FROM YALE TO JAIL: The Life Story of a Moral Dissenter [Hardcover]

David Dellinger (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this loosely organized but surprisingly endearing memoir, peace activist and 1969 Chicago Seven defendant Dellinger recounts his diligent, remarkably consistent efforts to live according to his conscience. Born in 1915 to the family of a prominent Boston Republican lawyer, Dellinger ( Vietnam Revisited ) developed his revolutionary egalitarian politics at Yale and at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Earnest but not strident, he discusses his opposition to WW II and his principled refusal to pay bail, which led him to endure stints in many prisons. In straightforward prose, he recalls launching the magazine Liberation in 1956, tells of his early opposition to the Vietnam War and emphasizes how he aimed for a peaceful demonstration in Chicago during the Democratic Convention of 1968. While reflecting critically on such leaders as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Dellinger also ruminates on his marriage, his family life and his everyday attempts to build bridges with strangers. His dedication--"I'm still learning and growing," he declares at 77--is inspirational.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

At the age of 75, Dellinger, a social activist best known as one of the Chicago Seven, can look back over a life crowded with more than enough peril and action for 100 men. A warm personality emerges from these pages, as reflected in Dellinger's vivid portrayal of the important--and unimportant--people he met and/or knew, the issues for which he lived and argued, and the events in which he was either an interested observer or active participant. While his disjointed narrative is something of a pastiche without literary merit, it reflects Dellinger's style. It has vigor. It has conviction. Some will disagree with Dellinger's views, but few will contend that he does not try to be fair and balanced and always concerned with human values. Well worth reading by anyone interested in the past half-century of American life.
- A.J. Anderson, GSLIS, Simmons Coll., Boston
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 501 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon; 1st edition (March 31, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679405917
• ISBN-13: 978-0679405917
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,520,625 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rose Hill Books version is the only complete text!, January 12, 2011

By 

Apoo Nehasapemathetalon Zweig - See all my reviews

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This review is from: From Yale to Jail: The Life Story of a Moral Dissenter

Please bear in mind that the only complete version of this book that has been published is a softcover version published by Rose Hill Books. The earlier versions edited out sections. I spoke to Dave about this personally in the late 90's, as well as the publishers of the Rose Hill Books version, and know it to be so.

The image on the cover with two columns with the words "From Yale" between them is the cover image of this version of the book.

It is an absolute must-read for any student of MLK, the civil rights movement, activism in America, the Chicago 7 or Chicago 8, Black Power movement history, the '60s as an era of change or activism, and Christian Radicalism.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of best books I've ever read, August 22, 2009

By 

M. P. J. Harrison "Markyb" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From Yale to Jail: The Life Story of a Moral Dissenter

Fantastic, couldn't put it down...Remarkable man, if I achieve in the whole of my life a fraction of what Dave did I will be a happy man.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Remarkable Man, February 4, 2009

By 

P. J. Sullivan (Northern California USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: FROM YALE TO JAIL: The Life Story of a Moral Dissenter (Hardcover)

"Born with a golden spoon in his mouth, David Dellinger could have had it all. A talented athlete from an affluent background, educated at Yale and Oxford, he had every advantage. But he gave them up for justice and principle, enduring financial insecurity, long prison terms, hunger strikes, death threats, for causes he believed in.

While at Yale, he went tramping, briefly living like a homeless derelict to see how the "other half" lived. Chapters 8 and 9 of this book are reminiscent of George Orwell or Jack London. After graduating from Yale, he lived in hobo camps in New Jersey. In 1940 he was invited by Mrs. Roosevelt to have tea at the White House. He went, had tea with her, then hopped a freight train home!

Imprisoned during World War II for refusing to register for the draft, he refused to co-operate in any way with warmaking. As a divinity student he was eligible for a deferment, but rejected preferential treatment not available to others. In prison he was abused to the point of torture, force-fed, then released early because the prison authorities couldn't handle him.

Later he published Liberation Magazine and other influential journals of progressive thought. In 1965 his print shop was trashed by vandals. During the Vietnam war he joined Bertrand Russell's war crimes tribunal in Sweden and went to North Vietnam, talked with Ho Chi Minh, and got American soldiers released from Vietnamese prisons. After the death of A. J. Muste in 1967, Dellinger became the leader of the American peace movement. As one of the Chicago 8 defendants, he tried to put the U.S. government on trial for its crimes. Dellinger was a gentle man of great courage, sometimes likened to Francis of Assisi or Mohandas K. Gandhi. He treated everyone with respect, including his adversaries, but during the Chicago trial he refused to stand when the judge entered the room because he said he believed in equality. This book is action packed and rich in historical and philosophical insights.(less)"