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The Life and Times of S. Brian Willson S. BRIAN WILLSON • INTRODUCTION BY DANIEL ELLSBERG “Brian Willson’s courage, compassion, and commitment to fighting for freedom, justice, and human rights is an inspiration to the rest of us and a lesson in how to handle Adjustments in our Plans.” —Kris Kristofferson, actor and songwriter
nonfiction
“We are not worth more, they are not worth less.” This is the mantra of war veteran and peace activist S. Brian Willson and the theme that runs throughout his compelling psychohistorical memoir. Willson’s story begins in small-town, rural America, where he grew up as a “Commie-hating, baseball-loving Baptist,” and moves through life-changing experiences in Viet Nam, Nicaragua, and elsewhere. Then, on a fateful day in September 1987, the world watched in horror as Willson was run over by a U.S. government munitions train during a nonviolent blocking action. Throughout his personal journey Willson eventually comes to the realization that the “American Way of Life” is AWOL from humanity, and that the only way to recover our humanity is by changing our consciousness, one individual at a time, while striving for collective cultural changes toward “less and local.” Thus, Willson offers up his personal story as a metaphorical map for anyone who feels the need to be liberated from the American Way of Life—a guidebook for anyone called by conscience to question continued obedience to vertical power structures while longing to reconnect with the human archetypes of cooperation, equity, mutual respect, and empathy. JULY 2011
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978-1-60486-421-2
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$20.00 • 6 X 9
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PAPERBACK
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536 PAGES
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MEMOIR/POLITICS
ABOUT FACE
Military Resisters Turn Against War EDITED BY BUFF WHITMAN-BRADLEY, SARAH LAZARE, AND CYNTHIA WHITMAN-BRADLEY “During this time of war it is vital that every American take a moment to listen to the first-hand accounts of those who have served on the front lines and those who refuse to fight.” —Aaron Glantz, author of The War Comes Home: Washington’s Battle against America’s Veterans
How does a young person who volunteers to serve in the U.S. military become a war-resister who risks ostracism, humiliation, and prison rather than fight? Although it is not well publicized, the long tradition of refusing to fight in unjust wars continues today within the American military. In this book, resisters describe in their own words the process they went through, from raw recruits to brave refusers. They speak about the brutality and appalling violence of war; the constant dehumanizing of the enemy—and of our own soldiers—that begins in Basic Training; the demands that they ignore their own consciences and simply follow orders. The stories in this book provide an intimate, honest look at the personal transformation of each of these young people and at the same time constitute a powerful argument against militarization and endless war. Also featured are exclusive interviews with Noam Chomsky and Daniel Ellsberg. Chomsky looks at the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the potential of GI resistance to play a role in bringing the troops home. Ellsberg relates his own act of resistance in leaking the Pentagon Papers in 1971 to the current WikiLeaks revelations of U.S. military secrets. SEPT 2011
18
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978-1-60486-440-3
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$20.00 •
5X8
• PAPERBACK •
272 PAGES
• POLITICS/CURRENT EVENTS