Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair says he does not regret his decision to take Britain to war in Iraq, but did not foresee the nightmare that had unfolded there. The revelations come in Mr. Blair's newly published memoirs.
In the 718-page book, entitled A Journey: My Political Life, the former British prime minister says he wanted the book to be different from the traditional political memoir.
"I set out to write a book that would give the reader an insight into the human, as well as the political dimensions of life as a prime minister," said Blair.
Tony Blair took three years to write the book that charts his decade in power. <!--IMAGE-->
"So it is a frank account of my life in politics which illuminates what it is like to be a leader, both for the U.K. and also of course on the international stage," he explained. "It charts the difficult decisions, the highs and the lows."
The highs include the landslide victory that brought him to power in 1997, and presiding over the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland. Mr. Blair also wrote of the outrage that led him to send troops to Kosovo, and the regret that British lives had been lost in Iraq. But he did not apologize for taking the country to war. Major General Tim Cross was Britain's top representative to Iraq during the 2003 invasion.
"I think he is pretty heartfelt in his comments that he does not regret what he went through," said Cross. "He clearly has been affected by it, I do not think there is any doubt about that, but I think ultimately he believes what he did was right."
Mr. Blair is donating all the proceeds of the book, including the reported multi-million-dollar advance, to a British charity that supports wounded soldiers. Cross believes the former prime minister is conflicted about the Iraq War.
"I think he is genuinely struggling with the outcome of Iraq, but genuinely, ultimately believes it was the right thing to do, but recognizes an awful lot of people have been hurt in the process and this is part of a way of repaying some of that," he added.
Anti-war campaigners picketed one of the London stores selling the book and plan to demonstrate next week when Mr. Blair holds a book signing. His memoirs are expected to be a worldwide bestseller, but the former prime minister's decade in power remains controversial in Britain.
This week marks the 90th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave women the right to vote.
One of the unsung heroes of the suffrage movement was Jane Addams.
Throughout her life, Addams struggled not only for women's rights, but also for labor and civil rights; free speech and world peace.
In a new biography, "Jane Addams: Spirit in Action," historian Louise W. Knight provides the first complete picture we've had of this activist, philosopher and social reformer. <!--IMAGE-->
Women's vote
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, voting was a remote dream for women in America.
Along with thousands of other progressive women, Jane Addams worked hard to turn the dream into reality.
"She first got involved in the suffrage movement in 1897, when she gave a speech for women suffrage," says Louise Knight, historian and author of "Jane Addams: Spirit in Action". "Addams attended her first meeting at the National American Women's Suffrage Association in 1906. And from then on, she became quite active."
Addams served as vice president of the association between 1911 and 1914. She traveled the country, lecturing and writing about suffrage. When the 19th amendment passed in 1920 giving women the right to vote, Addams became a member of the League of Women Voters, to help women become informed about the candidates and the issues on the ballot.
Fighting for civil liberties
Addams' fight for women's voting rights, Knight says, was part of a larger campaign she waged for civil liberties.
In her book, Knight follows Addams' struggles as a grassroots organizer. Her achievements include co-founding Hull House, the nation's first settlement house which offered educational and social opportunities for immigrants. <!--IMAGE-->
She co-founded the first national women's labor union and two major civil rights groups. She also lobbied for an eight-hour workday and an end to child labor.
What fascinates biographer Knight, is how Addams - who was born to a wealthy family - was able to connect with the working class and to fight so passionately for their rights.
"She really believed you have to really know people to understand how they look at the world and that's the only way you can be a true democratic citizen, a kind of radical idea," Knight explains. "And she did it by living in a working class neighborhood full of diversity, of cultures and languages and backgrounds and work experiences, for most of her adult life, forming friendships and partnerships with people from a completely different class than the one she was raised in."
Pragmatic reformer
That was one of the experiences that transformed Addams from a dreamy idealist into one of the nation's most effective and pragmatic reformers.
"It wasn't something she ever doubted that she was superior, even though she wanted to treat people socially equally, she felt morally superior" she says. "What she discovered by knowing people and living among them was that was not true, that just being highly educated or highly cultured, as her society put it, was not enough, in fact it was inadequate, that what real culture was she saw among her neighbors who were immigrants, who had lived in one world and now moved to another world. She saw broader tolerance among the working people, a generosity of spirit she didn't see among her own class. And that's what changed her view of the world."
Addams was a committed pacifist, and an outspoken opponent of war as an affront to the sanctity of of life. Knight says Addams worked with other women to bring an end to World War I. <!--IMAGE-->
"Women from both sides of the war met in Hague in 1915 while the war was underway, showing courage, and they were saying to themselves there must be something we can try to do to stop the war," she says. "They did try, of course, they did not succeed."
But after the war, women met again. They renamed the organization the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. The international group is still based in Geneva and has offices around the world.
Addams' commitment to the needs of others and her international efforts for peace were recognized in 1931 when she became the first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
If she were alive today, Knight says, Addams would urge women around the world to come together and organize themselves as a force for peace.
"Addams did not define peace as the absence of war, she defined it as, 'the unfolding of worldwide processes making for the nurture of human life,'" knight says. "What she really meant by that was that it was a mistake to see some people as inferior based on their gender, based on their ethnicity or their race or their class. So she thought you can advance peace through addressing those issues as well as addressing the issues of war."
In her debut novel, "Try to Remember," poet Iris Gomez explores the challenges young Latinas struggle with to stay loyal to their families, while becoming independent women in modern American society.
In crafting her story, Gomez drew on her own experiences growing up in Miami, Florida, and on her career as an immigration attorney. <!--IMAGE-->
"Try to Remember" is a bi-cultural coming of age story.
"Gabriella or Gabi is a teenager growing in Miami," says Gomez. "Her family feels that they have found the American Dream. They bought a house. They're working people. They're legal immigrants. They have the green cards. They are low-income people, but they feel like they've made it."
Caught between two worlds
Like Gabi, Gomez immigrated to Miami from Colombia as a child. She understands the contradiction many young immigrants have to contend with as they try balancing their family's traditional expectations for them with what they want for themselves.
"She's expected to stay home, not to go away to college or do anything that would betray the family's idea of what it is to be a good daughter," she explains. "But she does have aspirations and dreams that would take her outside of that world."
"Try to Remember" is set in Miami in the late 1960's, an era shaped by political and social changes, including new roles for women. But, Gomez says, many young Latina women are still not able to take advantage of those opportunities. <!--IMAGE-->
"As I've been going around the country talking about the book, I've been meeting young women who have approached me, other immigrant girls, who say, 'You know, we're still struggling with those same issues today," says Gomez. "We don't want to be rebels and betray our families, but we do want to leave home and do interesting and challenging things that maybe our families don't understand because they are still stuck in the old world a little bit.'"
Stigma of mental illness
In the novel, Gabi faces another dilemma.
Her father loses his job and starts to lose his mind. Her overwhelmed mother pretends everything is normal, and the family refuses to face the problem.
Gomez explains that many Latino immigrant families see mental illness as a moral failure, a problem to be hidden.
"There are reports from the surgeon general that only one in 11 Latinos with a mental illness seek a specialist," she says. "So it's still a big problem in the society. In my book, they are afraid of the father losing his green card. So they try to protect him by keeping him busy at home. So they're hiding themselves also from the authorities and agencies that might actually help them."
Hopeful future
But Gomez ends "Try to Remember" on a positive note, as Gabi gains self-confidence, educates herself and finds the strength to become an independent young woman.
Gomez says that reflects her optimism about the future of the young immigrants who believe in the American dream.
"I'm coming in contact now with a lot of young immigrants and I find a lot of hope in their desire to continue to advocate for improvements and to not hide their issues or their concerns, but to participate in the society in a democratic way, whatever their legal status," she says. "I think that's a wonderful thing and it crosses all cultures. It shows me that there is something of the American dream that's still alive in these young people."
Iris Gomez says her goal as a poet - and now a novelist - is to help people overcome their fears and dream of a better future.
She says that's also what she has been working for more than 25 years to achieve, as an immigration advocate and attorney.