Behind the Beautiful Forevers - Book Discussion

This book discussion of NY Times Bestseller "Behind the Beautiful Forevers" by Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo is hosted by Judy Fenton. Beautifully written and rigorously researched, this book reveals the human impact of poverty, inequity, corruption and global change through breathtaking non-fiction accounts of life in the slums near Mumbai's airport. The Economist writes, "A staggering work of reporting and storytelling." Katherine Boo, an award-winning documentary journalist, particularizes human behavior with such skill that truth surpasses fiction in this superb human drama. Boo's gift of language leads us through an unknown world and is a powerful indictment of economic inequity in urban India.

The discussion will feature guest speaker Professor Rajkumar Boaz Johnson. Dr. Johnson has published several books and has lectured in India, Russia, Jerusalem, Brazil, Sweden, and throughout the United States. He is currently the department chair at North Park University. Dr. Johnson opens his own personal story: "My search for the meaning of life began quite early. I grew up in one of the slums of New Delhi. I saw proverty and excrement all around me. I saw high caste Hindus take poor outcastes into slavery - sexual slavery, capret industry slavery,... To escape this reality, my parents sent me to a Hindu Grammar School, far removed from the slum. At this school I was trained in Sanskrit and the monastic Hindu texts of the Upanishads..."

Coffee will be served at 9:00 a.m. followed by the discussion from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m.