- New Book
A Spectacular Inheritance
What I Kept and What I Left Behind
A Spectacular Inheritance is an insightful account of one woman’s experience coming of age in the world of Moral Re-Armament (previously known as the Oxford Group), the evangelical conflict resolution organization that spawned both Alcoholics Anonymous and Up With People. Margaret Eastman Smith grew up entirely in the movement, worked for it until she was thirty-five, and later became a college professor of international peacemaking. Amid the vivid memories of the unusual life she shared with the community and her evolving view of it, she winds her own story of finding herself and values that she could rely on, even as she steps away.
“A compelling read, particularly for anyone who’s grown up in and then left a religious movement.”
Kirkus Reviews
“…weaves together a deeply personal and honest account of her long coming of age, informed by her writer’s gifts and deep psychological sensitivity, and an insider’s understanding of a remarkable global movement that continues to this day as Initiatives of Change.”
Katherine Marshall, Executive Director, World Faiths Development Dialogue
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margaret Eastman Smith
Margaret Eastman Smith has trained as an historian, political scientist and psychotherapist. She earned her doctorate in International Relations at The Fletcher School at Tufts University and taught at the School of International Service, American University, Washington, DC, for eighteen years.
She is the author of Reckoning with the Past: Teaching History in Northern Ireland (Lexington Books, 2005) and a number of book chapters and talks that explore the way memory and history inform politics, human relations, and our sense of self.
Her memoir, A Spectacular Inheritance: What I Kept and What I Left Behind, is an account of her upbringing within the global faith-based NGO Moral Re-Armament, formerly the Oxford Group, now Initiatives of Change. The book allows her to reflect on the capacity of grass roots efforts to make a difference, on the benefits and hazards of operating within a faith-based group, and on the themes of identity, forgiveness, and the meaning of love.
Areas of Interest
Responding to our radically changing times
Finding perspective and balance while we speak for the things we deeply believe
Understanding deeply divided societies
The dynamics of conflicted places: the way we become identified with narratives that negate the other
Reaching Across Barriers
How do we address strongly held positions and the divisions they foster?
Reclaiming our own story
What happens when the life you've built, inherited, or been assigned no longer fits? Extracting ourselves from narratives others write for us and finding the language and courage to define our own identity.
Memoir writing as a path to grieving and healing
Discovering the power of memoir to understand the past and step into a more authentic future.
Personal Growth and Social Change
Connecting the dots between our private lives and larger social concerns. What role do personal psychology, our capacity for constructive conversations, courage and risk taking, and our spirituality play in civic transformation?
In the Midst – Essays Responding To Our Times
Margaret Eastman Smith’s columns also appear on the website of We Are One Humanity, www.weareonehumanity.org
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