Sunday 19 January 2014

Oral historian Rosalie Riegle, speaking in Buffalo, February 2014


Oral historian Rosalie Riegle will be in Buffalo (WATCH FOR DETAILS) presenting her new book on war resisters who say no to war-making in the strongest way possible—by engaging in civil disobedience and paying the consequences in jail or prison.


   Doing Time for Peace: Resistance, Family, and Community
   a book edited by Rosalie G. Riegle – Introduction by Dan McKanan


In this compelling collection of oral histories, more than seventy-five peacemakers (some of whom are dedicated freinds of ArtRage) describe how they say no to war-making in the strongest way possible—by engaging in civil disobedience and paying the consequences in jail or prison. These courageous resisters leave family and community and life on the outside in their efforts to direct U.S. policy away from its militarism. Many are Catholic Workers, devoting their lives to the works of mercy instead of the works of war. They are homemakers and carpenters and social workers and teachers who are often called “faith-based activists.” They speak from the left of the political perspective, providing a counterpoint to the faith-based activism of the fundamentalist Right.

In their own words, the narrators describe their motivations and their preparations for acts of resistance, the actions themselves, and their trials and subsequent jail time. We hear from those who do their time by caring for their families and man- aging communities while their partners are imprisoned. Spouses and children talk frankly of the strains on family ties that a life of working for peace in the world can cause. The voices range from a World War II conscientious objector to those protesting the recent war in Iraq. The book includes sections on resister families, the Berrigans and Jonah House, the Plowshares communities, the Syracuse Peace Council, and Catholic Worker houses and communities.

Rosalie is a professor emeriti in English at Saginaw Valley State University.  She lives in Evanston, Illinois and has published two previous oral histories: Voices from the Catholic Worker and Dorothy Day: Portraits by Those Who Knew Her. Rosalie G. Riegle is an oral historian who taught English at Saginaw Valley State University from 1969 to 2003. She raised four daughters and co-founded two Catholic Worker houses in Saginaw, Michigan.

This text comes from her fall visit to Syracuse:
http://artragegallery.org/book-signing-doing-time-for-peace#sthash.3XRgM6Ky.dpuf

No comments:

Post a Comment