Growing up in the mill slums of Pittsburgh, Daniel Robinson was a punching bag for his drunken father, ignored by his mentally ill mother, and trapped in the grip of poverty. He’s finally freed from the torture of that home only to crash land in another hell when he’s abused by the pastor who takes him in. Daniel escapes once again, spending the next decade wandering homeless throughout the country during the turbulent 1960s. On his journey, he gets caught up in the hippie drug invasion in San Francisco, racial violence in Cleveland and Detroit, and especially a deadly anti-war protest at Kent State. Daniel finally finds love with someone who was running from her own demons.

Together they get a second chance at happiness and the family they both want. Because of his experience on the street, Daniel is offered a job helping men coming from prison. When asked to find housing for Charles Vickers, a black man who spent twenty years in prison for a rape Daniel is convinced he never committed, he and his wife open their own home to him. This enrages the community, especially when a local girl disappears. Violence erupts—with Daniel as the focus of their rage. Should he stay and fight for Charles—and put his family at risk, or run away again?

RUNNING AS FAST AS I CAN is an unforgettable, multi-award-winning story about overcoming childhood abuse and the generational trauma of poverty to find love, forgiveness, and redemption. Daniel’s story, with its harrowing social themes conveyed through an intense personal odyssey, vividly portrays a traumatic period in our history, while grappling with intense emotional and social issues we still face today.