Save the date and time!, January 31 at 7:00 pm, for a public Trico book talk when our own former Lang Professor, George Lakey, will share his new memoir, Dancing With History: A Life for Peace and Justice.
A reception and book signing will follow.
George Lakey is a scholar, writer, activist, trainer, and formerly a Lang Professor in Peace and Conflict Studies at Swarthmore College, where he founded the Global Nonviolent Action Database. He has taught at all three Trico colleges (Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and Swarthmore). Since the age of 19, he has been a tireless leader in peace and justice movements studying and engaging in nonviolent campaigns for social change. His work can be traced across the anti-Vietnam War movement, gay liberation, Men Against Patriarchy, Jobs with Peace (a labor coalition), and climate justice movements.
George Lakey is a national treasure, whom I met when I was 22. Dancing with George was a blast. His unstoppable, thoughtful, contagious approach to democratic action has inspired my life’s work.
Frances Moore Lappé, Director, Small Planet Institute.
In his memoir, George Lakey recollects his past and current experiences, layer by layer, narrating a life of building peace and justice through one’s actions.
George Lakey’s memoir is an important book, for Friends and for the wide radius of activist groups his life of witness has influenced. It is a testament to the adage that the personal is political, and the political is personal. One can hear eighty years of American culture pulsating through his body and spirit – not simply as unreflected zeitgeist, but as spiritually discerned and focused by a resilient concern for actionable analysis and strategy for a more peaceful, just, and sustainable world.
Doug Gwyn, author of A Sustainable Life: Quaker Faith & Practice in the Renewal of Creation.
Co-sponsors: Peace & Conflict Studies (Swarthmore); Peace, Justice & Human Rights (Haverford); Peace, Conflict & Social Justice Studies (Bryn Mawr]; Swarthmore Friends Meeting; The Peace Collection; Friends Historical Library; The Lang Center; Gender & Sexuality Studies