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| The Bishop's Daughter: A Memoir | 
 enlarge | Author: Honor Moore
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $14.98
You Save: $10.97 (42%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (8 reviews)
Sales Rank: 5883
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 0393059847
Dewey Decimal Number: 283.092
EAN: 9780393059847
ASIN: 0393059847
Publication Date: May 19, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
"An unsparing portrait of a glamorous but elusive father and his daughter's search for the truth about his secret life."—Sylvia Nasar
Paul Moore's vocation as an Episcopal priest took him—with his wife Jenny and a family that grew to nine children—from robber-baron wealth to work among the urban poor of postwar America, prominence as an activist bishop in Washington during the Johnson years, leadership in the civil rights and peace movements, and two decades as the bishop of New York. The Bishop's Daughter is a daughter's story of that complex, visionary man: a chronicle of her turbulent relationship with a father who struggled privately with his sexuality while she openly explored hers, and a searching account of the consequences of sexual secrets. With a depth of questioning that recalls James Carroll's An American Requiem, this memoir engages the reader in the great issues of American life: war, race, family, sexuality, and faith. 22 photographs.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 A susbstantive memoir July 6, 2008
Of the summer's two "gay Episcopal" memoirs -- the other being Gene Robinson's book -- I found Honor Moore's by far the more substantive. Nearly all of us wrestle with our parents, and the more charismatic and larger than life they are, the more likely it is that this wrestling will leave us wounded. Honor Moore courageously shows us her wounds (and her wonder) as well as her father's complexity and her mother's humanity.
Moore opens a window onto the significant social pressures Episcopal clergy once faced to sunder their sexuality from their spirituality -- conservative evangelicals take note -- and this alone makes her book a valuable contribution to church social history.
The real beauty of the book, however, lies in its depiction of two parents and their eldest daughter trying to live their lives as authentically as they can. This is difficult in any era, no matter what the current social prejudices, and if none of the three quite succeed as much as we would have wished, their journeys are no less moving.
 A Father/Daughter Search For Understanding July 4, 2008
In the memoir, The Bishop's Daughter, the life of Bishop Paul Moore is explored by his daughter, Honor. From an early age, Honor has tried to understand her feelings for her father. At first, she seems to worship him, describing how as a young man he had a religious experience that turned him away from his family's wealth and toward service of God. Being wounded in WW II seemed to cement his conviction in serving God as he returns a decorated hero, bearing scars from a bullet that just missed his heart. God has saved him, he believes, for a purpose, and he is chosen Bishop of the Episcopal Church, a man respected as a paragon of virtue, a spokesman for the poor and a defender of rights.
Bishop Moore was a wealthy man, but not a happy one. His first wife described him as "the most unhappy man" she ever knew. He is estranged from Honor, the oldest of his nine children, and only at a late age, when he is diagnosed with a terminal illness, do the two strive to reconcile.
While describing her father's two marriages, his fights against racial injustice, and his ascent through the church, Honor also richly describes her own battles. Sexual experimentation and secrets are threaded through the story as both father and daughter explore their bi-sexuality, their sexual freedom, and the consequences. The book explores in detail the efforts of both the bishop and his daughter to hide their secrets. After her father's death, Honor goes further, meeting his long-term male lover and trying to understand his reasons for hiding this loving relationship.
This book covers many important issues of our times: race, sex, faith, politics, war, and family. A beautifully written memoir, it includes many elements of biography and autobiography. The writing is simple, clear, and enlightening. Some of the details are unpleasant, but honest. I was pleased with the way the two lives are explored and then joined together in a truth they could both understand at the end.
by Rhonda Esakov
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
Desperately needed exposure to help our learning... July 2, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Honor Moore did a stupendous, much needed service for her father, Bishop Paul Moore, Jr., herself, her siblings, and all of those in our society who remain illiterate and prejudiced about any and all sexual orientations. Given the ugly consequences of ignorance and understanding regarding homosexuality, it is no wonder that Bishop Moore, like so many others, had to hide such a significant part of himself, his sexuality, or a vital part of it, in order to perform the life service that was another grand and vibrant part of himself, his church service for the good of the millions whose minds and lives he influenced for good. We must remember that homosexuals are usually given life by heterosexuals who in so many sad cases are then ready to throw those children away. We must remember that the caste system created by heterosexuals that forces bisexuals and homosexuals to live in suffocating, locked closets is the evil that promotes what appears to be the deceit or duplicity that bisexuals and homosexuals must then practice in order to also live seemingly freely, seemingly fully. Ignorance, fear, and phobia are the components of prejudice, all prejudice. We have a desperate need to enlighten the ignorance with understanding, replace the fear with acceptance and love. Only then will we see the dissolution of phobia finally evolve. And heterosexuals must pay attention to bisexuals and homosexuals to gain a wider understanding of sexuality. The opposite side of that coin is that bisexuals and homosexuals must be ready and willing to help heterosexuals learn. That will require bi-directional openness. Any of Honor Moore's siblings and any others who think she betrayed her father need to carefully study her memoirs to see how she truly provided Bishop Paul Moore, Jr., the "wings of a dove" he so painfully sought all his life. Now her memories and our knowledge of that great man, that man of clay, can allow him to function more freely and fully as shepherd of an even larger flock. Now Paul Moore, Jr., can truly "fly away and rest,"
Gilbert Cantlin
an incredible book that I wish had gone on forever May 29, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
In spite of one review that is totally inexplicable to me, I can't begin to express how beautifully wrought this memoir is, how honest and how moving. And--how courageous. I had the privilege of meeting Honor Moore last Sunday and it has added to the richness of the book, as how could it not? I am deeply impressed with this book and to be honest, it takes a lot to impress me when it comes to reminiscences (not the best choice of word) about one's family, one's place in it and what it means to take the risk and tell the story as one sees it, meanwhile honoring the Rashomon aspect of most anything in life that not everyone will necessarily perceive a life the same way. Brava, Ms. Moore! Many times over.
brilliant, haunting, beautiful!!! May 29, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
honor moore is a gorgeous writer--and this is her greatest work to date. a really important, moving book.
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