Kirkus
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Absolute Convictions: My Father, a City, and the Conflict That Divided America, 2006) returns with a disquisition on conscience, "about the mystery of what impels people tostop, say no, resist." The author builds his account on the foundation of social psychology and examines the stories of several people from a variety of times, cultures and situations. He begins--where else?--with the Nazis in Poland, 1942, when the German Order Police committed a mass execution of Jews, but about a dozen soldiers refused to participate. Press then moves to Paul Grninger, a Swiss policeman who in 1938 admitted into the country a number of Jewish refugees--ignoring official policy. Next the author looks at a Serb soldier who saved a number of Croats targeted for ethnic cleansing in 1991. Another case was an Israeli soldier who defied policy in an operation against the Palestinians. Press' final example is Leyla Wydler, a financial advisor employed by the Stanford Group Company in 2000 who reported to the SEC her company's gross deceptions. Throughout, Press notes the consequences of his principals' actions: ostracism, firing, psychological, social and financial losses. Interviewing those still living, he learns some surprising things. Not all are intellectuals, or even had rational reasons for behaving as they did (to some, it just didn't feel right); not all had religious or even moral reasons for their behavior. Some attribute their decision to family history or to simply looking in the mirror; none had regrets. Press believes that saying no is always possible, never easy and that the outcome is surely never certain. To buttress his analysis, he includes allusions to philosophers, psychologists and even relevant films--e.g., Silkwood. An intelligent though sometimes dense examination of moral courage and its consequences.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Publishers Weekly
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In his latest, journalist Press (Absolute Convictions) explores what compels people to act according to their conscience when faced with a moral dilemma in dangerous circumstances. In 1938, a Swiss police captain allows Jewish refugees to cross into "neutral" Switzerland, defying orders that the border be closed. During the Balkan conflict, in 1991, a Serb disobeys his superiors to save the lives of Croats from his hometown, the war-torn city of Vukovar. A financial adviser in Houston loses her job when she refuses to sell a toxic product she rightly suspects of being a Ponzi scheme. In a particularly compelling vignette, an Israeli soldier in an elite military unit refuses to serve in the occupied territories during the second intifada. Drawing on research by psychologists, sociologists, political activists and theorists (such as Susan Sontag and Hannah Arendt), and neuroscientists, Press reveals that the boldest acts of defiance are often made by ordinary people who regard the ideals and values of their societies to be inviolable. This thought-provoking and moving narrative highlights the different ways people react to moral quandaries and, at its best, makes us question the role our own passivity or acquiescence plays in allowing unconscionable acts to happen on our watch. Agent: Sarah Chal-fant, the Wylie Agency. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Few of us will ever face a crisis of conscience of the magnitude that Press (Absolute Convictions, 2007) illuminates in this fascinating examination of courage, and yet who among us hasn't pondered how we would react when confronted with a profound moral or ethical dilemma? In placing the spotlight on four specific individuals, Press allows readers to place themselves amid controversial circumstances while he challenges the assumption that it takes an extraordinary individual to perform extraordinary deeds. There's the Swiss police captain who refuses, in 1938, to follow orders and expel Jewish refugees; the Serb who saves the lives of Croats during the Balkan War; the Israeli soldier who questions serving in occupied settlements; and, finally, the financial advisor who blows the whistle on a massive Ponzi scheme. Press argues that there is nothing saintly or particularly virtuous about these individuals, nor are they the rebellious sort we typically associate with social resistance. Rather than dismissing societal values, they hold these ideals brotherhood, unity, diligence as inviolable. The real question is why the rest of us don't.--Wetli, Patty Copyright 2010 Booklist