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| Author | Gordon Brown |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Biography |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury |
Publication date | 4 June 2007 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Harback) |
| Pages | 288 pp |
| ISBN | 978-0-7475-6532-1 |
| OCLC | 51623312 |
Courage: Eight Portraits is anon-fiction book by formerBritish prime ministerGordon Brown. Published in2007, it comprises shortbiographical accounts of the lives of eight notable individuals, drawn together as an exploration of the concept ofcourage.
The eight subjects of the book areAung San Suu Kyi,Dietrich Bonhoeffer,Edith Cavell,Robert Kennedy,Martin Luther King Jr.,Nelson Mandela,Cicely Saunders, andRaoul Wallenberg.
The book was written during Brown's tenure asChancellor of the Exchequer and was first published on 4 June 2007, three weeks before he became prime minister. In his acknowledgements, Brown writes that he began to write the book as a means of raising funds for the Jennifer Brown Research Fund, set up in memory of Brown's daughter Jennifer Jane, who was born prematurely in December 2001 and died in January 2002. The book is dedicated "in memory of Jennifer".[1]
Brown was a surprise guest at the 2008Edinburgh Book Festival where he spoke aboutCourage and told audiences that he had chosen to write the book to encourage people to emulate the eight figures whose stories it included.[2]
Courage: Eight Portraits received mixed reviews on publication.Catherine Bennett ofThe Guardian felt that the book was “hagiographic” and “sermonising”, criticising Brown's authorship as “didactic” and “pious”.[3] A review inProspect magazine byKamran Nazeer, though, explicitly declared the book to be “no hagiography”, although it “does not aspire to present a balanced or critical view”, and links Brown's decision to write it and his choice of some subjects to his experiences of the loss of his daughter Jennifer.[4]Philip Gould, also writing forThe Guardian, was positive: the book is “very moving and completely uncynical”, he wrote, and shows that Brown “seeks to become a politician who empowers”.[5]Jonathan Freedland, reviewingCourage forThe New York Review of Books, was critical of “sloppy editing” and speculated that the real intent behind the book – and its publication date – was to associate Brown with some of the “moral giants of recent history”, but also felt that “no British prime minister since Churchill has written anything quite as good, at least not while in active politics”.[6]Geoffrey Wheatcroft inThe London Review of Books[7] andSimon Jenkins inThe Times[8] were both fiercely critical of the book, Brown's motives in writing it, and the quality of his prose.
Simon Jenkins, inThe Times, complained that there were "no soldiers and no Englishmen", commenting that the choices of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Cicely Saunders were "surprising". Thepalliative care and anti-euthanasia charityCare Not Killing welcomed the inclusion of Saunders as one of Brown's eight subjects, for her role in improving palliative care and public attitudes towards it.[9]
According toThe Independent, the book had sold almost 4,200 copies by March 2010.[10]
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