, gotten married, gotten divorced, been evicted, lost her job...her life is no different than that of millions of others; the difference lies in the ways she has chosen to react to adversity and opposition.The memoir deals primarily with the birth and growth of the Green Belt Movement, the organization she founded thirty years ago to encourage sustainable environmental policy, to promote reforestation and conservation. Cutting across this tale are the side-stories of Kenyan politics, particularly as they deal with environmental policy and human rights issues.While the focus of the memoir is on Africa, there are lessons to be learned in the United States as well. I found heartening her assessment of the American spirit. In describing her return to her native Kenya after six years of study in the United States, she spoke of this country hopefully: "There is a persistence, a seriousness, and a vision to America: It seems to know where it is going and it will go in that direction, whether you like it or not. In America, if you can find your place you can be treated very well, because its people are very generous. But you have to be tenacious, innovative, and strong. Besides, you have to keep moving, because the machine will grind on, whether you are on board or not" (pp. 95-96).