This book is well done, but I prefer Dellinger’s own account of his life. Hunt fills in the gaps and provides overview, but does not supplant Dellinger’s book. Both books are worth reading. They don’t always agree. On page 64 Hunt calls Pearl Harbor an “unprovoked attack.” Dellinger saw it differently, as Hunt acknowledges. This book extends decades beyond the time frame covered in Dellinger's book.

Dellinger’s commitment to nonviolence was put to the test over the years. He was imprisoned, abused to the point of torture, force-fed, kept in solitary, splattered with red paint, beaten up, clubbed by police, vilified by the press, but stayed true to his principles through it all. He had his jaw broken and one eye blinded, without retaliating. He was confrontational, but not violent. What a reflection on the United States of America! How we love to punish peacemakers! This is a story of relentless persecution of a good man by a society sick with violence.

Much of this book is concerned with the chronic factional infighting on the Left, and Dellinger’s attempts to co-ordinate the disparate groups into a powerful mobilization. To unite the moderates with the militants to stop the militarists. It is impossible to say to what extent he succeeded, but surely he made a difference.

At times Hunt is critical of Dellinger, but is fair and honest about it, and in the end leaves the reader with a sense of the greatness of the man. Dellinger was America’s Gandhi. He was not a liberal, not a socialist, but a revolutionary. A “fulltime crusader,” said the CIA. The message of Dellinger’s life—that violence is not the answer—comes across in this book. ( )