My Heritage, My Destiny

Baiba Kreger, PhD
iUniverse (2008)
ISBN 9780595465088
Reviewed by Carol Hoyer, PhD, for Reader Views (02/10)

 

I often think as I read autobiographies like this that it must be terribly hard to do, but at the same time be therapeutic. As we take this journey with the author, once again we will come to realize that there are some very cruel individuals in the world. As we look at this through the eyes of a young girl, we even have a hard time comprehending, much less realizing what a young child will think.

For many of us we take life for granted - we have never been starving, beaten, lost our home or our families, or been shuffled from one place to another just trying to find a “spot” to call our own.

This is the story of Baiba, her family, and their trying to survive through the war. The author’s detail on the history and times is incredible and well researched. She provides maps, photos and memories from others who survived. It is also about being successful in your own way, doing what is important for you and not others. It’s about love, abuse, family and death.

As I read “My Heritage, My Destiny” by Baiba Kreger, PhD, I learned about strength and hope. The author tells this story through her eyes with vivid attention to events good and bad. Her initial reaction to coming to America is daunting and filled with rejection. She is thankful to all those that helped her and her family, but how do you throw a young child or adult into a country where they can’t speak or understand English? Maybe the next time we complain about “those foreigners” coming to our country, we should look at what they have been through to get here.

Make comment on weblog

FTC Disclosure