Tracy Kidder

John Tracy Kidder is an American non-fiction writer who was born in 1945 in New York City, New York, he is popularly known for books such as: The Soul of a New Machine (1982), which won a Pulitzer prize and a National Book award; House (1985); Among Schoolchildren (1989), which was described by the New York Book Times Review as “full of the author’s genuine love, delight and celebration of the human condition.”; and Mountains Beyond Mountains (2003), which will be the main focus of this essay. Kidder graduated from Phillips Academy Preparatory School in 1963, Harvard University in 1967 with a BA in English, after an encounter in a creative writing course taught by Robert Fitzgerald persuaded him to leave his pursuit of majoring in political…

It must hurt a lot to be in a moment when we are left with nothing except our own strength. At that moment we are completely on our own like what exemplifies by Deo Gratias in "Strength in What Raemains". Reading through the pages of Deo's chronology of life, starting from his death escape in Burundi and his survival in New York, he had lose many significant things on his way, including his family, career and right to live. However, I strongly believe that Deo's two greatest assets which are…

In his book, Strength in What Remains, Tracy Kidder, tells readers the true story of Deogratias, a young African man who has escaped death during a genocide. Deo is a young African from Burundi, who fled from Africa to New York. In Africa, Deo is caught in an age old feud between the Tutsi and Hutu. The tension between the two have always been high, but the strained peace is broken with the assassination of the Hutu President. All hell breaks loose and both sides engage in genocide. Deo…

Poverty Damages Every Society Tracy Kidder helped paint the idealism of Dr. Paul Farmer by saying, “the idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that’s wrong with the world” (Kidder). Kidder explains Farmer’s message that every person is equal and no one is less than other, even if it means Farmer has to trek for hours to help his patients in the most rural parts of Haiti. Aiding the poor is not something we strive to do for own moral superiority nor is it the compassionate thing to…

What is a God? Is He a higher being someone made up to feel better when people did something bad? Or the “person” that is up in the sky waiting for us to join Him after we die? Or a real, loving, caring higher power whose always has your back? A Christian God is a God who holds all morals and who does not want to see His people hurting, but wanting them to succeed and have a great life. In The Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder, and my life there are instances in life where God’s presence…

power are the people that have more money and control over the people in poverty. Powerful people can be helpful, however: in some places the people with the power, medicala companies, can withhold valuable supplies for the people who need it the most. In Mountains Beyond Mountains the author, Tracy Kidder, shows how the power of the medical companies controls the lives of people in an area with little money, this happens because the people who need the most medical attention are the ones who…

don’t think too intensely about until it is too late. In reality, the Selfish Passenger probably did not think that his actions would not only just affect himself but the whole airport. This shows just one example of how we as a society treat those around us. As a society it may be perceived that others are put first but in a moment of desperation these thought seem to all change. The question at hand is where does the line get drawn between ethical decisions and how uncivil we as a society can…

skilled acting, the enthralling dialogue, and the relentlessly captivating plot. Inherit the Wind has been fascinating moviegoers since it was released in 1960. The movie is an adaptation based on the famous Scopes Monkey Trial. In this trial, a teacher from Dayton, Tennessee was indicted for teaching the theory of evolution to his class. The resultant trial and controversy brought in many famous political and social commentators of the time. Inherit the Wind features fictional characters based…

her mother to let her enroll in a Catholic school for all the wrong reasons. She never mentioned her feelings to anyone, and the one time she did it was with her school’s psychologist. This did not last long since she decided to proclaim her love and the psychologist immediately assumed it was for a boy. Both girls were asked why they had stopped being friends on different occasions, both of them refused to answer. As time went on, the two found themselves growing farther and farther apart,…

dad and I neared the arena, and rows of cars blocked the streets as thousands of Rockets fans crowded into the parking garage. My first Rockets game was nearing tipp-off, and I was bursting with excitement as my dad and I piled out of his gold colored Nissan Titan. Wearing my white Tracy McGrady jersey that went down to my knees and blue jeans, and having my Rockets banner in hand, we walked down multiple flights of stairs to the bottom of the concrete structure. I still couldn’t believe I had…