Crossing Boundaries in the Americas Vietnam and the Middle East: A Memoir

Crossing Boundaries in the Americas Vietnam and the Middle East is the personal yet profoundly political first-person account of one mans unique interracial and interfaith leadership roles over five decades in movements for civil rights against the Vietnam War and for Arab-Israeli-Palestinian peace. Ron Youngs story told with honesty humility and humor gives an insider view of key events in these movements and personalizes a significant strain of modern American history not often afforded sufficient attention in either the textbooks or the mainstream press. This book is an important read for anyone interested in these issues and movements. It should be recommended reading for students in colleges and high schools. This personal memoir of Rons is more significant than simple autobiography. His story is the countrys story--or a part of the countrys story not usually told vividly. . . . If you are ever tempted to despair that Americans have lost their moral compass look into Ron Youngs generous life of activism. He has not been alone. --David K. Shipler from the preface A heartfelt account of building bridges across deep divides and putting progressive peace values into practice. --Eboo Patel author of Acts of Faith Ron Youngs memoir offers the reader a personal view into the history of the civil rights movement the peace movement and the ongoing struggle in the Middle East. Crossing Boundaries in the Americas Vietnam and the Middle East is a moving and instructive gift to todays generation. --Joan Brown Campbell former General Secretary National Council of Churches USA Ron Youngs personal story will inspire young people working for peace justice and reconciliation in the Middle East and beyond. Crossing Boundaries in the Americas Vietnam and the Middle East provides a riveting account of one mans lifelong commitment to his core values and a primer on how to translate those values into action to make the world a better place. --Jeremy Ben Ami President JStreet Washington DC Crossing Boundaries in the Americas Vietnam and the Middle East is more than one persons memoir. Ron Youngs life is a witness that the deepest chasms that divide us as people including race politics and religion--with their complexities histories and seemingly irresolvable conflicts--call us to renewed resolve to be about Gods work of reconciliation justice and peacemaking. --Mark Hanson Presiding Bishop 2001-13 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Chicago IL Ron Young is a consultant to thirty American Jewish Christian and Muslim religious leaders working together for Israeli-Palestinian peace. In the 1980s Ron and his wife Carol Jensen lived in the Middle East while pursuing a Quaker assignment of listening to Arabs and Israelis. During the Vietnam War Ron resisted the draft visited Saigon and Hanoi and coordinated peace marches on Washington in 1969 and 1970. Ron also worked with Rev. Jim Lawson in a black Methodist church in Memphis in 1962 and with Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma in March of 1965. Ron remains a popular and inspiring speaker at colleges high schools congregations and community forums.