Peace of Ourselves - Visser Kenn

Inspired by a true story, Peace of Ourselves is a coming-of-age novel about a young man’s evolving objection to the Vietnam War and his subsequent move from the US to Canada. The book offers a unique point of view that will trigger contemplative memories for those who lived during that time and a historical perspective for those who did not.

Kevin Fischer is a Missouri boy growing up in the ’60s and ’70s. He’s watching television after oral surgery on the day President Kennedy is shot. He’s on spring break traveling through Memphis when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is killed. By the time he’s in college, Kevin is participating in the growing, antiwar protests.

Kevin meets John, a Vietnam veteran who is traumatized by what he saw “over there.” John and Kevin have long talks about the realities of fighting in the Vietnam War, US Government international expansionism and the acceptance of these policies by the majority of US citizens. Although Kevin has a college draft deferment, as well as a medical issue that should preclude him from military service, he strongly opposes the Vietnam War on principle. This ideology is tested when his number comes up short in the draft lottery of 1969 making it more likely he will be drafted after college.

John has decided to immigrate to Canada, and Kevin goes along for the road trip before he goes back to college. Kevin falls in love with Canada and decides to stay, much to the dismay of his parents, who are more of the belief, “my county, right or wrong”. Kevin’s true love from school, Lorraine, joins him in Canada, and they begin a unique, shared adventure managing a large vineyard operation in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley.