Walking through the Wall

the long version

Long before reality television shows like Survivor, some people walked across the United States and Europe to Russia on real-life, Survivor-like projects. This is the inside story of one of those break-down-the-walls projects during the height of the 1980s Cold War by a journalist trained to be as objective as possible. The walk was covered by more than 2,000 newspapers and other media outlets. The participants met officials in all countries, including Russia, in an effort to get them to reverse the arms race and work together for the good of humanity. Walking through the Wall details the sometimes intense internal conflicts of this project and others. The book covers the dangers that included one participant of a 1987-88 march in India being hit by a bus and almost dying. It is a timeless story of not just trying to walk through barriers like the Berlin Wall, but of attempting to break through internal walls, unseen walls between fellow human beings, walls between one's self. Review: An inspiring personal account of a remarkable commitment to peace. Shay's journey's urgent purpose and the stories he tells of breakthroughs call all of us today to try much better to avert nuclear war. - James Bennett, professor, author, and founder of the Omni Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology in Fayetteville, Ark.