The Pacifist
by Lyn Bixby
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| Publisher | Rootstock Publishing |
| Publication | Jan 06, 2026 |
| Format | Paperback/Softback |
| ISBN | 978-1578692118 |
| Pages | 282 |
| Age | 18 - 99 |
| Price | $19.99 |
The Pacifist
A Sister’s Quest for Justice.
In the fall of 1968, the deadliest year of the Vietnam war for Americans, Lisa Thompson, a back-to-the-land hippie living at her family's Vermont farm, is cutting firewood when a stranger shows up to warn her the FBI might be investigating her brother Chris, a Boston anti-war activist who was seriously injured when drafted. Chris had reported to an Army base where he refused induction and was taken away unconscious in an ambulance. The Army says he accidentally fell. Lisa doesn't believe it and heads to Boston to uncover the truth, but Chris dies before she can find out what happened to him. In a quest for justice, Lisa faces two of the most powerful institutions in the world-the Army and the FBI. But the Vietnam war and the draft have transformed America into a combat zone where protesters are under attack as enemies of the nation. With the help of a civil rights lawyer, a newspaper editor, and a combat veteran, Lisa navigates a labyrinth of lies and murders to confront her brother's killer, and keep his legacy alive.
From Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Lyn Bixby, inspired by the death of his college classmate in Vietnam, The Pacifist is a debut suspense thriller about standing up to power gone bad.
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Praise
“The Pacifist is an unnervingly timely novel. Set in the fall of 1968, at a time when America was tearing itself apart, this literary thriller unpacks the anti-war movement in Boston through a ragtag cast of Vietnam vets, hippies, pacifists, and undercover operatives. Author Lyn Bixby, a journalist and veteran, writes with urgency, panache, and deep compassion. The book reminds us that we've been here before—and that when a government turns on its own people, you’d better be ready to fight back with truth.”
–Melanie Finn, author of The Hare, winner of the 2021 Vermont Book Award for fiction