Description
Book 1: PEACE is a fascinating chronicle of his work to obtain amnesty for Vietnam war resisters: draft refusers, military “deserters” and the tens of thousands of veterans who had been given “undesirable discharges” without trial. Lynn went on to become the most visible opponent of efforts to return registration for the next draft. Decorated Marine and author of Born on The Fourth of July Ron Kovic called the book “an important and beautiful literary treasure” and “an unforgettable portrait of a generation in turmoil”.
Book 2: PORN covers his efforts as an ACLU lawyer to defend the First Amendment “free speech” rights of everyone from promoters of controversial products including tobacco and condoms to flag burners and rockstars. His discussion of his efforts to discredit the Reagan era “Commission on Pornography” is full of anecdotes about observing the Commission as it travelled the country, even spending an evening in Houston’s seediest “porn stores.” Commission member and architect of the Religious Right, Dr, James Dobson, told him “you destroyed all the good work we tried to accomplish”. Lynn’s view of speech is that “everyone wants the government to ban something but if they all succeeded we would end up reading magazines with blank pages and watching only static on television screens”. Award-winning comedian Lewis Black has said the book “brilliantly expresses his ideas with wit, humor and panache.”
Book 3: PRAYERS discusses his quarter century of work at American United For Separation of Church and State. He details his unceasing battles against government sponsored prayers, funding schemes for private religious schools, “creationism”, the Faith Based Initiative, the phony “war on Christmas” and the very real efforts of the Right to restrict reproductive choice and endanger the rights and lives of members of the LGBTQ+ community. Former head of Planned Parenthood and author of Good Trouble Cecile Richards says of the book: “I once saw Barry wearing a t-shirt that read ‘This Is What A Feminist Looks Like’ and his life and work described here demonstrates just how true that message was.”
Throughout his career he never lost sight of the cultural changes around the United States and maintained an abiding interest in film. music and literature. Mary Gauthier, Grammy nominated singer-songwriter and author of Saved By A Song, notes that she “thinks Barry likes those of us on the margins more than the powerful politicians he has dealt with all of these years. Barry is a gem, his words, truth to power. These volumes are thrilling.”
If you are a religion or pollical science professor, a teacher concerned with late Twentieth /early Twenty-first American studies or history, a person who is an activist or a librarian you will want these three volumes. Take this journey with Barry Lynn as he deals with Presidents, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Pat Buchanan, Oliver North and even Lauren Bacall—and the hundreds of Americans who have crossed his path. The issues discussed in this book are still hotly contested today.
It was a high school student who came up to Lynn and said he wanted to do what Barry did and then described it as being “paid to piss people off.” Decades later that provided the title for this trilogy. Lynn did that and more and the country is all the better for it.
