About the Author

Michael G. Long is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Peace and Conflict Studies at Elizabethtown College. He is also the author or editor of several books on civil rights, religion and politics, and peacemaking in mid-century America, including Beyond Home Plate: Jackie Robinson on Life after Baseball; First Class Citizenship: The Civil Rights Letters of Jackie Robinson ; Gay Is Good: The Life and Letters of Gay Rights Pioneer Franklin Kameny; I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin's Life in Letters; Marshalling Justice: The Early Civil Rights Letters of Thurgood Marshall; and Martin Luther King, Jr. on Creative Living.

Reviews

"The urban legend says that Mr. Rogers was a hero because he was a ninja-like Army Ranger. Michael Long, more rightly, demonstrates that Fred Rogers is a hero because he was a seemingly ordinary man with convictions of peace who sought to use his television program to help children experience the love of God. Parents and church leaders will be inspired by Rogers' wisdom to carry his true legacy to the next generation." --Steve Johnson, Family Ministry Consultant with the National Center on Biblical Parenting "Long shows how, in addition to helping children cope with personal concerns about sibling rivalry, sharing, and fears, Fred Rogers led them gently through moral/ethical explorations of the some of the most complex societal concerns of the late 20th century, like the harms of war and the necessity of peace, as well as hunger, greed, and the environmental costs of consumption." --Susan Linn, Ed.D., Director of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and author of The Case for Make Believe: Saving Play in a Commercialized World "We know Mr. Rogers was a gentle soul, but we did not know, until Michael Long's Peaceful Neighbor, that Rogers' nonviolence was shaped by his profound theological convictions. In this insightful book, Long makes clear that peace is a challenge to the imagination, and helps us imagine peace through his eloquent portrayal of Fred Rogers." --Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor Emeritus of Divinity and Law, Duke Divinity School