Another Recommended Book: If Not Me, Then Who? By E. Cabell Brand
If Not Me, Then Who? By E. Cabell Brand (iUniverse, 2008)
This is not the book you’d expect from a very successful white businessman of the 1950s, a World War II veteran and a resident of ultraconservative southwestern Virginia. But that’s because Cabell Brand hasn’t led the typical life of his demographic.
Instead, he has spent his life working for social, economic, racial, and environmental justice–leaving in his wake an impressive trail of government, university, and private programs that have made a real difference in people’s lives. Brand combined his business skills and military-developed can-do attitude to work in local nonprofits, founding the first federally funded anti-poverty/Head Start agency in his area, piloting the SCHIP program recently readopted by the federal government after languishing under the previous administration, working to provide job opportunities for ex-prisoners…breaking down racial barriers at Virginia Military Institute…working tirelessly for peace and prosperity around the world…and even advising presidents and governors (Jimmy Carter and two Virginia governors are among the numerous endorsers).
It’s been a long and remarkable life, and this brief and well-written memoir is a testament to the difference a single person can make in the world through an unending series of small, mostly local actions that add up to real impact on the lives of real people.
Has he accomplished everything he wanted to? Of course not! His future goals include single-payer health care in the US, peace in the Middle East, a Green-energy economy (though he and I differ on how to achieve that) and a clean environment. But the legacy of people he brought out of poverty or helped to overcome injustice, programs he helped start that have been models around the country, and the simple knowledge that the world is a better place because he lives in it.
At 85, he hasn’t slowed down. He ends the book with a clarion call for “the imperative of local involvement” to solve global problems. “Each of us has an opportunity to be involved in a variety of local organizations and activities that promote…environmental activism…human rights…poverty…bring fresh water to those in need…opportunities to engage national and global challenges, with the ultimate goal of trying to give everyone in the world a better life as we protect the planet itself. In the end, we are in this together.”
You’re not likely to find this book in stores. Click here to order your choice of hardback, paperback, or e-book (this is not an affiliate link.
