In this Book
- Felon for Peace: The Memoir of a Vietnam-Era Draft Resister
- Book
- 2005
- Published by: Vanderbilt University Press
summary
When Jerry Elmer turned eighteen at the height of the Vietnam War, he publicly refused to register for the draft, a felony then and now. Later he burglarized the offices of fourteen draft boards in three cities, destroying the files of men eligible to be drafted. After working almost twenty years in the peace movement, he attended law school, where he was the only convicted felon in Harvard's class of 1990.
This book is a blend of personal memoir, contemporary history, and astute political analysis. Elmer draws on a variety of sources, including never-before-released FBI files, and argues passionately for the practice of nonviolence. He describes the range of actions he took—from draft card burning to organizing draft board raids with Father Phil Berrigan; from vigils on the Capitol steps inside "tiger cages" used to torture Vietnamese political prisoners to jail time for protesting nuclear power plants; from a tour of the killing fields of Cambodia to meetings with Corazon Aquino in the Philippines.
A Vietnamese-language edition of Felon for Peace has also been published.
This book is a blend of personal memoir, contemporary history, and astute political analysis. Elmer draws on a variety of sources, including never-before-released FBI files, and argues passionately for the practice of nonviolence. He describes the range of actions he took—from draft card burning to organizing draft board raids with Father Phil Berrigan; from vigils on the Capitol steps inside "tiger cages" used to torture Vietnamese political prisoners to jail time for protesting nuclear power plants; from a tour of the killing fields of Cambodia to meetings with Corazon Aquino in the Philippines.
A Vietnamese-language edition of Felon for Peace has also been published.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Table of Contents
- pp. vii-viii
- List of Illustrations
- pp. ix-x
- Acknowledgments
- p. xi
- Introduction
- pp. 1-4
- 2. Students for Peace in Vietnam
- pp. 11-32
- 3. Nonregistration
- pp. 33-64
- 7. The American Friends Service Committee
- pp. 133-172
- 8. Travels in Southeast Asia
- pp. 173-193
- 9. Mass Civil Disobedience
- pp. 194-210
- 10. After the War: Human Rights in Vietnam
- pp. 211-225
- 13. Neither Fish nor Fowl
- pp. 255-258
Additional Information
ISBN
9780826591982
Related ISBN(s)
9780826514943, 9780826514950
MARC Record
OCLC
558991499
Pages
280
Launched on MUSE
2012-02-08
Language
English
Open Access
No
Copyright
2005