Radical Chapters: Pacifist Bookseller Roy Kepler and the Paperback Revolution
America’s sudden involvement in WWII made life more than difficult for pacifists, especially those who did not have strong religious ties undergirding their positions. Brothers Earl and Roy Kepler steadfastly maintained their antiwar beliefs, but Earl soon found himself in prison and Roy in a make-work program for conscientious objectors. Earl died in a fire, but Roy endured multiple internments throughout the war’s course. A gulag-like experience in Michigan led Roy to near rebellion against inhumane treatment. After assuming an active role in postwar pacifism and then turning to radio broadcasting, Roy married and founded Kepler’s Books, in Menlo Park, California, a gathering spot for radical students and a focal point for sixties counterculture. There Kepler helped popularize a new format for distributing serious literature: the paperback. Doyle’s revealing narrative of the often overlooked saga of American conscientious objectors during WWII may be the book’s most lasting contribution. --Mark Knoblauch