In Brief: Reporting for Duty: My Urgency for Justice and Peace

Reviewed by Alice Glitchell

August 1, 2024

By Andrew Mills. Resource Publications, 2022. 230 pages. $35/hardcover; $25/paperback or eBook.

I’m very grateful to Friend Andrew Mills for writing this memoir. Sharing our stories is a profound and meaningful spiritual exercise, and especially so when nearing the end of life. Mills is in his 90s, a retired groundwater hydrologist and programmer, and a member of Trenton (N.J.) Meeting.

Friends hungry for accounts by contemporary Quakers of their leadings, decisions, and actions; anyone interested in U.S. foreign policy in Central and South America; social activists; and students of political movements will all find value in this book.

Mills discusses the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals after World War II, which he followed avidly at the age of 15, deeply pondering peace, war, and personal responsibility.

Under the heading “Slavery and Civil Rights,” Mills reflects on traveling from California to join the 1965 civil rights protest march from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama. Most interesting to me was the discussion of the impact of the march on passage of voting rights legislation.

The longest chapter is “Nicaragua Connection” at nearly 80 pages. This could be expanded into an entire book! Most dramatic is his group’s 1985 experience of being kidnapped by Contras and held for several days. More important to current readers is his analysis of U.S. government interference in Nicaraguan politics. He acknowledges the complexities surrounding the protests and uprising in 2018 and lists equal numbers of sources supporting and opposing the Sandinista government. Mills supports the “pro” Sandinistas because their arguments are more detailed and he judges them to “ring true.”

In “My Older Years,” Mills discusses election monitoring in El Salvador (1994), working with Witness for Peace on issues pertaining to Guatemala (1994–2013), and opposing the U.S. Army’s School of the Americas. An appendix includes letters to the editors written to various news outlets.

Andrew Mills considered it his duty to speak truth.

Alice Glitchell is a member of Atlantic City Area (N.J.) Meeting currently attending Hartford (Conn.) Meeting.