Respect: An Exploration

243 pp. "A stunningly original treasure of a book that reveals the single most powerful ingredient in any relationship, whether personal, professional, or in public life. In these many-layered and masterfully written portraits, Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot reaches deep into human experience-from the drama of birth to the solemn vigil before death-to 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 received- be it between doctor and patient, teacher and student, photographer and subject, or midwife and laboring mother. One feels it in the reverent attention paid by a minister to the last moments of life, and in the Harvard Law School professor's lively curiosity about his student's 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."