Book Review: Rebel with a Cause

A Fair Trade Book

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Title: Rebel With a Cause

Author: Franklin Graham

Web page for this author's books: here

Date: 1995

Publisher: Thomas Nelson / Word

ISBN: 0-7852-7915-6

Length: 314 pages

Quote: "If there's anything special about my story, it's not because I'm the son of Billy and Ruth Graham--it's because I'm a son of the living God."

Even William Franklin Graham's attempt to be modest could be disputed. (And it was; when an earlier version of this review appeared on Associated Content, Matthew 6:2 was duly cited. Meh. It's hard to raise much money for big expensive international charities without a bit of trumpet-sounding.) Many Christians have written unbearably dull memoirs. You don't have to be born famous, and then choose a lifestyle as full of danger and high adventure as a rich twentieth-century American could have, to write a lively memoir, but it helps. You don't have to have been brought up by two superstar writers to write a memoir that's believably straightforward but still entertaining to read, either, but that also helps.

Although Graham's purpose in writing Rebel with a Cause is clearly to promote his own organization, the title, and his selection of childhood memories, cast his life as a story of successful conflict. Graham presents himself as a young man born in privileged circumstances, with an emotional need for challenges and confrontations. At first he tried to meet that need with kid stuff--driving or biking recklessly, dropping or flunking out of schools, and living in a construction workers' camp in Alaska. He was not, however, stupid enough to want to be a failure in contrast to his father's success. He knew that his parents' idea of a clean, sober life was important for preserving the quality of his own life.

The question was how to meet his need for adventure within a Christian ministry. He didn't want to be tied down to preaching or teaching, didn't have the talent to be a singer or a doctor. When he met Bob Pierce, founder of the World Vision charity, Franklin Graham found what he was looking for. He took over the leadership of the Samaritan's Purse ministry, a group whose goal is to raise money and publicity for disaster relief, and whose rule is that each employee has to work at one disaster area overseas each year. There's nothing dull about disaster relief work. There was even an opportunity for Billy Graham's eldest son to keep himself in the public eye with a job that was compatible with, yet completely separate from, Billy Graham's.

In the introduction to Rebel with a Cause, Franklin Graham briefly introduces his family and states that he's not going to tell readers any more about them, out of respect for their right to tell their own stories. This policy also applies to the celebrity gossip in the book. Spending most of the year as a high-profile fundraiser, Graham naturally hangs out with rich and famous people. The selection of friends who contributed blurbs for the back cover, Johnny Cash, Elizabeth Hanford Dole, Joe Gibbs, Kathie Lee Gifford, Dale Evans and Roy Rogers, Robert H. Schuller, Ricky Skaggs, and Michael W. Smith, is a fair representation of the kind of names that are scattered through Rebel with a Cause. Of course, everything said about them is part of their publicity plans as well as Graham's. Many quotes, a few snapshots, some tactful explanations of why some people didn't help to promote this book, but no "dirt."

As of 1995 Graham was remembered, and criticized, for his efforts to sneak Bibles into Saudi Arabia under cover of "Operation Dear Abby" during the Gulf War. If he'd asked me whether this was a good idea I would have said no, and after reading his apologium in this book I remain unconvinced, but genuine liberals should be interested in reading the case he makes for what he did.

In the genre of memoirs by well-known people who became famous by doing something other than writing, Rebel with a Cause stands out. It doesn't read as if any attempt were made to make it Great Literature. It's not as tightly edited as Billy Graham's longer memoir, but, on the whole, reading this book is like listening to a man who has a lot of stories to tell and can tell them well.

The selection of stories is also commendable. They're supposed to be "This is what I did, this is what someone told me," but they're carefully chosen to respect privacy, minimize self-indulgence, and keep the focus on what everyone did for their causes. There are those who call this type of autobiography an excuse for self-promotion or self-aggrandizement. I grew up around people like that, people whose public manners are bland and "nice" because their private thoughts are callous and cynical; I think those people are as fallible and prone to excess as the rest of us flawed mortals. As long as people are actually doing what they claim to be doing for their causes, I think honest promotion of the work they're trying to do is a good thing.

When this post appeared on Associated Content, AC had been fundraising for disaster relief in Haiti. Samaritan's Purse had sent people there. Currently at the top of their pages is "helping Christians rebuild in Iraq." Work remains to be done and I'm sure Graham would like this review to end with a suggestion that readers click on the link to "Samaritan's Purse" above and donate a little e-money to the cause, as the paid review I posted on AC actually did.

Book reviews posted on this web site, however, end with invitations to buy books from this web site. Our minimum price is $5 per book plus $5 per package plus $1 per online payment. What makes some books "Fair Trade Books" is that (1) the author is still living and (2) the book is old enough that used copies are more widely available than new ones, in which case we send 10% of the total real-world purchase price, typically $1, to the author or a charity of his or her choice. Franklin Graham is alive and active on Twitter, so this is a Fair Trade Book. If you buy Rebel with a Cause here, no points for guessing where your $1 will go.