Breaking Ranks

The 10 men whose stories are told here once held powerful jobs in or connected with the American military complexthe CIA; nuclear weapons labs and factories; the army; the foreign service. But each man began questioning the morality of the industry he served, broke ranks and chose instead to work as peace activists. Their stories range from the dramatic (Bill Perry's tension-filled stint as director of public relations for the Livermore Lab) to the contemplative (physicist Tom Grissom's realization, after 15 years at a major weapons design lab, that he could no longer reconcile his ethics with his work). Everett ( Bearing Witness, Building Bridges: Interviews with North Americans Living and Working in Nicaragua ) ably profiles them, but the men also speak cogently for themselves, weighing whether personal gain or collective happiness matters more. (Feb.)