This engaging book is a masterful portrayal of a pivotal, yet understudied chapter in American history. Journalist Dan Akst illuminates the courageous journey of four key pacifists—David Dellinger, Dorothy Day, Dwight MacDonald, and Bayard Rustin—and connects their struggles to the upheaval of the 1960s. His book gives us a “missing link” in the history of progressive change. Akst demonstrates how his protagonists’ lonely battle against the tide of war in the 1940s equipped them to endure years of social and political wilderness in the 1950s, only to re-emerge as leading figures in major social justice movements. These engaging stories are presented with the author’s characteristic wit and eye for meaningful detail. I could not recommend this book more highly.

WWII Like You've Never Seen It Before. This is an account primarily of WWII and specifically a few particular people and their associates within the war - and these are people who you may have heard of, but likely never heard of their actions within the WWII period. As the description states, some of these people became quite famous indeed *after* WWII for their actions during the Vietnam / Civil Rights era - but those actions were originated when they were 20 years younger, during the trials and travails that history now knows as World War 2. As an anarchist who strives toward pacifism himself, learning of these people - several of whom I had never heard of before, and the others of whom I had never heard of this side of before - was utterly fascinating, and indeed actually eye opening, as even I had never heard of the philosophy of personalism before reading this book. Now, I intend to research it further.

The *singular* detriment to this book is that while it is clear in the narrative that the book is quite well researched indeed... the Advance Reader Copy of this text I read had barely any bibliography at all, clocking in at just 5% of the overall text when a minimum of around 20% is much more common for even barely-researched-at-all texts.

Still, even if the publisher doesn't correct this flaw at actual publication, this is absolutely a worthy read and one that anyone who wishes to discuss the events and impacts of WWII needs to study in order to have a more complete picture of that era. Very much recommended.

A graceful and well-researched book on the under-reported history of American pacifists who resisted the draft for WWII. The tactics of these men and women went on to set the template for the civil rights movement.