Johnny Dwyer discusses "American Warlord: A True Story"

American Warlord is the true story of Chucky Taylor, the son of the infamous African dictator Charles Taylor and the only American ever convicted of torture.

Chucky Taylor was in many ways an average American kid: growing up in Florida he had friends, a high school sweetheart, and some brushes with the law. But then, in 1992, at age fifteen, he traveled to Liberia to meet his estranged father, Charles Taylor--the warlord and future president of Liberia. Adrift in a strange, underdeveloped country, Chucky became the commander of the infamous Anti-Terrorist Unit, aka "Demon Forces."

Suddenly powerful amidst the lawlessness of his father's rule, any semblance of morality vanished: the savagery and pointlessness of his crimes shocked even his brutal father. Fleeing Liberia as his father's government fell, Chucky was caught sneaking into the United States and became the first American convicted of the war crime of torture.

Now, Johnny Dwyer's deeply researched book American Warlord tells not just the riveting story of Chucky Taylor and his family, but also of Liberia, a nation which only recently has found reason to hope for the future.

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A representative of the Center for Victims of Torture will be available at this event to discuss the organization’s work. CVT provides care for torture and war survivors and their families in Minnesota, Africa and the Middle East. In St. Paul a team of care providers works each year with approximately 250 survivors and 700 family members of survivors who receive some kind of support services. To learn more about how you can make a difference in the lives of torture and war trauma survivors, visit  www.cvt.org.

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Johnny Dwyer is a reporter living in New York City. He has written for Esquire, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, Time, Foreign Policy, VICE, and The New York Times. American Warlord is his first book.