Tells the story of the conscientious objectors (COs) who refused to fight in World War II. More than 12,000 COs performed alternative service during the war as medical guinea pigs, fire jumpers, attendants in mental institutions, and workers for church-sponsored Civil Public Service Work Camps. Another 6,000 spent the war years in prison, using hunger strikes to integrate the federal prison system. Their experience prepared a generation of nonviolent activists to change American society in ways that we are only beginning to appreciate.