About the Book
Biographies of seven remarkable Quakers--William Lovett, Robert Vogel, Josephine Duveneck, Heberto Sein, Marjorie Sykes, John and Alice Way, and Albert Bigelow--who made a difference in the world: social visionaries, radical educators, activist mystics, interfaith and intercultural bridge-builders, builder of homes for migrant workers and a Naval Commander turned pacifist. This book not only tells their amazing stories, much of it in their own words, but it also provides questions and exercises to help you find ways to let your life speak. Descended from Quakers going back to Colonial times, BILL LOVETT grew up on a farm in Eastern Pennsylvania that was deeded to his family by William Penn. A passionate pacifist all his life, he served time in prison during World War II because of his uncompromising commitment to conscientious objection. He later became involved in helping low-income farmworkers in the Central Valley build affordable homes through Self-Help Enterprises, a precursor to Habitat for Humanity. ROBERT VOGEL (1917-1998) was a conscientious objector during WW II, became a Quaker during grad school and spent three years in a Civilian Public Service (CPS) camp rather than join the military. There he began working for the AFSC-an organization that he served faithfully for over forty years. During his years as AFSC staff, he worked on peace education and traveled through the world visiting and supporting Quaker work in China, Japan, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the Soviet Union-as well as visiting Friends throughout the United States. He built bridges not only with America's "enemies," but also between different branches of Quakers: he was a true ambassador for peace. He also served as president of the Southern California Chapter of the ACLU, where he opposed loyalty oaths and was party to the successful court case, Vogel v. County of Los Angeles, that overthrew the special non-disloyalty oath required of all civil servants in California. JOSEPHINE DUVENECK (1891-1978) came from a well-to-do Boston family and had a deep concern for social justice, peace and young people. In the 1920s she and her husband Frank purchased a 1000-acre ranch near Palo Alto called Hidden Villa. This became a center for social, educational, environmental, and humanitarian activities. In summer it was a youth camp, to which the Duvenecks brought minority and disadvantaged children, and minority counselors, which given the mostly white demographics of the San Francisco Peninsula, was particularly unusual and innovative. It had the first youth hostel on the Pacific Slope. World War II refugees and Japanese-American victims of the World War II 'relocation'-internment-were released to Hidden Villa. HEBERTO SEIN (1898-1977), a Mexican Quaker, activist, poet and interpreter, and one of the founders of Mexico City Friends Meeting and Casa de los Amigos. JOHN AND ALICE WAY, founders and co-directors of Pacific Ackworth Friends School in Temple City, California. John (1906-1986) and Alice (1909-1989) were social visionaries involved in the cooperative movement as well as in AFSC. MARJORIE SYKES (1905-1995), a notable Quaker who lived and worked as an educator in India and was a friend and colleague of Tagore and Gandhi. ALBERT SMITH BIGELOW (1906-1993), a pacifist and former United States Navy Commander, who came to prominence in the 1950s as the skipper of the Golden Rule, the first vessel to attempt disruption of a nuclear test in protest against nuclear weapons. Peace, justice and radical transformation-these are the concerns that link these three Transformative Friends.
About the Author: ANTHONY MANOUSOS is a peace activist, teacher and author. His most recent books include Howard and Anna Brinton: Re-inventors of Quakerism in the 20th Century (2013) and Quakers and the Interfaith Movement (2011). For twelve years Anthony edited a Quaker magazine called Friends Bulletin (now called The Western Friend). He also edited six books and wrote several pamphlets for Quakers. He has taught at numerous colleges and universities, including Carleton College, Rutgers, Pepperdine, UC San Bernardino, San Bernardino Valley College, etc. Son of Greek and Scottish immigrants who never graduated from high school but who loved books and instilled in him a love of learning, Anthony was born and raised in Princeton, NJ. Thanks to teachers and professors who saw in him great potential, as a high school student, he took Latin and Greek courses at Princeton University and became proficient in these languages. He majored in Classics and English literature at Boston University, where he had the privilege of studying under Howard Zinn and the Pulitzer-prize winning poet Anne Sexton. He began his teaching career by teaching in an inner-city junior high school, a prison, and Catholic high school. He earned a Ph.D in eighteenth century literature from Rutgers University under the direction of Paul Fussell, who won a National Book award for his literary study The Great War and Modern Memory. Because of his family background, Anthony loved teaching low-income and immigrant students at the community college level. After marrying a Methodist pastor he met at Pendle Hill in 1987, he was led to work with United Methodist youth. He also helped start a statewide youth program for the Quakers. For ten years, he organized Quaker work camps in Mexico. Anthony serves on the board of directors for several organizations, including the Friends Committee on National Legislation, Friends World Committee for Consultation, Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace and the Peace and Justice Academy-an interfaith high school. He is currently enrolled in a spiritual direction program called "Stillpoint" and resides in Pasadena with his wife Jill Shook, whom he met at the Pasadena Palm Sunday Peace Parade. She has published a book on affordable housing (makinghousinghappen.com). For more about the editor/author, see laquaker.blogspot.com.
