In these many-layered and masterfully written portraits, Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot reaches deep into human experiencefrom the drama of birth to the solemn vigil before deathto find the essence of respect. In her moving vision, relayed through powerfully told stories, respect is not the passive deference offered a superior but an active force that creates symmetry even in unequal relationships. The reader becomes an eyewitness to the remarkable empowering nature of respect, both given and receivedbe it between doctor and patient, teacher and student, photographer and subject, and midwife and laboring mother. They will feel it in the reverent attention paid by a minister to the last moments of life, and in the Harvard Law School professors lively curiosity about his students extracurricular lives. Through the power of her narrative, Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot ultimately makes the reader an intimate partner in her observations of respect linking these varied and intense relationships. A book to be savored and shared, Respect has the power to transform lives.

Reviews

In this provocative study, Harvard professor of education Lawrence-Lightfoot probes the common perception that our social fabric is deteriorating from the absence of respect in intimate relationships, the workplace and public life. She also details how, in her view, proper respect can create "symmetry, empathy and connection," even in socially unequal relationships. The book's chapters are structured around the personal stories of six professionals (five based in Boston) whom Lawrence-Lightfoot interviewed and observed and whose approaches to their work reveal "one crucial dimension of the term." A pediatrician's work in an inner- city clinic illustrates that "respect is a verb"; the doctor's rootedness in her family history allows her to take on the role of a "patient advocate" who worries about her pediatric residents' "preoccupation with technique and technology, with symptoms rather than the children they will care for." The combination of gritty pragmatism and spiritual commitment she exemplifies recurs throughout the book: a teacher in a wealthy Boston suburb shows how both teaching and respect are "loaded with risk"; a renowned photographic artist avoids a "predatory" role by being "vulnerable and conspicuous" in his relationships with subjects on whose consent he depends. Lawrence-Lightfoot's style is breezy and confessional as she blends her own experiences with those of her subjects while providing a deft sociological brief on how respect (institutional as well as interpersonal) has been defined during the last three or four American generations. As in her previous works, (I've Known Rivers, etc.) Lawrence-Lightfoot also obliquely addresses color-consciousness in African-American hierarchy and the persistent class divide in black and white America. Ad/promo; author tour. (Apr.)

Lack of respect is cited as both a cause and a symptom of todays major social problems. For Lawrence-Lightfoot (education, Harvard Univ.), respect creates symmetry, empathy, and connection in all kinds of relationships. In this inspiring work, she continues the thesis developed in Ive Known Rivers (LJ 9/1/94), presenting the stories of six professionals who nurture and model respect in their relationships with students and clients. They include a midwife, a pediatrician, a high school teacher, an artist-photographer, a Harvard law professor, and an Episcopal clergyman who counsels terminally ill patients. Each embodies one of six aspects of respect: empowerment, healing, dialog, curiosity, self-respect, and attention. Lawrence-Lightfoot observes her subjects in action, delves into their backgrounds, and quizzes them about their childhood experiences. She occasionally digresses to give further illustrations from her own experience or from the work of others. An annotated bibliography is included. Recommended for public libraries.Lucille M. Boone, San Jose P.L., CA