On May 17th, 1968, a group of Catholic antiwar activists burst into a
draft board in suburban Baltimore, stole hundreds of Selective Service
records (which they called "death certificates"), and burned the
documents in a fire fueled by homemade napalm. The bold actions of the
''Catonsville Nine'' quickly became international news and captured
headlines throughout the summer and fall of 1968 when the activists,
defended by radical attorney William Kunstler, were tried in federal
court.
In The Catonsville Nine, Shawn Francis Peters, a Catonsville native,
offers the first comprehensive account of this key event in the history
of 1960's protest. While thousands of supporters thronged the streets
outside the courthouse, the Catonsville Nine--whose ranks included
activist priests Philip and Daniel Berrigan--delivered passionate
indictments of the war in Vietnam and the brutality of American foreign
policy. The proceedings reached a stirring climax, as the nine activists
led the entire courtroom (the judge and federal prosecutors included) in
the Lord's Prayer.
Peters gives listeners vivid, blow-by-blow accounts of the draft raid,
the trial, and the ensuing manhunt for the Berrigans, George Mische, and
Mary Moylan, who went underground rather than report to prison. He also
examines the impact of Daniel Berrigan's play, The Trial of the
Catonsville Nine, and the larger influence of this remarkable act of
civil disobedience. More than 40 years after they stormed the draft
board, the Catonsville Nine are still invoked by both secular and
religious opponents of militarism.
Based on a wealth of sources, including archival documents, the
activists' previously unreleased FBI files, and a variety of eyewitness
accounts, The Catonsville Nine tells a story as relevant and
instructive today as it was in 1968.
