The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace [Paperback]

Howard Zinn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 12, 2002

There is no easy way out of the spiraling morass of terror and brutality that confronts the world today. It is time now for the human race to hold still, to delve into its wells of collective wisdom, both ancient and modern.--Arundhati Roy

The Power of Nonviolence, the first anthology of alternatives to war with a historical perspective, with an introduction by Howard Zinn about September 11 and the U.S. response to the terrorist attacks, presents the most salient and persuasive arguments for peace in the last 2,500 years of human history. Arranged chronologically, covering the major conflagrations in the world, The Power of Nonviolence is a compelling step forward in the study of pacifism, a timely anthology that fills a void for people looking for responses to crisis that are not based on guns or bombs.

Included are some of the most original thinkers about peace and nonviolence-Buddha, Scott Nearing, Henry David Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience," Jane Addams, William Penn on "the end of war," Dorothy Day's position on "Pacifism," Erich Fromm, and Rajendra Prasad. Supplementing these classic voices are more recent advocates of peace: Albert Camus' "Neither Victims Nor Executioners," A. J. Muste's impressive "Getting Rid of War," Martin Luther King's influential "Declaration of Independence from the War in Vietnam," and Arundhati Roy's "War Is Peace," plus many others.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Howard Zinn is a teacher, historian, and social activist, and the author of many books, including the best-selling A People's History of the United States and You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train (Beacon / 7127-7 / $13.00 pb). He lives near Boston. Dana Frank, professor of American studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, is author of the awardwinning Buy American (Beacon / 4711-2 / $17.50 pb). Robin D. G. Kelley, professor of history at New York University, is author of Race Rebels, Yo' Mama's Disfunktional! (Beacon / 0941-5 / $14.00 pb), and Freedom Dreams (Beacon / 0976-8 / $24.00 cl).

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press (September 12, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807014079
• ISBN-13: 978-0807014073
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #198,309 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Primer for Activists and Students, September 20, 2002

By 

"thebluefig" (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace (Paperback)

Why is the first impulse of American government to use force? Is there another way? In this resounding, influential anthology, the answer is an emphatic 'Yes!' Beginning in the sixth century before Christ the book starts with the compassionate teachings of Buddha and works its way through the history of American wars to our current conflict with Afghanistan. The historical sweep of the book -with essays by William Penn, Jane Addams, Dorothy Day, Emerson, and others- provides a solid base of understanding that nonviolence is not the refuge of the hippy or peace-nik, but has been a vibrant, evolving, and changing alternative to war for nearly 2,600 years.

Everything you would expect in an anthology of peace writing is here: Gandhi, Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience," Thich Nhat Hanh and Daniel Berrigan, et al, but what makes this volume so rewarding is the editor's savvy selections which you may not know as well but are just as important to the nonviolence movement. Beacon Press went and found Martin Luther King's crucial speech at the Riverside Church in NY when, against the advice of many of his supporters, he spoke out gallantly against the Viet Nam War. The other less known pieces -Henry Wallace's appeal to Harry S. Truman, Japanese pacifist Daisaku Ikeda's conversation with Linus Pauling, anti-racism activist Tim Wise (well known, perhaps, only to znet readers) offers a sardonic, yet unflinching look at our current war in Afghanistan, and in what can only be described as a gift to readers, Beacon has included Albert Camus' little read, but mind-bogglingly important "Neither Victims, nor Executioners"- are all rewarding, nourishing, and, to this reader at least, helped to provide a historical understanding of pacifism and rejection of war as the only option for humanity.

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strong selections, January 27, 2004

By 

Martin McGuinness (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace (Paperback)

I must admit that I am a bit surprised that this has received two poor reviews in a row. A quick look at the original book shows that The Power of Nonviolence was a true revision of the 60's book. The previous volume, with over 100 selections, was a haphazard affair with so many pieces that you got lost trying to keep the thread of the argument. I think that Professor Zinn should be commended for cutting out a lot of dead wood from the old book. It is curious that previous reviews have pointed out the selections because as I compared the two books I noticed that many of the selections picked out as poor choices were, in fact, part of the original volume carried over to The Power of Nonviolence.

I think the selection are top notch...I mean who really has heard of Tim Wise other than in this anthology? Which brings me to my last point: That it is the easiest criticism of any anthology to critique what it left out. By definition, an anthology should be judged by what is actually included...or so it seems to me. As a first step toward the study of nonviolence, it should be read and considered a success.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Thrown Together?, January 22, 2004

By 

Kerry Walters (Lewisburg, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace (Paperback)

I stand second to none in my admiration of the writings and life-work of Howard Zinn. But I'm afraid this anthology is a sad disappointment, reading as if it were thrown together with too little forethought and too much regard for quick marketability. Some of the selections are more judicious than others: the Penn essay is a gem, and Emerson on war is both good and little-printed.

But many of the other selections have been printed so often that one wonders why they need to be trotted out in yet another anthology. Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" and Camus' "Neither Victims Nor Executioners" immediately come to mind. Not that these essays aren't worthy of being read; it's just that they're utterly predictable--and badly edited, at that. Other selections are so abbreviated that they appear mangled. Selections from the Buddha, Gandhi, Ikeda/Pauling are examples here. Finally, other selections seem absolutely ... well, irrelevant. Scott Nearing's selection, and Zinn's own piece on Vietnam fit into this category. Writings on Vietnam, in fact, are way over-represented in the anthology, once again causing one to suspect that old standbys were conveniently trotted out for this anthology.

There are many other better anthologies--e.g., David Barash's *Approaches to Peace.*