Champions for Peace: Women Winners of the Nobel Peace Prize (Paperback)

~ Judith Hicks Stiehm (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Since it was first awarded in 1901, only twelve women have won the Nobel Prize for Peace. They hail from all over the world, including the United States, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Central America. Engaging and inspiring, these women clearly demonstrate that there is something each of us can do to advance a just, positive peace. Whether they began by insisting on garbage collection or simply by planting a tree, each understood that peace must be global in order to be sustained. All learned that peace is not always popular, but believed they must persevere. All are truly champions for peace.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. (August 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074254026X
• ISBN-13: 978-0742540262
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 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: #912,097 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Empowered women: the quiet revolution., March 21, 2007

By	Judith L. Latta (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As Judith Hicks Stiehm beautifully depicts in this telling of the contributions of 12 women Nobel Peace Laureates, women are creative thinkers and leaders. And as she also points out, war is a phenomenon that is associated with men. As an evolutionary biologist I've written an exploration for why women, as a group, are biologically less inclined to use physical violence to resolve conflicts ("Women, Power, and the Biology of Peace." Judith L. Hand (not Latta)) and why women are better natural negotiators. I also argue in that book and another ("A Future Without War") why it is that the empowerment of women across the globe is the critical catalyst needed to actually put an end to wars. Women in New Zealand were the first given the vote--real political power--roughly 100 years ago. Women are becoming increasingly active in government and conflict negotiations. The women described by Stiehm are the vanguard of a flood of women who will be working to change history in a quiet revolution in exactly the way Nobel hoped would happen. Her book is an inspiration for us all, women and men of good will, because it shows us women from across the globe and all walks of life stepping up and taking their share of the responsibility for how we run our world.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real Life Inspiration, November 16, 2006

By	Tom Jones - See all my reviews

Since the Nobel Peace Prize was first awarded in 1903, it has been given to only 12 women. Judith Hicks Stiehm presents the life story of each of these remarkable people, women from dramatically different backgrounds all around the globe. The stories, so cleary and compellingly told, are fascinating page-turners in themselves. And together they convey the essential point that anyone, anywhere, can work for peace, doing small things that may in fact add up to big changes to benefit the neighborhood, the locality, the region--even the world. For every reader (woman or man) who's felt disheartened and powerless in recent years, this book is both a roadmap and a real life inspiration--and the perfect gift for any young woman wondering what to do with her life.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating life stories that show what one person can do: a book for women and men, September 1, 2006

By	Virginia J. Tufte (Beverly Hills, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

In CHAMPIONS FOR PEACE Judith Hicks Stiehm has written in lively, highly readable prose the life stories of the twelve women who have won the Nobel Peace Prize. Beyond that, the book dramatizes the effect one person--you, perhaps?--can have. On the last page, she writes: "Each of us has different circumstances and different resources; nevertheless, each of us has the capacity to act." (p. 224)

What is most striking here is the variety in the women's origins and lives. A world map shows that three are from the United States--Jane Addams, Emily Greene Balch, and Jody Williams. From Guatemala, Rigoberta Menchu Tum. Ireland, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan. Sweden, Alva Myrdal. Austria, Bertha von Suttner. Iran, Shirin Ebadi. Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi. Macedonia, Mother Teresa. Kenya, Wangari Muta Maathai. As the author tells us: "They have been young, middleaged, and old. They have been of titled nobility, and they have been subsistence farmers. They have held doctorates, and they have also been barely schooled." (p. ix)

What did these women have in common? Stiehm says, "a vision, a commitment to action, and a willingness to persevere in the face of criticism and, in some cases, imprisonment." (p ix)

This book itself has required a strong commitment on the part of the author to do the research and writing it required, and the accomplishment here reflects Stiehm's own extraordinary wisdom and qualifications as a writer, political scientist, and advocate. The preface and conclusion are especially helpful, as is the epilogue with its questions for U. S. readers and non-U.S. readers to think about.

While the life stories are those of women, the book is for and about men also: Stiehm lists the organizations and the men who have won the prize. She touches on the nature of wars and violence, arguing that war is violence done mostly by men to men--and she argues strenuously that the behavior of men must change: "After all, most violence is done by men, and particularly at the direction of governments. . . . This means that it is important to study the psychology and interests of the men who authorize and exercise violence." (p 224)

I'd like to see this important book in every home, every school and public library, in English where that is spoken, and in appropriate translations elsewhere. The book is easy to read and the many photographs of the women add to its appeal and to the understanding it brings.