John Noltner - Portraits of Peace: Searching for Hope in a Divided America

Praise for Portraits of Peace: Searching for Hope in a Divided America

Getting to know each others personal stories is one of the best ways to bridge our deep divides and reclaim the power of We the People; this book gives us that chance. Portraits of Peace also gives us a chance to correct the lenses through which we look at others, and get back in touch with our shared humanity.

Parker J. Palmer, author of Healing the Heart of Democracy, Let Your Life Speak, and On the Brink of Everything

John Noltner artfully weaves his own story and experiences with those of hundreds of people he has encountered or interviewed, and, perhaps most importantly, whose stories he has helped tell. These stories challenge us, expand us, surprise us, and push all of us to become more human.

Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, co-chair of the Poor Peoples Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, and director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary

John Noltner knows three things about stories: people have them; people need to be heard; people need to listen. In this latest collection of stories, he comforts and challenges, he shows the fractured stories and the flourishing ones, he shares stories that contract and stories that expand. In this, he is a curator of the thing that might save us: our capacity to tell; our capacity to listen; our capacity to change.

Pdraig Tuama, host of Poetry Unbound from On Being, and author of In the Shelter and Borders and Belonging

Portraits of Peace offers so much hope for our weary hearts. I cant imagine a better book for our fractured time.

Jennifer Louden, author of Why Bother? and The Womans Comfort Book

At a time when our world is filled with both kindness and cruelty, Portraits of Peace provides us with a mirror to witness the world as it is, and also a lens to imagine what the world can become.

The Rev. Dr. Brian E. Konkol, Dean of Hendricks Chapel and Professor of Practice, Syracuse University

John Noltners art is rich without being extractive; its morally clear without being preachy. This stems from John himself, who walks through the world with a discerning wide-eyedness and deep compassion.

Barry Yeoman, journalist

The book skillfully succeeds in constructing a narrative of hope by revealing the lives and faces of those dedicated to breaking the cycle of conflict. John Noltners work offers a profound awareness of what it means to be human.

Marina Cantacuzino, founder of The Forgiveness Project

John Noltners elegant exploration of the many dimensions of peace is balm for the soul, especially in our contentious times. This book inspires all of us to look for the dignity and light in every person we meet.

Rabbi Amy Eilberg, spiritual director, kindness coach, peace and justice educator, and author of From Enemy to Friend: Jewish Wisdom and the Pursuit of Peace

Nolters Portraits of Peace provides a new, life-giving lens. Read its words, rest your eyes on the faces portrayed on its pages, and let it lead your heart on a powerful journey from polarization to peace.

Jacqueline A. Bussie, author of Love Without Limits and Outlaw Christian

This book is for those who care about people and their stories and those who want to do the work of storycatching themselves.

Howard Zehr, director emeritus of the Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice

Portraits of Peace vividly illustrates the power of personal story, unlocked by a courageous commitment to listen. Each chapter left me asking John Noltners favorite question: Tell me more. The future of our families, communities, and country depends on pursuing the life-giving path of listening, which begins with inspiration.

Pearce Godwin, founder of the Listen First Project and the #ListenFirst Coalition of 250+ organizations cultivating peace across differences

John Noltner offers us a gifta way to listen to others, to honor their humanity, and to stay at the table even when it is difficult. He brings us with him on his journey of discovery and change. This book belongs in every household in our country.

Martha McCoy, executive director of Everyday Democracy and president of the Paul J. Aicher Foundation

John Noltner

Broadleaf Books

Minneapolis

PORTRAITS OF PEACE

Searching for Hope in a Divided America

Copyright 2021 Broadleaf Books, an imprint of 1517 Media. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Email or write to Permissions, Broadleaf Books, PO Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440-1209.

Cover image: John Noltner

Cover design: Lindsey Owens

Print ISBN: 978-1-5064-7121-1

eBook ISBN: 978-1-5064-7122-8

While the author and 1517 Media have confirmed that all references to website addresses (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing, URLs may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.

Dedicated to all the peacemakers, great and small,

who believe that something better is possible

A Peace of My Mind is a storytelling project that began as a personal exploration more than a decade ago and has now become my lifes work.

The first interview I did for A Peace of My Mind was in Minneapolis, just a few months after Barack Obama took office as the forty-fourth president of the United States. Unsubstantiated questions arose about his birth certificate, his faith, his citizenship, and his loyalties. Political rhetoric was heated, and lines of division were sharpened. It felt like a polarized season, and I wondered if I could use my storytelling and photography to rediscover what connects us as Americans and as human beings.

The division that was the genesis of this project has continued to grow. Over the past decade, our social landscape has been fraught with culture wars, racial turmoil, and political rancor. We have grappled uncomfortably with same-sex marriage, gun rights, religious freedom, gender equality, and more.

In 2014, as I interviewed people for our second book, American Stories, Michael Brown was killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri. In 2015, Bree Newsome pulled the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State House. Also that year, the US Supreme Court upheld same-sex marriage in all fifty states, but in the summer of 2016, a shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, killed forty-nine people and injured dozens more.

We released American Stories in the fall of 2016, just before our country went to the polls and elected Donald Trump as president.

I started writing this book, Portraits of Peace, a few months after white supremacists marched in Charlottesville to keep a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee standing. In the tension, a car rammed into a crowd of counterprotesters, and Heather Heyer, a thirty-two-year-old paralegal who grew up in rural Virginia, was struck and killed.

I wanted to write Portraits of Peace because after a decade of quietly sharing other peoples stories, I felt like I had something to say as well about encountering difference, navigating conflict, and finding a better path forward.

I connected with Broadleaf Books as our country went into lockdown because of the coronavirus, and I found myself working through edits and revisions in the shadow of protests in my hometown of Minneapolis after George Floyd was killed by police. Our final manuscript was submitted to the publisher as we were just weeks away from the 2020 election.