From Yale to Jail: The Life Story of a Moral Dissenter

By David T. Dellinger

Book Overview

""This is a deeply moving tale of the American we often read about but seldom run into: the independent spirit who speaks truth to power, no matter the consequences. Dave Dellinger, the oldest of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0963622439
• ISBN13: 9780963622433
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: Rose Hill Books
• Length: 501 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

One of best books I've ever read

Fantastic, couldn't put it down...Remarkable man, if I achieve in the whole of my life a fraction of what Dave did I will be a happy man.

A Remarkable Man

Born with a golden spoon in his mouth, David Dellinger could have had it all. A talented athlete from an affluent background, educated at Yale and Oxford, he had every advantage. But he gave it all up for justice and principle, enduring financial insecurity, long prison terms, hunger strikes, death threats, for causes he believed in. In 1940 he was invited by Mrs. Roosevelt to have tea at the White House. He went, had tea with her, then hopped a freight train home! Imprisoned during World War II for refusing to register for the draft, he refused to co-operate in any way with warmaking. As a divinity student he was eligible for a deferment, but rejected preferential treatment not available to others. In prison he was abused to the point of torture, force-fed, then released early because the prison authorities couldn't handle him. Later he published Liberation Magazine and other influential journals of progressive thought. In 1965 his print shop was trashed by vandals. During the Vietnam war he was invited to join Bertrand Russell's war crimes tribunal in Sweden and went to North Vietnam, talked with Ho Chi Minh, and got American soldiers released from Vietnamese prisons. After the death of A. J. Muste in 1967, Dellinger became the leader of the American peace movement. As one of the Chicago 8 defendants, he tried to put the US government on trial for its crimes. Dellinger was a gentle man of great courage, sometimes likened to Francis of Assisi. He was more likely compared to Mohandas K. Gandhi. He treated everyone with respect, including his adversaries, but during the Chicago trial he refused to stand when the judge entered the room because he said he believed in equality. This book is action packed and rich in historical and philosophical insights.