The most famous Roman Catholics in America in the 1960's were two priests who were (still are) brothers: Philip and Daniel Berrigan, the former a priest member of the Society Of St. Joseph (commonly known as the "Josephites," an order dedicated to serving the Black community), the latter a Jesuit. SSJ and SJ respectively.

Starting in the 1960's, these two priests broke a lot of laws, and served a lot of time in various jails and prisons. They became famous as objectors to the War In Vietnam, and later expanded their respective "ministries of protest" to other situations of social injustice, as they perceived it.

Murray Polner and Jim O'Grady have written a fascinating account of the Berrigan brothers worth buying and reading. The Berrigan brothers became famous as two ninths of the "Catonsville (Maryland, USA) Nine," a group of protesters who, on May 17, 1968, raided a suburban Baltimore (Maryland, USA) draft board office, took its files of eligible young men about to be drafted into military service and possible combat in the then on-going War In Viet-Nam, and burned the draft board's records in a nearby parking lot, using a home made form of napalm. Only some of the records were removed and burned. The records left behind were stained with blood the two priests helped to pour over those records as a symbolic protest about the work of the draft board in promoting the War.

That was only the start of the civil protest career of these two men. In the same year (1968), they traveled to Hanoi (the same year Jane Fonda did.) In succeeding years and decades, they continued their dramatic forms of protest, and were often jailed and served hard time in tough prisons.

The story of the Berrigan Brothers is one every enthusiast about the social revolution of the 1960's should read. All Roman Catholics should read it, too, especially Josephites and Jesuits. These two priests put those two Catholic religious orders in the NEW YORK TIMES and in other prominent media many times, and in some ways no doubt determined the future of those orders, the Catholic Church (especially in the USA), and the USA itself.

Much has been written both about and by the Berrigan Brothers. This 1997 book is an important addition to the important history of these important Catholic priests. Buy this book from Amazon.Com. Read it carefully. You won't be sorry.

Disarmed and Dangerous is an empowering work for all conscientious persons who find themselves alarmed by the wide range of injustices abounding in our world. The core of the book focuses on the Fathers Berrigans' courageous, faith-inspired, non-violent 'ultra-resistance' to the criminal war in/on Vietnam, and to the military-industrial-violence complex, racism and poverty in general.

Authors Polner and O'Grady vividly recreate the world of Fr. Dan and Phil (now married), especially during that turbulent period of the late 1960s. The authors do a fine job of examining the inner psyches of these 'men of moral conscience who would suffer to confront the enormous power of the state.' We also hear the reactions from their many friends (e.g., Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, et al.) and, yes, their detractors and opponents, many of whom nevertheless greatly admired the two men.

Those of us persuaded by Mahatma Gandhi that non-violent civil disobedience should never engage in destruction of property (e.g., burning draft files) will be challenged by the Berrigans' undoubtedly correct belief that 'some property had no right to exist.' The controversial issue is still with us today as certain Earth First!ers occasionally destroy logging equipment used to kill irreplaceably-precious old growth forests. Wouldn't a mother do the same for her children if they were threatened by violence?

With hindsight, it is clear that the 'domino theory' concerning Communism was a fallacy. Moreover, Sec. of Defense McNamara has admitted that American involvement in and escalation of the Vietnam War was a mistake. Surely, then, the Berrigans and their countless colleagues throughout the land who suffered immensely in rising up to protest the war stood on the side of good and justice. Vilified by many at the time for their civil obedience, these men and women deserve to be rightfully viewed by the media as great American heroes, and heroes of the Catholic Church. Authors Polner and O'Grady succeed in this task, while not shying away from pointing out the occasional quirks and flaws in the two subjects whom they have profiled.

This book will be a special inspiration for those in Phil's Plowshares movement and groups like Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) tirelessly laboring on behalf of peace against nuclear weapons and war. The book will also inspire those of us outraged by crimes against humanity like the horrors of US sanctions against the innocent people of Iraq. (Circa 1.5 million--mostly small children, women, the infirm and elderly--have died from lack of clean water, medicine, healthcare, adequate food, and poisoning from our depleted uranium [DU]-tipped bombs and tank shells.)

As Phil and his colleagues wrote in their statement of purpose to the press and public upon pouring blood on the draft files in Baltimore, 1967: 'We invite friends in the peace and freedom movements to continue moving with us from dissent to resistance. We ask God to be merciful and patient with us and all men.' (p. 177)