Ray Suarez

Join Mary's proclamation this Advent as you let your soul sing the Magnificat with her. Six weeks of daily Advent and Christmas meditations guide you through topics found in Mary's story including Watching and Waiting, Preparing the Way, Proclaiming the Good News, Be Not Afraid, Being and Belonging, and God is With Us. Walk with Mary as you prepare your heart and mind and perhaps ready yourself to respond to Jesus with the same humble, gracious yes, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."… (mer)

An even-handed, but slightly dated look at how religion and politics intersect. Suarez covers a variety of hot-button issues and relies on lengthy quotes and interviews, instead of pithy sound bites. He's also not afraid to inject his own opinion. Published in 2006, the book reflects Bush-era politics, which gives it a dated feel. Also, there are times when there's simply too much information to fully take in.

See my complete review at rel="nofollow" target="_top">Shelf Love.… (mer)

Suarez was a correspondent for NPR at the time and is now with PBS so he has a good background in the subject. The subject is a difficult one, and not easily tackled but Suarez does his best. The book is uneven in content and relies heavily on qualitative research methods. I would have liked to see more statistics that would back up what his case studies seem to say. I believe that would have made this book into a powerful tool. Even so this book has lots of meat in it for educators and the public and many of the issues raised need to be discussed more openly and honestly. Over all Suarez is not hopeful that the large cities in this country will ever be viable even if they have good leadership and do all the right things. One issue he does not back away from is the race issue and in confronting it head on he forces the reader to face certain unpleasant truths. The chapters on race and the place of the church in the neighborhood life of a city were very well done. I hope that this author will write more books as I feel with more experience his writing will get better.… (mer)