{"product_id":"9781570754340","title":"Disturbing the Peace: The Story of Father Roy Bourgeois and the Movement to Close the School of the Americas","description":"\u003cp\u003eDisturbing the Peace tells the story of a Cajun priest, a former gung-ho Navy   officer injured in a bomb blast in Vietnam, who has tirelessly championed human   rights and aroused the conscience of a nation. The fast-paced historical   biography also profiles the movement he founded to close a notorious U.S. Army   school whose graduates have committed atrocities across Latin America. \u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eThe journey of this \"spiritual hobo\" has more twists and turns than the   Mississippi River: from love affairs that ended in heartbreak to patriotic   impulses that ended in disillusionment. From dreams of wealth to missionary work   among the poor. From protests and prison terms to a cloistered monastery. From   confrontations with church hierarchy to political battles on Capitol Hill. \u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eBourgeois’ opposition to militarism began after a blind Vietnamese orphan   opened his eyes to the realities of war. Since then, his human rights work has   landed him in half a dozen war-torn countries. \u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eThe assassinations of six Jesuit priests in El Salvador in 1989 spurred   Bourgeois to investigate the U.S. Army’s School of the Americas, then a little   known training installation whose graduates were later linked not only to the   Jesuit massacre, but to gross human rights abuses throughout Latin America. \u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eThe book also profiles the movement he founded to close the school; the   Congressional battles over its funding; the Pentagon’s forced admission that the   school used manuals advocating torture and assassination; and the courage of   average Americans – including WWII and Vietnam veterans, students, teachers,   union workers, professionals, clergy and elderly nuns – who have risked   imprisonment each year at the annual November demonstration at Fort Benning,   Ga., where the school is located. \u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eAfter a ten-year battle, the Pentagon closed the school, only to re-open it   under a new name -- the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.   The SOA Watch movement continues to be one of the strongest voices of dissent   since Sept.11, 2001, winning court battles that have helped safeguard First   Amendment rights. \u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eTime and again throughout the struggle, Bourgeois, along with his fellow   provocateurs for justice, lends credence to Margaret Mead’s belief \"that a small   group of committed citizens can change the world.\" \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Orbis Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47050375233776,"sku":"9781570754340","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781570754340_p0.jpg?v=1763794972","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781570754340","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}