Customer Reviews

Great Peacemakers: True Stories from Around the World

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Great Peacemakers is a fascinating read about twenty incredible people--some famous or familiar, some less so--whose positive influences have reverberated around the world and affected modern history in surprisingly countless ways. The authors carefully and thoughtfully organized the peacemakers and their particular areas of focus into five categories, or paths: Choosing Nonviolence, Living Peace, Honoring Diversity, Valuing All Life, and Caring for the Planet. Each theme has a vital point of social, political, environmental, and ethical significance and urgency, conveyed through the courage, creativity, and insights of the peacemakers.

In selecting the peacemakers to profile, the authors strove for balance of race, nationality, religion, gender, age, and level of fame. The outcome is an exceptional collection of intriguing personalities and role models, each one equally memorable and inspirational. The text is easy to read but intelligently composed. Each segment consists of five pages that highlight the overall theme of each person's life. This format prevents the reader from getting bogged down in detail while gleaning the essence of the peacemakers, their accomplishments and challenges, and their individual approaches to peace. The photographs bring the individuals to life, and the quotations at the end of each segment encapsulate the core of their messages in memorable affirmations.

Great Peacemakers is the kind of book that you want to read from cover to cover. Because each segment is self-contained, it's easy to complete just one a day, if time is limited, or if you want to use it as a topic of meditation, discussion, or further exploration.

This book is ideal for youth through adults. It would also be an excellent text for middle school, high school, and college-level classes, as well as book clubs, community-service volunteers, activists, and faith-based groups. In fact, anyone who wants an uplifting, thought-provoking read will find this book to be a treasure--one that should be revisited frequently.

This book was brilliantly conceived and executed. I like it so much I am adding it to my travel series for recurring selective reading.

I am very impressed by the research and the creative analysis that paved the way for this book to be truly in a class of its own. Indeed, I think the authors are on to something that could and should be a multilingual series used in every classroom on the planet.

While the table of contents is impressive, with twenty great souls selected for concise review, what really got my attention was the Introduction, where the authors observe that after much research, they found five distinct groups or "paths to peace:"

choosing nonviolence,

living peace,

honoring diversity,

valuing all life, and

caring for the planet.

There is one other, public intelligence (a topic on which I have written four books, published a fifth, and have just commissioned three new edited works (Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace; Peace Intelligence: Assuring a Good Life for All; and Commercial Intelligence: From Moral Green to Golden Peace).

Each of the chapters is short, easy to read, relevant, and concluded by a page of thoughts from the person in their own words, and that is the primary reason this book made the extraordinary leap into permanent travel with me.

Two from Martin Luther King, Jr. represent all that I live to correct:

"The way of acquiescence leads to moral and spiritual suicide."

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."

See my varied lists and my many non-fiction reviews for additional reading.

Amazon allows me to add ten links to any review. Here are nine more, six books and three DVDs, on the subject of Peace. I praise God every day for Dick Cheney--only the presence of such a nakedly amoral war criminal could have sparked the revolution in human affairs that is about to take place. Peace is the only winnable war, and the Earth Intelligence Networki, co-founded by 24 leading-edge minds, strives to empower every person on the planet with public intelligence in the public interests.

The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People
A Power Governments Cannot Suppress
The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It
Peacekeeping Intelligence: Emerging Concepts for the Future
The New Craft of Intelligence: Personal, Public, & Political--Citizen's Action Handbook for Fighting Terrorism, Genocide, Disease, Toxic Bombs, & Corruption
Tibet - Cry of the Snow Lion
The Snow Walker
Peace One Day

I am *very* pleased to have read this book, and I do not plan to put it away. This volume is not just a keeper, it is a travel companion rich with good intentions that are contagious. Well done!

XXXXX

Who said these revealing STATEMENTS?

(1) "Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided [people]."
(2) "If peace is what every government says it seeks, and peace is the yearning of every heart, [then] why aren't we studying it and teaching it in schools."
(3) "It is far too easy to discourage, all to easy to criticize, to complain, to rebuke. Let us try instead to see even a small amount of good in a person and concentrate on that."
(4) "If we want to save face as a civilized nation, we have to resolve some questions--ethical ones, not economic."
(5) "War is more than a metaphor; we are in a real struggle to protect the life support systems of the planet from a degradation that is every bit as threatening as a bomb or bullet."

The above five statements were made by five of the twenty peacemakers (that is, those "individuals who have made peace their choice in life") profiled in this powerful, inspirational book. Note that on the book's cover (displayed above by Amazon or available at the book`s Internet site, great peacemakers.com) is what looks like a round convex mirror that is reflecting the coloured portraits of the twenty peacemakers (six of whom are female, nine of whom are deceased) profiled in this book.

The book's authors are (A) Ken Beller, cofounder and president of "a consulting firm that links values to the bottom line" and (B) Heather Chase, founder of an "international group of models dedicated to promoting animal-friendly and environmentally-conscious products and causes."

The book itself represents five years of research.

The main feature of this book is how it is organized. Each of the twenty peacemakers is categorized into one of five "PATHS TO PEACE," namely:

(i) Choosing non-violence
(ii) Living peace
(iii) Honouring diversity
(iv) Valuing all life
(v) Caring for the planet

It was decided that four peacemakers per path would be profiled.

Another feature is that each peacemaker's life story have been summarized into five pages!! Why was this done? So as "to highlight the overall theme of each person's life and not bury it in too much detail."

Each well-written peacemaker profile has the following format:

(a) Portrait of the peacemaker (the same as on the book's cover but this time in black and white).

(b) Summary of the summary. In other words, a peacemaker's life story that has been summarized into five pages is further summarized into a few sentences. The reader thus learns the essence of a particular peacemaker. Here is an example of a three-sentence summary of the summary:

"World-renowned physician, Nobel laureate, organist, theologian, philosopher, and humanitarian, [this great peacemaker] was a modern-day Renaissance man. Most famous for his medical service in the African jungle, [this great peacemaker] felt that his greatest contribution to the world was the ethic of Reverence for Life. Saying, "I wanted to make my life my argument," [this great peacemaker] lived this ethic, encouraging it on a global level as the basis of world peace."

(c) Five page summary proper. Gives the key facts about a particular peacemaker, avoiding unnecessary and superfluous detail. For example, the great peacemaker mentioned in (b) above has a five page summary composed of twelve paragraphs. Two black and white pictures are included within this summary.

(d) Actual thought-provoking quotations or statements (five to nine of them) for each peacemaker. Note that the five STATEMENTS above were said from one peacemaker in a particular PATH TO PEACE. For example, STATEMENT (1) above was uttered by one of the four peacemakers in PATH TO PEACE (i) also above.

Finally, who was this book written for? Answer:

(1) Anyone wanting an uplifting read. (We can all use this.)
(2) Parents looking for positive role models for their children (as opposed to the majority of negative role models so prevalent in today's society).
(3) Educators seeking inspirational material for their students.

In conclusion, the authors state:

"Our aim in creating [this book] was to help promote peace by showcasing true-life stories of people who have successfully cultivated peace in a variety of ways."

Have they succeeded in their aim? In my opinion, they've hit the bull's-eye!! I can't wait for the next edition of this book that will profile twenty more great peacemakers!! I leave you with another statement uttered by yet another peacemaker profiled in this amazing book:

"Humans can never be completely non-violent, but we can certainly move in this direction."

(first published early 2008; acknowledgements; introduction; 5 parts or 20 chapters; conclusion; main narrative 170 pages; bibliography; index; photo credits; about the authors)

<<Stephen Pletko, London, Ontario, Canada>>

XXXXX

I just received my examination copy, and ate it up. What a perfect book this is for my college seminar class. It is already on my "required reading" list. With so much attention today placed on TV personalities, it is good to be able to help students see and discuss other, real ways of being in the world. Thank you Ken Beller and Heather Chase. If you are ever in Vermont, please consider this an invitation to speak to my college class!

This is a terrific book. Well written, concise, and inspirational. Appropriate for all ages.

Great Peacemakers is not a book about guns. It is a book about people who resolved conflict or worked for a better planet through non-violent means. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi are included along with 18 others, some of whom are still working. A pleasant surprise to me was David Suzuki's story. Many if not most biology students will remember David Suzuki from classroom biology films.
In the chapter about Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias, we find that following Costa Rica's example, Panama abolished its military in 1994 and Haiti abolished its military in 1995. The most exciting story in the book is the story of Brazilian musician Anderson Sa, who turned his own life away from drugs and violence, then survived a broken neck from a surfing accident, then lead an AfroReggae movement that has lead thousands of young people away from drugs and violence. Others included are, Henry David Thoreau, Mother Theresa, Thich Nhat Hahn, Colman McCarthy, Bruno Hassar, Desmond Tutu, Riane Eisler, The Dali Lama, Henry Salt, Albert Schweitzer, Astrid Lindgren, Jane Goodall, Rachel Carson, Nadar Khalili, and Wangari Maathai.
I eagerly await Volume II. Some possibilties are St. Francis of Assisi and Sojourner Truth. Everyone should learn this history so that it can be repeated. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. read the words of Jesus, Thoreau, and Gandhi and built from there. What can we build if we start with these 20 peacemakers? I delayed writing a review of this book because I could see that it's popular enough without my help. Amazon offered to buy back my copy for the used book section but no, I'm keeping it. Besides, if more people buy it new maybe there will be a volume II.

A thoughtful, captivating book that offers glimmers of light and hope in these very troubled times. A teaching tool for young and old that can help make the world a better place.

This book was well written by a husband and wife team, Ken Beller and Heather Chase, and it briefly covers the lives of many well known and some not so well known peace makers who hail from many different backgrounds and have blessed the world with many different contributions. Great Peacemakers undertook to give an overview of the life histories of these heroes and explain what made these people take up their humanitarian crosses. It also shared with the reader the contributions that these people have made to the world, how we are in their debt and why we should hold these people in high esteem.

The book is divided into five different parts:

Choosing Nonviolence
Living Peace
Honoring Diversity
Valuing All Life
Caring for the Planet

We find many of the same faces we'd expect to see such as the Dalai Lama, Mohandas Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Albert Schweitzer, Mother Theresa, etc., but we are introduced to some people who we may not have heard about, or at least known so much about, such as Henry Salt, Wangari Maathai, David Suzuki, Bruno Hussar and others. In the fourth section, I found this to be an interesting addition to a book about peace making as I think that although taking care of our planet is for the benefit of us all, the connection with making peace is tenuous at best. Nevertheless, I am happy to say that from reading this section I have actually gained a new hero from this book, Nader Khalili, a man who I will try to find out more about. I have never really thought about the difference that durable, cheap architecture could make and Nader Khalili's contributions will be helping people for years to come as will Wangari Maathai's tree planting missions in Kenya and around the rest of the world.

As the biographies of each of these men and women are short and simplified I would say that this book is more geared to a younger audience to be used as a learning tool. I don't think the authors would have any argument with that assertion. In fact, I do think that may have been their target. Nevertheless, the book is written in a very interesting way and I found myself turning page after page. You might also argue that one could use a book like this in a reference section of a library. It is a good read and the subjects of this book are all good examples of how we should live, treat each other and treat the world.

Heather Chase and Ken Beller seem to have committed their lives to bringing peace to the world wherever they can and writing this book is a product of their commitment. One can never find fault with a work like this. I believe that this book will live up to the intentions of the authors and will live on the shelves of peace loving folk for many years to come!