This book is an engaging, insightful, informative, heartrending,and significant read. Reading this book was personally a nostalgic experience. We were initially anti-war activists as the young parents of five children and have matured into on-going peace advocates. We first became friends with fellow Detroiter, Frank Joyce, during the Vietnam War era. Frank and the wonderful woman he married, Mary Ann Barnette, are coming 'up north' to the small town where we retired, to facilitate a discussion of the book at our Social-Political book club. It is just one very small example of how generous and giving they are in their ongoing work for peace and justice.
Forty years after the Vietnam War ended, many in the United States still struggle to come to terms with this tumultuous period of U.S. history. The domestic antiwar movement, with cooperation from their Vietnamese counterparts, played a significant role in ending the War, but few have examined its impact until now. In The People Make the Peace, nine U.S. activists discuss the parts they played in opposing the War at home and their risky travels to Vietnam in the midst of the conflict to engage in people-to-people diplomacy. In 2013, the "Hanoi 9" activists revisited Vietnam together; this book presents their thoughtful reflections on those experiences, as well as the stories of five U.S. veterans who returned to make reparations. Their successes in antiwar organizing will challenge the myths that still linger from that era, and inspire a new generation seeking peaceful solutions to war and conflict today. Contributors include: Jay Craven, Rennie Davis, Judy Gumbo, Alex Hing, Doug Hostetter, Frank Joyce, Nancy Kurshan, Myra MacPherson, John McAuliff, Becca Wilson
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