We Who Dared to Say No to War: American Antiwar Writing from 1812 to Now (Paperback)

by Murray Polner (Author), Thomas E. Woods Jr. (Author)
Key Phrases: United States, World War, Great Britain (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. This history of America in anti-war writing, "coedited by a man of the left (Polner) and a man of the right (Woods)," is an insightful, relevant and varied collection that mines a strong tradition of American protest and principle. Covering the War of 1812 through "Iraq and the War on Terror," the editors provide a brief background essay for each before ceding the page to essays, interviews, letters, poems and photos from the past 200 years. Contributors include Daniel Webster, Stephen Crane, Eugene V. Debs, Helen Keller and Howard Zinn, as well as presidents and other government officials, mothers, social justice activists, poets and songwriters. Parallels among wars and the present moment are easy to find, and the many warnings hang heavy, given the ambiguous aftermath of America's conflicts. Eisenhower's 1961 warning against the abuses of "the military-industrial complex" is a standby centerpiece worthy of another look, but much of the material is just as interesting, informative and impassioned. Foregoing any dry lessons, this history-in-protest is a valuable read for study and conversation in advance of the 2008 presidential election, and should be of interest to a wide audience not limited to history buffs, antiwar activists, and those seeking perspective on today's war.
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From Booklist
From the War of 1812 to the present conflict in Iraq, whenever our nation has gone to war, there have been those among its citizenry who have spoken out against the rationale behind such decisions. They have done so bravely, selflessly, with calm reason and passionate outrage, from personal experience and projected empathy. Representing both sides of the ideological divide, editors Polner and Woods have collected a vast and varied array of speeches, essays, letters, poetry, even popular song lyrics from our country’s greatest leaders and civilians to illustrate the indelible and instinctive response war-mongering and war evoke. Senator Robert Taft’s rational criticism of Truman’s cold war doctrine stands side-by-side with Henry Clay’s impassioned denunciation of the 1846 war with Mexico. Montana congresswoman Jeannette Rankin’s conscientious votes against both world wars presciently echoes George McGovern’s fierce condemnation of the Vietnam War. With current antiwar rhetoric also running at a fevered pitch, such historical documentation demonstrates, sadly, that it is also running true to course. --Carol Haggas

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (September 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568583850
• ISBN-13: 978-1568583853
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #289,974 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Infinitely Relevant Book, October 1, 2008

By	Anthony Nicholson (Mammoth Spring, AR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I heard this book discussed on Lew Rockwell's podcast, and purchased it. As I began to read through it, I was amazed that no matter the date or the particular circumstance that instigated the individual treatise, each was relevant to contemporary events. The same lies today's war party uses to pervert and exploit citizens' inherent patriotism have been used by the purveyors of endless conflicts throughout United States history.

I will leave an in-depth review to those more qualified, but I was pleasantly surprised by Alexander Campbell's "Address on War", William Jennings Bryan's assailing of imperialism, everything about Randolph Bourne's famous dissecting of the State's need for perpetual war, and Helen Keller's wisdom. The entire book is filled with extraordinary quotes from these and many other clear-headed individuals from our storied past.

Regardless of the various authors' backgrounds, political ideologies, etc., there is a unbreakable thread of moral/intellectual valor that permeates this compilation. These men and women, "in heart and conscience free," with integrity, fought against daunting odds. They often suffered for speaking the truth. We who oppose war today for religious/moral reasons or political pragmatism (or both) have been given their writings as an invaluable heritage. Many thanks to Murray Polner and Thomas Woods, Jr. for editing this book, for making these articles accessible to the greater public, and for preserving these priceless gems of wisdom for other generations. We look forward to a sequel!

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Review of Those Who Dared to Tell the Truth, November 6, 2008

By	James E. Egolf "James E. Egolf, MA" (Florida) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

THOSE WHO DARED TO SAY NO TO WAR is a collection of essays edited by Thomas Woods (a conservative whatever that term means) and Murry Polner who is supposed to be a "leftest." These essays were written by thoughtful men and women who spanned the political spectrum. Some of these essays were written by devout religious men and women. Some were written by pacificists while others were written by career military men who were officers. Readers should note that each section of the essays has an introduction written by the editors helping to explain the historical background the these essays.

The first essays dealt with the War of 1812. Danial Webster's speech opposing military conscription to fight the British is an eloquent defense of individual liberty and a serious attack on military conscription which Webster argued was slavery and outright murder. Webster carefully diagnosed military conscription as a means of separating husband and wife, father from children, etc. Webster was not shy in explaining that to conscript men to invade Canada, or anywhere else for that matter, was a clear violation of freedom and an advance toward slavery. Webster proved prophetic in this speech.

The second section of this book dealt with essays that expressed opposition to the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). An interesting item in these essays was the later Pres. Abraham Lincoln's speech opposing the U.S. unprovoked invasion of Mexico in 1846. William Goodell's essay that the Mexican-American War was a war for the expansion of slavery is true. Contrary to standard shallow textbook accounts, Goodell is bluntly clear that the Mexican authorities made no move whatsoever to start hostilities with the U.S. Goodell cited others whose investigations came to the same conclusion.

The following section dealing with the Civil War. Two essays are from clergymen from the Confederacy and the North who opposed the Civil War and suggestions that members of the cloth should not serve as chaplins. One essay contained a plea to Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, to honor the pleas of conscientious objectors to not participate in the armies of the Confederacy. The best essay was written by Lysander Spooner, a peaceful anarchist, who was clear in his assessment of the actual causes of the Civil War. Spooner argued that Northern bankers and industrialists were never opposed to slavery as long as the Southern plantation class cooperated with tariffs, Northern banking interests including loans for slaves, and other Northern economic and political schemes. However, once the Southern leaders said no to these Northern intersts, the Northern elite suddenly opposed slavery. One should note that Spooner was an active Abolishionist.

The following section contained selections opposing the U.S. provocation of the Spanish-American War. One very interesting essay was written by William Graham Sumner who argued that the Spanish ultimately won this war even though their military performance was disasterous, and the early fighting ended in less than a year. Sumner's thesis was that the new imperialists, the Americans, were becoming like the Spanish imperialists of the 16th. century in that the Americans were becoming the new imperialist forgetting their past political tradition of a Constitutional Republic. Another short but intersting piece was written by an unidentified mother from Kentucky titled "A Lament from Kentucky." American mothers should read this essay. The essay titled "The Pesky Anti-Imperialist" was a good retort to those who whine that those who oppose military intervention are somehow un-American. Wendall Garrison, who wrote this essay, effectively argued that his use of his First Amendment Rights was as American as could be. He also stated that his reminder that Americans were to have a limited republic based on the U.S. Constitution was as American one could be. His one comment deserves repeating when he wrote, "...Anti-Imperialism is only another name for old-fashioned Americanism..."(page 99).

The essays re World War I were prophetic. Robert La Follette delivered prophetic remarks about Pres. Wilson' insanely idealistic reasons for U.S. entry into this war. La Follette was blunt when he stated that those who did the fighting, dying, tax paying, etc. were not the same wealthly men who profitted from the war or any war. La Follette's statement that the taxes that paid for the wealthy bankers' loans would exponentillay increase, and if enough folks became alert,there could "be hell to pay." La Follette excorated those who claimed Wilson was one the side of freedom. The Russians were ruled by an authocracy while the British had a hereditary monarch. Wilson claimed he wanted to spread freedom and justice while the Americans were subjected to high-handed violations of Freedom of Speech and lynch mobs murdering dissenters. This was certainly something that Wilson and the American should never have been proud of in "The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave." One of the essays following LaFollette's remarks was written by Ralph Bourne who coined the phrase, "War is the health of the state." Bourne stated simply and clearly that war gives power to governments to violate rights and use rigid compultion at the expense of most Americans.

The essays re World War II begin with Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy who was chief of Staff to Presidents Roosevelt and Truman. This brief quote expressed Adm. Leahy's opposition to the use of nuclear weapons against the Japanese when they were already begging to surrender. The MacArthur (Gen. MacArthur)Memorandum, sent to the President in February of 1945, stated the Japanese wanted to quit which was relayed to MacArthur who in turn sent this suggestion to the President. The essays begin with Jeannette Rankin who was the only member of Congress to vote against the U.S. declaration of War during World War I and II. Rankin was aware that U.S. entry into W.W. I was due to fears of American bankers that should W.W. I end in a stalemate that these bankers would get the money they lent to the allies which was never paid anyway. The essay, taken from the journal LIBERATION in 1958, was perceptive. Rankin reported the documents of conversations between Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. Pres. Roosevelt promised he would put such economic pressure on the Japanese that with British and Dutch help would goad the Japanese into firing the first shot to start U.S.entry into World War II. As an aside, a vast literature has been written that has been thoroughly documented. The essay titled "ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT THE WAR" was very perceptive. The usual assumptions that love, freedom, etc. would ensue were false illusions. Big Communist vastly expanded as did communist concentration camps and mass murder regimes.

Two of the essays worth noting re the Cold War were written the late Sen Howard Taft and his severe criticism of Pres. Truman's assertion that the President could send U.S. Troops anywhere without a congressional war declaration or approval. Sen. Taft detailed the problems and possible disasters that could result from such a carte blanche grant to the President or anyone else in power. This essay was followed by Pres. Eisenhower's Farewell Speech in which Eisenhower warned Americans of the dangers and expense of "The Military-Industrial Complex." The sad fact is that too Americans have such short memories that this serious warning has been neglected.

The essays re the Vietnam War are just as important. One good essay was written by General David M. Shoup who was the former Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps. He argued that U.S. authorities should mind their own busness. The other essays argued that the nonsense that the U.S. should have supported the South Vietnamese elite in the name of freedom. This was farce when the reality that there was no freedom in South Vietnam. The fact is the Vietnam was a small civil war due to U.S. refusal to honor the terms of the Geneva Accords made in 1954 when the French were forced to leave Vietnam.

The essays dealing with "The War on Terror" and the disasters incubating in Iraq and Afghanistan are good. The arguement that U.S. policy makers have squandered American good will due to stupidity, international ignorance, and insane hubris makes historical sense. These essays state clearly that U.S. policy makers have made enemies out of allies and have underminded U.S. foreign policy and economic well being for a long time. Hopefully, the American citizenry will become alert to all of this.

This is a book worth the time. The essays were written by diverse men and women who know what war does to people. One minor criticism is that the editors, who did a good job of writing and editing, should have included Gen. Smedley Butler's book titled WAR IS A RACKET. Smedley Butler was the first American to be awarded the Medal of Honor twice, and he also received France's highest military honors during World War I. The book is long, but the introductory essays are helpful to understand the historical context of the collections of essays. Thoughtful readers will gain insight to the possible disasters that could befall the U.S.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Nothing . . . (Most Of The Time), September 7, 2008

By	Steve Jackson "stevejackson100atyahoocom" (New England) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Paleolibertarian Thomas Woods and leftist Murray Polner have collected numerous anti-war speeches and essays given at various times in American history. America's march toward empire was slow and steady, but along the way many people - both on the left and the right - opposed war. Some of these people were generally pacifists, and others isolationists.

Of particular interest is Jeanette Rankin, a Representative from Montana, who voted against entry into World War I and II. I'd heard of her, but there were plenty of others with whom I wasn't familiar.

I take a generally isolationist position, although I can't agree with all the opinions expressed in this book. I believe the war against the Taliban government of Afghanistan was just. Afghanistan was providing sanctuary to terrorists it knew were planning to attack the US. The US was within its rights to overthrow that government.

I was disappointed that the book doesn't contain a section concerning the US's attack on the Serbs and its involvement in the Balkans.