HARRISBURG 7 AND THE NEW CATHOLIC LEFT

During the first three months of 1972 a trial took place in the middle district of Pennsylvania THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA versus Eqbal Ahmad Philip Berrigan Elizabeth McAlister Neil McLaughlin Anthony Scoblick Mary Cain Scoblick Joseph Wenderoth The defendants stood accused of conspiring to raid federal offices to bomb government property and to kidnap presidential advisor Henry Kissinger Six of those seven individuals are or were Roman Catholic clergypriests and nuns Members of the new Catholic Left from the introduction When The Harrisburg 7 and the New Catholic Left was originally published in 1972 it remained on The New York Times Book Review New and Recommended list for six weeks and was selected as one of the Notable Books of the Year Now forty years later William ORourkes book eloquently speaks to a new generation of readers interested in American history and the religious antiwar protest movements of the Vietnam era ORourke brings to life the seven antiwar activists who were vigorously prosecuted for alleged criminal plots filling in the drama of the case the trial the events the demonstrations the panels and the people ORourke includes a new afterword that presents a sketch of the evolution of protest groups from the 1960s and 1970s including the history of the New Catholic Left for the past four decades claiming that after the Harrisburg trial the New Catholic Left became the New Catholic Right