Friday, June 23, 2017

Book Review: Dave Eberhardt's "For All the Saints" by Frank Cordaro, Plowshares activist


http://www.lochravenreview.net/2012Spring/eberhardt.html

Dave was a member of the Baltimore 4 (poured blood on draft files in '67 with than Father Phil Berrigan) and did a couple of years of prison. Now, after all these years, he has written a short, 125 page, very personal account of his peace movement and jail experiences.

My favorite part of his book is his account and description of his relationship with my hero & Dave's, Phil Berrigan. The book delves more deeply into Dave's and others' motives from one person's perspective, a player who was there. He tells numerous prison tales - many of them humorous. Other saints include Dan Berrigan, Art Laffin, Medea Benjamin, Brendan and Willa Walsh, Bill Davidon.

  He also gives Dorothy Day's take on the draft file actions too."  Dave has already written 3 books of poetry and worked for 33 years at the Baltimore City Jail, as Director of Offender Aid and Restoration.

Attached photo by line" 1967, after Balt. 4 Blood Spilling Draft Board action, Dave Eberhardt and wife Louise in apartment. Dave is holding a fellow Balt. 4 member, Tom Lewis' No More War "poster.

From Marjorie Melville, wife of fellow Catonsville 9 member, Tom Melville: ”THANK YOU! Received your opus. So welome…as I sit beside 
Tom’s bed as he slowly fades. So many memories of Saints, yes. So grateful for being a part- small- of what I believe is our real task as
humans…appreciate your memories so well told of actions and prisons I do well identify and recall from my time at Alderson prison and visiting Tom at the Farm. You so well- in my mind- recall Phil and Dan and George and all that transpired. We are blessed to have been
associated with so many SUPER persons. Thank you for your well phrased prose.”
Dave Eberhardt, a friend of Viva House for half a century, shares his unique insights on the costs required when someone nonviolently resists our “filthy rotten system.” When he poured blood on Baltimore City draft records (aka killing licenses) Dave began an unwavering commitment to risk, struggle and all the consequences. He shares his journey with us in his thoughtful
book, FOR ALL the SAINTS. Take the journey. Brendan Walsh June, 2017
“Movie cowboys and wild west sheriffs shoot from the hip. Poet David Eberhardt writes from the hip. “For All the Saints” is a chronicle of a restless soul who has battled war, seen the world from the other side of prison bars, and never closed his eyes to the down-and-out.” – Jim Forest, Milwaukee 14

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs



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