Anonymous
Posted July 30, 2008
¿David Cortright¿s PEACE shows that it is possible to prevent the scourge of war and create a more just and peaceful future¿if we are prepared to learn the lessons of history and apply proven peacemaking knowledge. This is a hopeful but realistic book that deserves to be read and studied widely.¿ --Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General, the United Nations.---- In a year that celebrates the 50th anniversary of the creation of the peace symbol, it is fitting that one should be so prominently displayed on the front of David Cortright¿s recently published Peace, a History of Movements and Ideas 'Cambridge University Press 2008'. Veteran scholar and peace activist Cortright has shaped much of the history about which he writes, first as a soldier initiator of the successful movement against the Vietnam War from within Army ranks--in the 1980s as the director of SANE, the largest antinuclear organization in the U.S.--in 2002 as an initiator of the popular Win Without War movement--and now as an international diplomatic consultant and scholar who not only still actively works within the ranks of the grass roots, but is also teaching others how to successfully wage peace diplomatically against the forces of violence and war. Cortright has plenty to say about the how the oft-overlooked and dismissed tools of 'realistic pacifism' can be employed to most successfully address some of our stickiest global situations of violence--the crisis in Iraq, the bungled diplomacy in Iran, displacement of large populations caused by war. Cortright shows how the reliance on tools of violence have failed to solve global differences time and time again. Peace is an education in itself and should be read by every policy practitioner involved in global decision making. The concepts in this book should be taught in schools within the general history courses that continue to rely heavily on the vantage point of warriors. The lessons of history have for too long focused on the lessons of violence and its use. It is no mistake that Cambridge University Press chose David Cortright to write this book. He has risen to the occasion and offered up a working history of peace that no one else could. ###
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More About This Textbook
Overview
This authoritative, balanced, and highly readable volume traces the rise of peace advocacy and internationalism from their origins in earlier centuries through the mass movements of recent decades: the pacifist campaigns of the 1930s, the Vietnam antiwar movement, and the waves of disarmament activism that peaked in the 1980s. David Cortright brings the story up-to-date by examining opposition to the Iraq War and responses to the so-called "war on terror." This is history with a modern twist, set in the context of current debates about "the responsibility to protect," nuclear proliferation, Darfur, and conflict transformation.
Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
"Cortright (Univ. of Notre Dame) has written an excellent history of peace movements and themes. He approaches the definition of peace with an understanding of its changing concept through time and its pendulum swings from utopian to realist. Cortright covers an extensive amount of history and philosophy in a cohesive and easy to understand format. The author's ability to represent the idealistic perceptions of peace and pacifism while articulating 'realistic pacifism' is particularly pleasing." —Choice"..indepth history of efforts to prevent war..." —Veteran
Product Details
Meet the Author
David Cortright is President of the Fourth Freedom Forum and Research Fellow at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame.
Table of Contents
1 What is peace? 1
Pt. I Movements 23
2 The first peace societies 25
3 Toward internationalism 45
4 Facing fascism 67
5 Debating disarmament 93
6 Confronring the cold war 109
7 Banning the bomb 126
8 Refusing war 155
Pt. II Themes 181
9 Religion 183
10 A force more powerful 211
II Democracy 233
12 Social justice 260
13 Responsibility to protect 279
14 A moral equivalent 302
15 Realizing disarmament 321
16 Realistic pacifism 334
Bibliography 340
Index 355