Small Acts of Courage

"More than a century ago, MSNBC host Ali Velshi's great-grandfather sent his seven-year-old son to live at Tolstoy Farm, Gandhi's ashram in South Africa. This difficult decision would change the trajectory of his family history forever. From childhood, Velshi's grandfather was imbued with an ethos of public service and social justice, and a belief in absolute equality among all people--ideals that his children carried forward as they escaped apartheid, emigrating to Kenya and ultimately Canada and the United States. In [this book], Velshi taps into 125 years of family history to advocate for social justice as a living, breathing experience--a way of life more than an ideology. ... He relates the stories of regular people who made a lasting commitment to fight for change, even when success seemed impossible. This ... exploration of how we can breathe new life into the principles of pluralistic democracy is an urgent call to action; for progress to be possible, we must all do whatever we can to make a difference"--