Mother Teresa: Beyond the Image - Tapa blanda

An updated edition of the definitive biography of the late Nobel Peace Prize winner, featuring a new final chapter, offers a stringently objective account of her life, humanitarian work, political associations, and views on abortion and other issues. Reprint.

a of Calcutta--few figures in the twentieth century have received such adulation. This diminutive Albanian nun was frequently cited as the living embodiment of Christian kindness, received the Nobel Peace Prize, and was hailed as a living saint. Yet the respect she received was not unanimous, and toward the end of her life serious, measured criticisms were directed at this modern icon, who had once seemed beyond reproach. In her fascinating work, Anne Sebba looks carefully at all these views, giving the only objective account of Mother Teresa's life and work.

The first half of the book follows the life of young Agnes Bojaxhiu, from her childhood in Serbian-dominated Skopje, to her decision to join the religious life, to her arrival in India during the British Raj. In the second half, Anne Sebba examines the many difficult issues surrounding Mother Teresa's work: her attitudes toward abortion and rape, her association with dictators such as the Duvaliers in Haiti, her medical practices, an