Conquest of Violence: The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict (Paperback)

~ Joan Valerie Bondurant (Author) "I take it, Mr. Gandhi, that you are the author of the satyagraha movement..." (more)
Key Phrases: satyagraha leaders, satyagraha pledge, satyagraha movement, Khudai Khidmatgar, Liberal Democratic, Ghaffar Khan (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

If I were asked to recommend two books to introduce the American reader to Gandhi's political thought and activity, I would suggest his Autobiography and Conquest of Violence. -- Review

Review

Conquest of Violence has two merits: first, it gives us the clearest and most powerful statement to date of the central ideas in Gandhi's political thought; second, it forces us to consider these ideas not as a historical or cultural curiosity but as a challenge to the main body of Western political philosophy.
(W. H. Morris-Jones Pacific Affairs )

If I were asked to recommend two books to introduce the American reader to Gandhi's political thought and activity, I would suggest his Autobiography and Conquest of Violence.
(D. Mackenzie Brown Journal of Asian Studies )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press; Revised edition (June 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 069102281X
• ISBN-13: 978-0691022819
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #719,291 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful & moving presentation of Gandhi's philosophy, January 5, 2005

By	Stephen Chilton (Duluth, MN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book reviews and systematizes Gandhi's political philosophy, nevertheless recognizing that Gandhi's own method resists fixed assertions about it. It gives a brief overview of Gandhi's life, a much longer treatment of his political-philosophical beliefs, particularly his method of "satyagraha", and a series of case studies of satyagraha campaigns in India that serve to illustrate the concept.

I first read this 30 years ago while I was in graduate school, having picked it up languishing in a pile of remaindered books, and it has become a fixed star in my intellectual firmament -- that is, a point of view that I take into account when judging other points of view. Bondurant, Habermas, Kohlberg, a few others -- not bad company!

5.0 out of 5 stars Every One on Earth Should Read This Book!, August 12, 2009

By	B. Tween_DeLions "B.T." (USA) - See all my reviews

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This could quite well be the best book ever written about Gandhi's philosophy of conflict: satyagraha. Bondruant's book is systematic and thorough. She lived in India for years and even got a chance to interview Nehru and many of Gandhi's other colleagues about the nonviolent action they were mutually involved with, which eventually brought about Indian Independence. This book was first written either in 1953 or 1958. But this edition was revised in 1988 and includes new, important commentary and afterthought by the author.

The book is everything the other reviewer said, and more. Because the author takes such a systematic approach, I can't imagine a better introduction to Gandhi's philosophy of conflict. But the truly unique and most vitally important aspect of this book, in my opinion, is due to the author's orientation. Her field is political science. She was a researcher who held a high position at the University of California at Berkeley. And she claims that Gandhi's philosophy made a contribution to political science that no system of political theory has ever adequately dealt with before. In that sense, she says, that Gandhi's greatest contribution to the world may have been overlooked. And this, I think, is what makes this book one of the most important books of the 20th century.

Toward the back of the book the author compares Gandhi's philosophy with all the various major schools of political thought: the classical liberal democratic theory of the founding fathers of the United States of America, Marxist theory, various versions of anarchist theory, and so on. Bondurant claims that all these political philosophies are lacking in one significant area: they can't tell us how people who are locked out of the system can influence the system they are locked out of.

Consequently, these systems are prone to ever-escalating corruption and gradual takeover by long-running establishments with power and money who commandeer the system and prevent necessary societal change. Gandhi's philosophy, satyagraha, figured out a way around that. And Bondurant claims that that makes him the most important *new* contributer to political thought in the entire field of political science. And *THAT* is the most important aspect of this book, in my opinion, even though if you took that section of the book out, it would probably still be the best book for learning about Gandhi's philosophy of conflict: satyagraha.

I have done some reading in the field of conflict resolution and it is obvious to me that Gandhi understood the dynamics of conflict better than anyone before him. He was the Einstein of social understanding, political science, conflict dynamics, and nonviolence. And although he certainly deserves to be loved and revered, it's a pity that his de facto canonization seems to have led people to gloss over his actual accomplishments and his monumental contributions to world philosophy. Gandhi, I think I can say without being guilty of hyperbole in the slightest degree, figured out how to save mankind from itself. And I'm not sure that even Gandhi's greatest admirers fully understand this. But they will if they read this book!

This book is the key with which we, mankind, can unlock the chains of destructive conflict that we are too often inseparably linked to, and which will lead to our mutual self-destruction unless we can free ourselves.

Learn how to break the ancient and ongoing chain of destructive conflict. Read this book!