Publication Date May 7, 2024

I had no idea when I got this what I was in for…I have watched Ali Velshi on MSNBC frequently, and I knew he was Canadian and VERY intelligent. That’s about it. I am not sure what I was expecting, but it was along the lines of “how I got from Canada to being an anchor on a major US cable network.” Thanks to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley, I received access to the audio edition of Small Acts of Courage, in exchange for an honest review. 

First off, this is voiced by Ali, and (as expected)  he does an EXCELLENT job. His voice is both soothing and has enough variation to make it attention-grabbing. Right off, before I was very far into this, I actually fell asleep listening, and when I woke up I thought I’d jumped to the wrong book or something, because he was talking about Gandhi and Africa, and I had no idea that was part of the Velshi family story. So I hit rewind and started over. What a family! What a story!

Ali’s grandfather was sent at the age of seven to live at Gandhi’s farm in South Africa (called Tolstoy Farm). From this young age, he was deeply impacted by teachings that focused on equality among people, the importance of public service, and the importance of social justice in general. These lessons stayed with the family as they emigrated to Kenya to escape apartheid and then to Canada and finally, for Ali, to the U.S.

The book takes the reader (or listener) through a full 125 years of the family saga, and along the way focuses on stories of people who were often faced with what felt like impossible challenges, but persevered despite that. The book is both an entertaining story of one family and a sort of “call to action” to ordinary people who CAN make a difference. 

Well told, well read, extremely entertaining and inspiring. Five stars.