Peaceful Neighbor: Discovering the Countercultural Mister Rogers, by Michael Long
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Peaceful Neighbor: Discovering the Countercultural Mister Rogers, by Michael Long
Free PDF Ebook Peaceful Neighbor: Discovering the Countercultural Mister Rogers, by Michael Long
Fred Rogers was one of the most radical pacifists of contemporary history. We do not usually think of him as radical, partly because he wore colorful, soft sweaters made by his mother. Nor do we usually imagine him as a pacifist; that adjective seems way too political to describe the host of a children’s program known for its focus on feelings. We have restricted Fred Rogers to the realm of entertainment, children, and feelings, and we’ve ripped him out of his political and religious context. Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister, and although he rarely shared his religious convictions on his program, he fervently believed in a God who accepts us as we are and who desires a world marked by peace and wholeness. With this progressive spirituality as his inspiration, Rogers used his children’s program as a platform for sharing countercultural beliefs about caring nonviolently for one another, animals, and the earth.
To critics who dared call him “namby-pamby,” Rogers said, “Only people who take the time to see our work can begin to understand the depth of it.” This is the invitation of Peaceful Neighbor, to see and understand Rogers’s convictions and their expression through his program. Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, it turns out, is far from sappy, sentimental, and shallow; it’s a sharp political response to a civil and political society poised to kill.
Peaceful Neighbor: Discovering the Countercultural Mister Rogers, by Michael Long- Amazon Sales Rank: #130197 in Books
- Published on: 2015-03-13
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.00" h x .50" w x 6.00" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 176 pages
Review “The urban legend says that Mr. Rogers was a hero because he was a ninja-like Army Ranger. Michael Long, more rightly, demonstrates that Fred Rogers is a hero because he was a seemingly ordinary man with convictions of peace who sought to use his television program to help children experience the love of God. Parents and church leaders will be inspired by Rogers’ wisdom to carry his true legacy to the next generation.”―Steve Johnson, Family Ministry Consultant with the National Center on Biblical Parenting“Long shows how, in addition to helping children cope with personal concerns about sibling rivalry, sharing, and fears, Fred Rogers led them gently through moral/ethical explorations of the some of the most complex societal concerns of the late 20th century, like the harms of war and the necessity of peace, as well as hunger, greed, and the environmental costs of consumption.” ―Susan Linn, Ed.D., Director of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and author of The Case for Make Believe: Saving Play in a Commercialized World“We know Mr. Rogers was a gentle soul, but we did not know, until Michael Long’s Peaceful Neighbor, that Rogers’ nonviolence was shaped by his profound theological convictions. In this insightful book, Long makes clear that peace is a challenge to the imagination, and helps us imagine peace through his eloquent portrayal of Fred Rogers.” ―Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor Emeritus of Divinity and Law, Duke Divinity School
About the Author
Michael G. Long is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Peace and Conflict Studies at Elizabethtown College. He is also the author or editor of several books on civil rights, religion and politics, and peacemaking in mid-century America, including Beyond Home Plate: Jackie Robinson on Life after Baseball; First Class Citizenship: The Civil Rights Letters of Jackie Robinson ; Gay Is Good: The Life and Letters of Gay Rights Pioneer Franklin Kameny; I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin’s Life in Letters; Marshalling Justice: The Early Civil Rights Letters of Thurgood Marshall; and Martin Luther King, Jr. on Creative Living.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful. Finding the "Fred" behind "Mister Rogers" - revealing, well researched, and respectful By Junlei Li Do you want to know Fred the REAL person, or are you content with the "domesticated" image of Mister Rogers? The author set out to do the former. Unlike three previous attempts at writing or documenting Fred (Tim Madigan, Amy Hollingsworth, and Ben Wagner), this book does not rely on exclusive personal relationship with Fred Rogers, but on materials that are accessible to anyone (if they come and visit the Fred Rogers Archive, located at the Fred Rogers Center, Saint Vincent College.) I am the co-Director of the Center, and as a personal reader, I find this book VERY informative - though I had never met or spoken to the author during his research visit here.What I appreciated the most in this book is that the author put key episodes of Fred's television show in its historical context - whether it is the Vietnam War, the race riots, Cold War, or Gulf War. Then, he uses Fred's speeches, letters, and other original source materials to piece together his understanding of Fred's thinking behind the more subtle television expressions. Reading this book, I realized that putting his work in the context of historical events adds a richer understanding of Fred's legacy, making it even more relevant to the present and the future.Now, some of the criticism people may have for this book is its political perspective (liberal, clearly), compared with the apolitical books about Fred from Tim Madigan, Amy Hollingsworth, and the documentary by Ben Wagner. I was initially uncomfortable with the political labels assigned to Fred's work (e.g., "pacifist", "progressive", "radical", "feminist"), though I do not disagree with the interpretation. However, what makes this book unique from the other three I mentioned is that this book is mostly about Fred, not about the author himself or his connection to Fred. The author made very good use (and made meticulous notes to cite original source, down to the box number from which he retrieved the item from the Fred Rogers Archive) of Fred's original words. I appreciate the rigor of research. Guided by the author, anyone can find the same sources based on footnotes and read Fred's words by themselves - and they can create their own meaning.And, having read much of Fred's hand-written notes, I do very much agree with the author that Fred had an "edgy" side. Fred was no "wimp"! There are deep convictions and steely resolve behind the gentle voice and presence. The author makes a very, very strong case about Fred's objection to war and violence in his time - and that is inspiring and thought-provoking even in today's context.Some may object to the book because the author interpreted Fred's work through his own "lens" - but I must ask, "How else would one write a book about Fred?" Fred is so personal to so many people, including those who have never met him in person, that our memory and image of him is deeply personal. We can ONLY see him through our personal lens.If you are really interested to know the person behind the warm television image which most of us find so "agreeable" (as in we find him agreeing with us, rather than understanding where he is really coming from), the book is worth a careful read.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. you will love reading this book By Leah Ntuala If you watched Mister Rogers as a child, you will love reading this book. Every time you sit down to read it the theme song will play through your head and you will will find yourself transformed back into his television home. However, this book gives you a behind the scenes look into the Neighborhood beyond the context of your home. In Peaceful Neighbor, Mister Rogers and his gentle spirit are revealed not a gimmick or ploy, but true to who Fred Rogers was as a human being. It wasn't done to sell you products that would make you whole and complete. He lived an intentional life. Every thing he did was not perfect, but it was done with the purpose to show love and acceptance. Instead, this book reminds you of the tools that Mister Rogers gave, freely. He gave us, as viewers, the ability to do the same. He encouraged each of us to be who we are and allow others to be who they are, working together with love, thought and acceptance to create a neighborhood where ever we may travel. As I read the book I found once again an inner peace. I thought more deeply of my actions, my tone of voice and if they were loving. It wasn't a simpler time he lived it; his neighborhood wasn't only on PBS, it was a decision he made everyday to love.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Best for Niche Audience; Social Justice, Child Psychology By SeattleBookMama I confess I was intrigued by the title and description of this biography. Mr. Rogers came on television when I was entering adolescence, and so I didn’t watch it for myself. When I had children of my own, I tried to limit their time spent in front of TV, and so I tended to watch Sesame Street with them and then reach for the off button. But my son wanted to see Mr. Rogers, and I confess that although the magic escaped me—who wanted to watch this dull man with the puppet on his hand, seriously?—my son, who was three years old, thought differently. I watched the little smile play on his lips as Mister Rogers spoke to him, face straight into the camera. It made my kid feel better. And so I decided to plunge into this biography and see if I could figure out what made the show so appealing to little kids. I went all the way through a Master’s degree in education and came out still clueless, so why not? Thank you to Net Galley and Westminster John Knox Press for the DRC. The title was published in March and is available for purchase.On the whole, I never did find the magic, but from an analytical standpoint, I could see where the work done by Fred Rogers was effective. He treated small people with respect. He was an expert in the psychology of very young children, and his show was crafted around gently, reassuringly addressing some issues that parents might not know how to talk to their children about. This is not to say that he had a superior attitude or spoke down to parents, when he acknowledged our presence, but I was a mom who had spent my entire pregnancy unemployed, sitting around the house reading books about pregnancy, childbirth, and the raising of young children, and I had no idea that my son had been afraid he might go down the drain after the bath was over. And I watched his little face light up when Mr. Rogers sat at the piano and sang, “You can never go down, never go down, never go down the drain!”The first twenty percent or so of this biography deals with Rogers’ religious beliefs, and I nearly had to stick myself with a pin to stay awake through it. The guy was a pacifist, and so although he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister, his belief system and his quiet, subdued manner was largely that of the Friends, or Quakers. So for those who have a strong interest in examining the intricate details of faith as it relates to war and children, this will be more absorbing than it was for me.Just at about the point at which I had decided that grabbing the galley had been a mistake—seriously, 176 pages and I had only read twenty percent? It felt like forever—and gave myself permission to skim and review this thing, it became more interesting. And although I think the author very much overstates his case in calling Rogers “subversive”, I agree that he openly, if subtly and carefully, disagreed with Presidents Reagan and HW Bush about the wars in the Middle East, and before that, with the Vietnam War. He never carried a sign, our writer points out several times, but chose to work behind the scenes and to use his television show as a platform for peace.“War isn’t nice.”He was no radical; during the Civil Rights movement, rather than encourage integration, he held fundraisers to buy supplies for the African-American schools that were separate and entirely unequal, to try to level things out a little bit, one school district at a time. Good luck with that.But the real gift that he gave to small children was that of absolute acceptance. Children were valuable no matter what they looked like. He acknowledged that we feel mad sometimes, and talked about ways to work out the mad without hurting anyone. He recognized that sometimes girls want to play with machines, and sometimes boys might like to hold a doll, to dress it and pretend to feed it. His was a gentle persona, and he let everyone know that men can also be nurturers. And when a company presumed to use his likeness on a tee shirt with a gun in his hand, he took their ass to court and made them not only stop selling those shirts, but destroy every last one they still had in their possession or for sale.He also had blind spots. He was raised in a wealthy family—Mr. McFeely, the neighborhood postal character in the Make Believe neighborhood where Mr. Rogers filmed, was also the name of his grandfather, who built the family fortune. And at Christmas time, the staff of Mr. Rogers’s TV show each got a nice card with a note saying he had made a gift in their name to a charity; but one of the staffers pointed out to the author that some of them were paid very low salaries, and sure could have used the holiday bonus instead.A documentary that was filmed about Fred Rogers was made with the understanding that the cameras must not show “the tasteful opulence of my home”.Ahem.The writer does a fine job of analyzing where Fred Rogers stood on all of the key issues of the day before his rather sudden death due to stomach cancer. If this man was important to you, or if you have an interest in the connection between social justice and religion, or children’s television shows, this might be a great book for you. If you are not interested in religion, you may want to skim through the first chapters and get to the meatier parts.Either way, Fred would’ve liked you exactly as you are now.
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