Witness for Humanity: The Biography of Clarence E. Pickett

by Lawrence McK Miller

Clarence Pickett, Quaker farm boy from Kansas and elder statesman of his era, inspired humanitarian service activities; economic and social rebuilding in Appalachia during the depression; the rescue of refugees from Europe and in the Middle East; the creation of alternative service for pacifists in World War II; and postwar nonconfrontational intergovernmental dialogue. The farm boy never lost his deep faith in God and in his fellow humans, or sense of humor.

367 pages, Paperback

First published January 8, 1999

Reviews

[Zana]

I would probably have never read this if Pendle Hill weren't in the process of making it into an ebook and there hadn't been an editing fiasco. Having read it, I have gained an immense appreciation for a truly good man who made a lot of good things happen in the world, a great appreciation for how the AFSC and Quakerism functioned in the first half of the 20th century, and an intimate look at world politics of the time that in many ways eerily resemble today's.

The book is completist. No stone is left unturned, and since Clarence Pickett spent every moment of every day working to make the world a better place, running multiple organizations and committees, traveling constantly, making connections with people in positions of power in order to convince them to do the right thing... There is a lot in here. I'm not sure I would have made the same choices were I writing the biography - I prefer a narrative storyline on those rare occasions when I read biographies - but it does result in a very complete view of a person. The little details add up to a multifaceted life of great depth. Also I learned a ton about the history of the Religious Society of Friends. I was particularly intrigued to learn about the mental health challenges of several very prominent Friends!

Glad I read it, glad the ebook will be coming out soon because I've spent an awful lot of time copyediting this. Between the typos introduced by the OCR and the typos in the original, I'm not sure I got them all, but let me assure you that this is much improved from the draft I got lo these many moons ago.