“Melissa Fischer celebrates in precise and brilliant prose the steadfast and innovative heart of the engineer — harnessing technology in service to humanity; yet, with equal clarity and sincerity, Fischer mourns the tragedy of engineers complicit in the destruction of the environment and the concomitant desecration of the human spirit.”

— DR. KARL LONGLEY, PE, Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering, California State University, Fresno; Chair, California Central Valley Water Quality Control Board

“Melissa Fischer conveys in poetry what cannot be truthfully expressed in prose. It made me sad to reach the end. I will certainly read it again.”

— W. E. ABRAHAM, author of The Mind of Africa; Advisor to President Kwame Nkrumah

“The Advocacy is both a beautiful and disturbing story; exactly what good books are supposed to be.”

— JUDY REEVES, author of Wild Women, Wild Voices

“This is a novel of the intellect, where Fischer grapples with the meaning of our shared colonial history and how far our responsibility as global citizens extends.”

— GABRIEL BRANDT, Peace Corps Volunteer, Ghana, 1992-94; Professor of Chemistry, Franklin & Marshall College

“…this novel reveals the ambiguity, the mystery, and ultimately the reward of embracing a new culture while holding on to the core of your being.”

— ERIN BAKER, Peace Corps Volunteer, Ghana, 1992-94; Professor of Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

“The Advocacy does not ‘other’ anyone. It is masterful in this way.”

— MADELEINE MADER, Peace Corps Country Director, Ghana, 2004-07

“While reading The Advocacy, the term that came to mind over-and-over was, cura personalis; a Latin phrase taught with tenacity by every Jesuit influenced institution. 'Caring for the whole person' – body, mind and spirit comes screaming through the pages of every chapter.”

— PROFESSOR DANIEL B. OERTHER, PhD, PE, Missouri University of Science and Technology; Three-time Fulbrighter; former Senior Science Advisor at the U.S. Department of State; and incoming President of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists