Publishers Weekly - Audio
05/26/2014
Carter addresses the many cultural and institutional issues that put women at a disadvantage in the U.S. and abroad. He calls upon religious leaders, world leaders, and activists to fight for women's rights and guarantee parity in all aspects of life. Unfortunately, Carter is an ineffective narrator. He does not project the energy needed to engage listeners. Carter's narration lacks clarity, and his pronunciation is at times hard to decipher. His performance ultimately undermines the powerful message of his book. A Simon & Schuster hardcover. (Apr.)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
A Call to Action reinforces [Carter’s] dedication to wiping out injustice—and his ability to move others to join his cause.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A tour de force of the global abuse and manipulation of women, including statistics that will stun most readers with details that cannot be ignored…The scope of the material is astounding…Mr. Carter's A Call to Action should not only be required reading in America, but should also serve as the template for a complete reinterpretation of the religious views behind our treatment of each other, to discover what he claims is the true meaning behind the miracle of creation.
The Daily Beast
A Call to Action enhances [Carter’s] role as elder statesman and human rights warrior by focusing entirely on the enslavement, degradation, and torture that women endure around the world. . . . an important book that should serve as a reference guide and instructional manual for dealing with the atrocities against women.
Huffington Post
When reading A Call to Action, I got the sense that this is a man who has spent nine decades advocating for women and will continue to do so until his last breath. He is a man on a mission, listing 23 challenges he and The Carter Center are determined to work on for the betterment of women. He demonstrates how he used his influence throughout his lifetime to push women’s rights forward . . . Carter’s book overwhelms as well as inspires.
Progressive.org
A Call to Action ends with a list of recommendations to ameliorate the condition of women and girls worldwide, such as having more women in higher public office and involving religious scholars to give a more forward-looking interpretation to their faiths. It is this commitment to a progressive religious outlook that makes Carter almost a lone voice in U.S. politics.
Morning Call (PA)
[Carter] wrote his book with deep knowledge, insight and compassion…Indeed, it is time to wake up.
Library Journal - Audio
★ 08/01/2014
Since founding the Carter Center in 1982 with his wife, Rosalyn, former U.S. president Carter has worked tirelessly to improve living conditions around the world. As a global peace worker, he witnesses the widespread mistreatment of women that is justified by religious texts and discriminatory laws. Despite already being the author of 27 well-regarded works, Carter states in his introduction that he believes this is "by far the most important" book of his career. Each chapter is devoted to an issue or practice that threatens the world's women. The author's devout Baptist beliefs heavily influence his arguments, but he also makes an effort to analyze issues through the lens of all the major world religions. The former president closes his book with 23 pointed actions that he believes will alleviate discrimination against women. Unfortunately, he directs the bulk of his excellent suggestions at world leaders and policymakers, leaving compassionate but politically unconnected listeners without a plan of action apart from lobbying elected officials. VERDICT An exceptional consciousness-raising book about global sexual discrimination. Recommended for all collections. ["Women's studies scholars and readers interested in international human rights may find these accounts of discrimination and abuse disturbing but should be challenged to respond to Carter's call for action," read the review of the S. & S. hc, LJ 6/15/14.]—Julie Judkins, Univ. of North Texas, Denton
MAY 2014 - AudioFile
Former President Jimmy Carter's call to action concerns the struggles faced by women around the world. Carter's narration in his signature Georgia drawl is slightly indistinct, which can make it a bit difficult to understand at times, but hearing his ideas in his own voice gives an additional dimension and authority to the work. Carter touches on discriminatory practices that have subjugated women, violence and abuse directed at women, and how religious texts are used to legitimize practices that keep women on a level unequal to that of men. His timely call for equal rights and opportunity for women is sure to raise consciousness on this global issue. S.E.G. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2014-03-08
The former president and indefatigable humanitarian writes again, this time linking worldly woes that "fall disproportionately on women and girls." Women suffer all sorts of indignities in the world: rape in war, sexual slavery, lower pay for equal or greater work than men, and endless other forms of abuse and discrimination. Carter's (NIV Lessons from Life Bible: Personal Reflections with Jimmy Carter, 2012, etc.) philanthropic institution/think tank, the Carter Center, now considers "the deprivation and abuse of women and girls" to be a greater overarching problem than economic disparity, though there are linkages. Further, writes the author, the problem is not merely restricted to the developing world. China, for instance, has made huge strides and is by some indexes more egalitarian in these matters than the United States, though, Carter adds judiciously, there remains the pesky problem of infanticide and abortion to cull females in favor of male offspring. The gender-related problems the author identifies are so broad and pervasive that they sometimes seem to have little in common other than that they adversely affect women. Carter's long list of solutions is common-sensical, if sure to tick off the patriarchy: Encourage activism that works toward equality, prosecute customers and not prostitutes, and so forth. Too often, the book seems a mashup of distantly related white papers, and it does not help that Carter binds them with folksy memoir-izing ("I was always reluctant to let other young men know that I was a virgin, feeling that it was somehow a reflection on my manhood. I have come to realize that societal standards—at least in the Western world—are much different from what I knew as a youth, but there is still a sharp difference between those that apply to boys and those that apply to girls." The overall effect is one of well-meaning but fuzzy prescription, less rigorous than this difficult subject requires.
