Tell It Slant:: A prophetic life of adventure & writing on religion, war, and justice, love and laughter

In 2020, when I was invited to write Chuck's biography, I was honored, humbled, amused, intrigued - and challenged: how to do fair justice to Chuck's circuitous and adventurous path through life?
By that time I had already decided that Chuck was among the most interesting Quakers alive in the twenty-first century. Investigative journalist, essayist, novelist, resolute pursuer-of-history, independent publisher, provocateur, activist,
"whistle-blower"; teacher, father, F/friend, community-organizer, theological "seeker" (and self-defined finder)-and more. How would invite the readers of this narrative to understand, and to share, my conviction that "the chronicles of Chuck Fager" are noteworthy, thought-provoking, inspiring - in short, worth the read?
After three years work with Chuck, here is the answer.
-- Emma Lapsansky-Werner, Professor Emeritus, Haverford College

Fearless, fabulous, flawed (and funny), Chuck Fager holds Quakers' feet to the fire mostly so that we might see the Light again and become better Friends. Whether you love him or loathe him (do Quakers do that?), he's played a critical role as a truth teller and advocate for social justice in the Society of Friends over the past 50 + years. A long overdue volume that chronicles his capers and paints as truthful a picture of the man himself as his own exposés of his beloved community.
-- Jane Orion Smith, former General Secretary, Canadian Friends Service Committee

A life generously served on wry with plenty of mustard and no cheese, Emma Lapsansky-Werner's compilation with Chuck Fager on his eighty years captures his unique synthesis of investigative journalism with religious concern, activist engagement with theological reflection, Quaker identity with wide-ranging, empathetic identifications. Chuck's story traces an engaging trajectory through our era, one to evoke both joy and sorrow from fellow travelers. His sixty-five-page bibliography itself is breathtaking, un grand oeuvre....
-- Douglas Gwyn, Quaker author, scholar, minister and songwriter

Tell all the truth but tell it slant — (1263)
By Emily Dickinson

Tell all the truth but tell it slant —
Success in Circuit lies.
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise.

As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind.

I. F. Stone . . "I believe that no society is good and can be healthy without freedom for dissent and for creative independence. . . . I am happy that in my own small way I have been able to demonstrate that independence is possible, that a wholly free radical journalist can survive in our society. In the darkest days of McCarthy, when I often was made to feel a pariah, I was heartened by the thought that I was preserving and carrying forward the best in America's traditions, that in my humble way I stood in a line that reached back to Jefferson."

-- from: "A Word about Myself "

"Much of what we tend to regard as the achievement of Friends as a whole was, in fact, the work of individual Friends, or small groups of Friends, often in the face of opposition or neglect of their monthly meetings. (One of the most positive – if often tedious – aspects of Quaker culture may be its capacity to produce or attract individuals who are willing to stand up to it)"
--- Bowen Alpern, in “Godless For God’s Sake”

Qui vit sans folie, n’est pas si sage qu’il croit--
He that lives without folly is not as wise as he thinks.
– Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“Nature intended illusions for the wise as well as for fools lest the wise be rendered too miserable by their wisdom.”
-- Nicholas Chamfort

On a sign at the Psychological Warfare Center at Fort Bragg/Liberty NC: "Words Conquer." The resulting Koan:
Bullets kill.
Bombs destroy.
But "Words Conquer."