Liberty, Conscience & Toleration: The Political Thought of William Penn by Andrew R. Murphy (review)

Abstract

anti-Apartheid activist and martyr Stephen Biko was briefly associated with QSA-supported work in South Africa. Saville presents QSA work as always well intentioned, and usually successful at materially improving the lives of people it aimed to help. Several factors somewhat limit the usefulness of Saville’s book to scholars. The focus on the projects of the QSA can leave the details of the organization’s structure in Australia underexplored. The lack of an index is a problem, exacerbated by the fact that the book is not arranged chronologically and people and locations appear in multiple, non-sequential chapters. Most of the sources that Saville utilizes are interviews with Australian staff or reports from the organization, so the voices of the people affected by their programs only appear infrequently. Despite these limitations, Friends in Deed is a welcome contribution to the current literature on Quaker service work. Though the QSA’s activities are on a much smaller scale from organizations like the American Friends Service Committee, Saville’s book makes a compelling case that they are still worthy of study. The sympathetic portrayal of QSA that emerges from the work shows a tiny organization that nevertheless impacted large numbers of people internationally and played an important role in letting Australian Quakers live their values.