Gregg Brandalise, panelist for 'Seeds of Inspiration,' had his book 'The Death of Us All' reviewed by the San Diego Union-Tribune on April 3, 2025. The biographical novel celebrates Sister Dorothy Stang, a nun who died 20 years ago protecting the Amazon rainforest and its people. Read.
Gregg Brandalise, a 70-year-old Poway musician and studio owner, was inspired to write his first book after watching the documentary "Cowspiracy," which highlighted Sister Dorothy Stang's work and murder in Brazil.
His biographical novel "The Death of Us All" chronicles how Sister Dorothy, a nun with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, dedicated 40 years to protecting the Amazon rainforest and advocating for people who were poor in Brazil. Sister Dorothy was murdered at age 73 by hired gunmen on February 12, 2005, shortly after meeting with human rights officials about threats to local farmers.
To research the book, Brandalise interviewed Sister Dorothy's brother David Stang and two elderly nuns who knew her - Sisters Judi Clemens (87) and Joan Krimm (94). The book details how loggers and ranchers were destroying the rainforest for cattle grazing land, a practice Sister Dorothy fought against with her motto: "The death of the forest is the death of us all."
Brandalise recently attended a celebration of Sister Dorothy's martyrdom in Cincinnati, where he participated in a panel discussion. His book was released in January 2025 and is available in multiple formats on Amazon, with proceeds going to the Rainforest Trust and the Sustainable Development Project.
Sister Dorothy was posthumously awarded the 2008 United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights and is the first North American woman whose relics are included in the Shrine of Modern Martyrs in Rome.