Rating: 
Summary: granny d: our family hero
Review: Right off the bat, I must admit a certain partiality. Doris Haddock is my great-aunt. I've always considered her to be a truly special and gifted individual. Now, the rest of the nation can discover what I've known for a long time. This book is much more than a travel journal, or a discourse on the ills of our political system. It is a look at America and the people who make it such a special place. It is an examination of life,loss, and the reaffirmation of life. It is also a call to action. I re-learned that we are never too old, or too young to find a cause that we can believe in and support, and regardless of what we hear from the media and the politicians, we can make a difference.
Rating: 
Summary: Granny D, we love you
Review: This book is about 90 year old Doris Haddock walking from Los Angeles to Wshington to call attention to the need for campaign finance reform. Regardless of your politial persuasion, I think you'll find Granny D's book a fun and inspiring read. She intersperses
stories from her life with her pitches to run the money changers out of the Capitol. Her charm is reflected near the end of the book where she says, " Well, I am finished with this book, but I am not finished with my life or with my passion for campaign finance reform. There is almost always time to find another victory, another happy ending. I hope that is your feeling about life, too. I thank you for the time spent with me between these covers. I apologize for preaching far more than I intended, but I 'm sure you skipped through the worst of it"Oh that we should all be able to pursue such adventure in our life, let along in our 90th year.
Rating:
Summary: Granny D, we love you
Review: This book is about 90 year old Doris Haddock walking from Los Angeles to Wshington to call attention to the need for campaign finance reform. Regardless of your politial persuasion, I think you'll find Granny D's book a fun and inspiring read. She intersperses
stories from her life with her pitches to run the money changers out of the Capitol. Her charm is reflected near the end of the book where she says, " Well, I am finished with this book, but I am not finished with my life or with my passion for campaign finance reform. There is almost always time to find another victory, another happy ending. I hope that is your feeling about life, too. I thank you for the time spent with me between these covers. I apologize for preaching far more than I intended, but I 'm sure you skipped through the worst of it" Oh that we should all be able to pursue such adventure in our life, let along in our 90th year.
Rating:
Summary: A great patriot and physical phenomenon
Review: This is a story well told. Not fiction, and very, very real. Doris Haddock achieved a virtually impossible goal of walking across the United States through her entire 90th year and more. In doing that, she grew more aware of just how great the people of this country are, and how important it is to return the power of the government back to those people - and away from the corrupting influences of the special interests. It is more than just a textual journal of this trip. It lets you get to know the real GrannyD, from her early days through the tortures experienced in her cross country trek. She is truely a great American and makes you wish there were more like her - especially in the decision making positions in government. And, you will meet many other wonderful people along the way. The story does not drag in any part, and keeps you wanting to see what is coming up next. Easy reading, and a wonderful book to have and share with others.
Rating:
Summary: A great patriot and physical phenomenon
Review: This is a story well told. Not fiction, and very, very real. Doris Haddock achieved a virtually impossible goal of walking across the United States through her entire 90th year and more. In doing that, she grew more aware of just how great the people of this country are, and how important it is to return the power of the government back to those people - and away from the corrupting influences of the special interests. It is more than just a textual journal of this trip. It lets you get to know the real GrannyD, from her early days through the tortures experienced in her cross country trek. She is truely a great American and makes you wish there were more like her - especially in the decision making positions in government. And, you will meet many other wonderful people along the way. The story does not drag in any part, and keeps you wanting to see what is coming up next. Easy reading, and a wonderful book to have and share with others.
Rating:
Summary: GREY-HAIRED ACTIVIST VOICES A CAUSE & MEANING OF HER LIFE
Review: This is an inspiring story on two levels: as a chronicle of an elder woman's courageous effort to mobilize attention and action to the cause of campaign finance reform, which she considers a step in the redemocratizing of America; and as her spiritual autobiography, the summation of her life experience and perspective. Granny D speaks to me when she says that "people have a great, unmet need that expresses their passions and values . . . they think they are being cheated out of that life--that they will die and it will have passed them by. They see an old woman doing something she believes in, and she somehow carries this ineffable something for them. Our shallow culture makes us people of great longing, for we are not always provided with opportunities to live out our most meaningful beliefs." What begins as a journal of her remarkable trek, walking along roadsides at the pace of ten miles a day from California to Washington DC, transforms into another kind of account, the inner journey that brought her to this enterprise, the singular incidents and loving relationships that shaped and fostered her through her long life. By the end of this book, she can examine both her triumphs and trials and ask, "Do we see who we are, finally? Do we see, behind the curtain, the scars and insecurities that have controlled us? And when we see them and look them squarely in the eye, do they lose their power over us, backing down from their bullying bluster? Indeed they do. We become free to take our life in whatever shape it has become, and find a good and enjoyable use for it, serving others and ourselves." Granny D shows that old age doesn't have to be synonymous with dotage, with being passive and indifferent to our world, to what goes on around us--to what the future may hold. She shows that age and accompanying infirmities are, at worst, inconvenience, not an excuse to block or ignore the desires of the heart and the active mind. She demonstrates, no matter the immediate outcome, the power of one. And she reminds me of a remark attributed to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., that if one does not have a cause to live for, then one has no reason to die.
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