Phinney Books is hosting a launch event for Atomic Pilgrim, where James will be in conversation with University of Washington, Bothell assistant professor Shannon Cram at 7 pm on July 24 at the Phinney Center, 6532 Phinney Ave. N, Seattle. You can pre-order signed copies of Atomic Pilgrim in advance of the event here, to pick up at the event or the store, or to be shipped within the U.S.

Atomic Pilgrim: How Walking Thousands of Miles for Peace Led to Uncovering Some of America's Darkest Nuclear Secrets

by James Patrick Thomas

(Latah Books, paperback, 2025)

Atomic Pilgrim is the story of how one person's faith, actions, and persistence can impact seemingly immovable systems and hold even the most powerful bureaucracies to account. James Patrick Thomas's path toward nuclear disarmament began on Good Friday, 1982, when he and his fellow peace pilgrims started walking away from the Trident Nuclear Submarine Base near Seattle. Their Bethlehem Peace Pilgrimage would span 6,700 miles across the United States and nine other countries, each step aimed at ending the nuclear arms race. After two years on the road, Jim continued his pursuit of peace and disarmament. Back in Spokane, Washington, Jim turned his attention toward the Hanford plutonium factory - one of the original Manhattan Project sites just 110 miles from his home. Over the next two decades, Jim helped uncover stunning revelations about Hanford's toxic regional impact and its role in our nation's nuclear weapons complex. 

"Thomas’s account of that transformational trek is candid and emotive...Atomic Pilgrim is an inspiring memoir about courageous actions taken for peace and a world free of nuclear weapons."
—Foreword Reviews

While serving in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, James Patrick Thomas began advocating for nuclear disarmament as a member of the Bethlehem Peace Pilgrimage. He spent the next quarter century investigating radioactive pollution from the production and testing of nuclear weapons, mostly focused on the Hanford Site in south-central Washington State. He organized a national coalition that forced the federal government to close Hanford's plutonium operations in 1990, served on several federal advisory committees concerning radiation health effects, and worked for ten years as a paralegal for the plaintiffs in the Hanford downwinders litigation. Jim directed life, justice, and peace ministry for the Diocese of Spokane (1984-1987), the Archdiocese of Seattle (2007-2015), and the Washington State Catholic Conference (2015-2020). He has a master's in religious studies from Gonzaga University. He has visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki twice - in 1993 he spoke at an international conference on plutonium processing and in 2023 he accompanied Archbishops Paul Etienne and John Wester on their Pilgrimage of Peace. He lives in Seattle with his wife and daughter.