Brian Willson Speaks about Blood on the Tracks, Eugene, OR

                                    Tuesday, June 28 2011 @ 05:00 PM - - 07:00PM

                                    Contact:

                                    Where:

                                        Tsunami Books

                                        2585 Willamette Street

                                        Eugene, OR

                                    Description:
                                    S. Brian Willson speaks about his new book release: Blood on the Tracks.
 From the book description:
 "We are not worth more, they are not worth less." This is the
mantra of S. Brian Willson and the theme that runs throughout his
compelling psychohistorical memoir. Willson's story begins in
small-town, rural America, where he grew up as a "Commie-hating,
baseball-loving Baptist," moves through life-changing experiences in
Viet Nam, Nicaragua and elsewhere, and culminates with his commitment
to a localized, sustainable lifestyle.

In telling his story, Willson provides numerous examples of the
types of personal, risk-taking, nonviolent actions he and others have
taken in attempts to educate and effect political change: tax
refusal—which requires simplification of one's lifestyle; fasting—done
publicly in strategic political and/or therapeutic spiritual contexts;
and obstruction tactics—strategically placing one's body in the way of
"business as usual." It was such actions that thrust Brian Willson into
the public eye in the mid-’80s, first as a participant in a
high-profile, water-only "Veterans Fast for Life" against the Contra
war being waged by his government in Nicaragua. Then, on a fateful day
in September 1987, the world watched in horror as Willson was run over
by a U.S. government munitions train during a nonviolent blocking
action in which he expected to be removed from the tracks and arrested.

Losing his legs only strengthened Willson's identity with millions
of unnamed victims of U.S. policy around the world. He provides details
of his travels to countries in Latin America and the Middle East and
bears witness to the harm done to poor people as well as to the
environment by the steamroller of U.S. imperialism. These heart-rending
accounts are offered side by side with inspirational stories of
nonviolent struggle and the survival of resilient communities.
http://www.myspace.com/tsunamibooks