A Walking Peace

Debut on national television ABC's "Good Morning America" broadcast live from New York City. The focus cover stories published in the Boston Globe, the Tennesean, and more. A Walking Peace is a non-fiction account of the coming of age of a young African American man adopted and raised by a deeply religious but profoundly troubled family in inner-city Boston in the 1980s and 90s. It addresses the author's entanglement with the issues of abandonment, poverty, and homelessness. It profiles his search for racial identity, self-worth, and love-his quest for the "walking peace" of the title. This memoir offers a graphic description of the physical, verbal, and sexual abuse the author secretly endured throughout much of his childhood at the hands of family members. It focuses primarily, however, not on his victimization but on his transcendence of his circumstances through the combined powers of religious faith and a musical vocation. Even though I was filled with rage at what others had done to me, I did not become a fighter against others. Yes, I blame the people who abused, raped, and abandoned me. I blame the system for placing me in an abusive home. But as much as I want to see my attackers brought to God's justice, I know that by becoming what they never expected me to be, I will have achieved the true peace that I've always been looking for. - NATHAN C. LANDERS,AUTHOR, 'A WALKING PEACE'