Butigan Ken - Waging peace: global adventures of a lifelong activist

Peace will only come when all of us become the change we wish to see in this world. David Hartsough became that change and has spent the best part of sixty years working to bring peace to our troubled world. His book, Waging Peace: Global Adventures of a Life-Long Activist is one that every peace-loving person must read and learn from.

Arun Gandhi, president, Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute (grandson of Mahatma Gandhi)

It has been my privilege to work with David Hartsough over the years and to be arrested and go to jail with him doing nonviolent civil disobedience challenging wars and nuclear weapons. His riveting and inspiring stories in Waging Peace of his lifelong efforts to speak truth to power and to oppose injustice and work for peace confirm for me what Ive long felt about him: that his has been a life lived nobly. I highly commend Waging Peace to every American who wishes to live in a world with peace and justice, and wants to feel empowered to help create that world.

Daniel Ellsberg, The Pentagon Papers

For courage, perseverance, and commitment to a nonviolent world, David Hartsough is my teacher. So I treasure this long-awaited memoir where, in his unassuming, ordinary way, he takes us along with him on extraordinary encounters that challenge our notions of what one person in one lifetime can do. From Guatemala to Kosovo, from Moscow to Palestine, he lets us see the kind of adventures that are possible for us as well, when we share his faith in the power of truth and nonviolence.

Joanna Macy, author, Active Hope: How to Face the Mess Were in Without Going Crazy

When great events happen, such as the falling of the Berlin Wall, we must never forget that people like David Hartsough and many others have worked hard to prepare the ground for such miracles. Davids belief in the goodness of people, the power of love, truth, and forgiveness, and his utter commitment to making peace and ending war and militarism will inspire all those who read this book.

Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate, Peace People, Northern Ireland

David Hartsough has lived an exemplary nonviolent life. Waging Peace highlights the numerous ways he has done this in many troubled parts of the world as well as in the United States. Mr. Hartsough encourages us to do the same.

Martin Sheen, actor

If you want to know what a means to live a life well lived, read David Hartsoughs masterful book Waging Peace. It is not only a page-turner, but it will probably transform the way you look at your own lifeyour priorities, your lifestyle, your future. Hartsough encourages his readers to live simply, but fully. To take risks, and make waves. To connect domestic and global injustice. To model, through citizen diplomacy, the ways you want your government to behave. And always, always love your enemy. Hartsough has plunged into the very depth of the key movements of our times civil rights, the Cold War, nuclear weapons, Vietnam War, Central America solidarity, the Palestinian struggle, drone warfare. He has spent his life swimming against the currents of war, prejudice, and greed with a strength and vitality that is breathtaking. Waging Peace is full of adventure and daringnot the kind youd see in a Terminator film but the courage of a person fully committed to the betterment of the human family. Read it. It will change your life.

Medea Benjamin, cofounder, Code Pink and Global Exchange

This is a remarkable, deeply moving memoir: a true story of love, faith, conviction, and courage. You will read it with tears in your eyes, but also with astonishment at what a determined, nonviolent individual has done to make our world a more humane, peaceful place.

Michael Klare, Professor of Peace & World Security Studies, Hampshire College

David Hartsoughs compelling and exciting account of a life committed to building nonviolence is important to read not only because it introduces us to a true hero of contemporary activism, but also because it reminds us of how much can be accomplished when a small group of people allow their ethical commitment to healing our planet of war and violence lead them into courageous action to build a world of peace and justice.

Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor, Tikkun magazine, and chair, the Network of Spiritual Progressives, www.spiritualprogressives.org.

Waging Peace is a collection of powerful and moving stories about how one remarkable person has acted on his belief that peace is possible. Its a must-read for anyone who wants to help create the world we all hope and pray for. Be prepared to be empowered!

Parker J. Palmer, author, Healing the Heart of Democracy, Let Your Life Speak, and The Courage to Teach

Over thirty years ago, when with great trepidation I went through nonviolence training in order to join the blockade at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, David Hartsough was my trainer, and his personal stories inspired me to put myself on the line for what I believed in. Later, I went on to become a trainer myself, and for some years Hartsough and I were in a training collective together. Now hes compiled his tales of moments of crisis and his life story into this wonderful book. Waging Peace will inspire anyone who is concerned with social and environmental justice, and will help you formulate your own approach to the activism so crucial now for the world!

Starhawk, author, The Fifth Sacred Thing

In this highly readable memoir, David Hartsough personifies the adage Love life enough to struggle. A man whose passion for justice and love for humanity has taken him to many parts of the world into the heart of some of the most significant struggles of the past sixty years, this book provides a personalized account of some of the greatest moments in popular movements for peace and justice.

Stephen Zunes, professor of politics, University of San Francisco

Permit me to congratulate you for your persistent and steadfast acting out truth in the face of power.

Staughton Lynd, author of Accompanying: Pathways to Social Change and Lucasville: The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising

Committing ones life to being a witness for peace takes courage and discipline. A life of activism can also be a source of joy, good humor and blessed community, as David Hartsoughs inspiring stories so clearly illustrate. Waging Peace offers insight into the ways in which nonviolence can transform tyranny into justice, violence into peacea timely reminder that one person can make a difference.

Shan Cretin, general secretary, American Friends Service Committee

Hartsoughs heartfelt memoir is a testament to the far-too-often forgotten legacy of courageous dissent. Reading this book is like relearning ones history. I learned for the first time, for instance, that a drugstore I used to go to as a child had been a flashpoint of the civil rights struggle, since Hartsough himself was part of a sit-in there. Through his life, we discover new dimensions of our own lives and of our societysome disturbing, some hopeful, all of them true. As much as its the story of a heroic life, its an accessible handbook for how the rest of us can make our lives heroic, too.

Nathan Schneider, editor, Waging Nonviolence, and author, Thank You, Anarchy

Despite knowing David personally for years, I had no idea about the breadth of his involvement in nonviolent struggles around the world. His story opens a window into what a life of commitment looks like. From the civil rights movement to Occupy, David has always been involved front and center in ceaseless attempts to transform conditions of oppression and violence through nonviolent means. What he shows in these pages is that engaging in nonviolent struggle, with all its attendant hardship, is a way to live a life of deep joy and integrity. May it inspire many to embrace love and courage and the vision that says that we will prevail.