Stella Carpenter, daughter of The Salvation Army’s fifth
general, George Carpenter, begins this biography of her parents with the story
of her discovery of a large, green, wooden box containing the “correspondence, private
letters, manuscripts, articles, drafts, reports, lectures, sermons, etc.” of
her parents, “the records of a lifetime” (Carpenter vi). When she shared the
discovery with her brother, he said to her, after a pause, “You know what this
means? You will have to write a
biography” (Carpenter vi).
Unfortunately, her biography of her parents is as
unorganized as a shoebox full of old photos. She draws one out and looks at it
for a while, reminiscing about where and when it was taken, who was there, and
the lovely things they said. Then she draws out another, and another. It is a
loving reminiscence, but hardly a biography, and certainly not a critical
evaluation.
The title is very wrong, too, for two reasons. 1) Its about
both George and Minnie Carpenter, not just him, the “Man of Peace…” and 2) his
pacifism is scarcely mentioned. There is no examination of how he applied those
principals to the administration of The Salvation Army during the years of
World War II. Which was disappointing to me, since that was expressly what I
was looking for.
If you want a warm and soft focus, sentimental account of the lives of General George Carpenter, and Minnie Carpenter, (and you don’t mind enduring some bad writing) this book is a fine choice. It is full of saccharine anecdotes to warm your heart and bless your soul. But if you want a critical examination of his life and principles, and the consequences of his work, you’ll have to look somewhere else.
(and-don't be confused... there's a biography of Kofi Annan with the same title...)
Carpenter, Stella.
A Man of Peace in a World at War. Australia. Privately published.
1993.
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