[Oe List ...] Iron Boy Review

[David Marshall]

Order/EI/ICA Colleagues,

Thank you, Ken, for this heartfelt Amazon review. For others who have read
IRON BOY and found it useful, I would welcome Amazon customer reviews from
you as well. I have 13 now (including Ken's, which Amazon will be posting
soon), and I've gathered from my book publishing days that 25 is the magic
number whereby the Amazon algorithm kicks in and starts to market the book
automatically. This will help me to continue spreading the word about
spiritual freedom in the face of obstacles life brings us.

Speaking of this, I've noticed since publishing IRON BOY last June and
Substack articles about the passing of my father, Gene Wesley Marshall,
last August, about a dozen former "Order Adults" have reached out to me
directly by email and/or Zoom to share some of their difficult decisions or
wounds during or after their Order days. I know many former "Order Kids"
have benefited from professional therapy as adults to process and cope with
their own Order trauma, but perhaps not as many Order Adults have. I don't
know. In any case, I welcome private conversations with any of you who need
or want to talk in a safe place. I am not a professional counselor, but my
34 years in a men's group have helped me to become a good and empathetic
listener.

Grace, Peace, and Love,

David Marshall
Moraga, California USA
direct email: davidpaulmarshall1956 at gmail.com

On Mon, Jan 19, 2026 at 7:46 AM Ken Fisher <kenfisher1942 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Colleagues,
>
> I am six months late writing this. I must say that David's song reference
> at the beginning of each chapter spun me out. Reengaging took its own pace.
> As well, in that time I came very close to edge and now have a pacemaker.
>
> Hugs, Ken
>
>
>
> Iron Boy Review
>
>
>
> From the blackness of Chicago’s West Side comes the odyssey of IRON BOY.
> David Marshall writes out of his youth’s microcosm and in the last chapter,
> holding a knife, he gives life to himself and his peers.
>
>
>
> Like Hannah Arendt, one of the most influential political theorists of the
> twentieth century, David Marshall was also influenced by Soren Kierkegaard,
> Rudolf Bultmann and Paul Tillich. For the first time ever, within itself,
> the west encountered fascism and went through the paroxysm of World War Two
> killing 75 million to put our monster back in a box, allowing humanity new
> life.
>
>
>
> In the 50s and 60s the impulse of utopianism was everywhere -
> decolonialization, Black Power, feminism, student power. In Europe and
> North America, the forces of renewal in Christianity were widespread.
> David’s Iron Boy allows one to experience the blood and guts of a white boy
> growing up and growing through this utopianism in the form of The Order
> Ecumenical, the families and individuals who staffed the Ecumenical
> Institute from the 60s through the 80s.
>
>
>
> On the one hand, the secular impact of this 60s community continues
> globally through the services of the Institute of Cultural Affairs active
> in about 50 countries. On the other hand, many of the youth who grew up in
> the Order Ecumenical intentional community suffered deeply. As a young
> parent, I was there too. My sons are still meeting these challenges with
> grace.
>
>
> [image: Screenshot 2026-01-19 at 10.42.51 AM.png]
>
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