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

Library Journal
“History repeats itself, and Polner and Woods remind us that both Leftist dissent against jingoism and Rightist opposition to governments swollen by war run throughout American history.”

Booklist
“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.... With current antiwar rhetoric...running at a fevered pitch, such historical documentation demonstrates, sadly, that it is also running true to course.”

Scott McConnell, editor of The American Conservative
“You don?t have to oppose all American wars to appreciate Tom Woods and Murray Polner?s masterful anthology. These essays vividly demonstrate why `dissent is patriotic? is no mere peacenik slogan.”

Bob Keeler, Newsday Editorial Board
“Standing up to the rhetoric of war is never easy. We Who Dared to Say No to War provides today?s private-citizen peacemakers and public officials with the valuable assurance that others have spoken prophetically against wars for most of our nation?s history. Polner and Woods deserve our deep gratitude for assembling these brave speeches from wars past.”



Texas Observer
“Turns out strange bedfellows are common in the history of American anti-war sentiment, as evidenced in the new anthology We Who Dared to Say No To War.... Together [Polner and Woods have] assembled almost two centuries? worth of writing condemning American military actions from the War of 1812 to more recent misadventures in the Middle East, while celebrating the fact that the noble cause of peace in this country has often attracted wildly opposing un-likes.... Democracy and war, these pieces collectively suggest, may be the strangest, and worst, bedfellows of all.”

BuzzFlash.com
“We stopped counting the number of wonderful advocates of peace in this book. It?s like finally finding a kindred group of like minds with whom you can feel at home.... This is an anthology well worth the read. It might also help you feel that peace is a battle worth waging, so to speak.”

OpEdNews.com
“Read it and weep ... and cheer. Weep because we?ve been lied into wars in very similar ways for two centuries and have had to discover the deception anew each time. Cheer because some people have been there to denounce the lies on the spot every time, and their ranks have steadily grown.”

Murray Polner is a freelance editor and writer whose work has appeared in Washington Monthly, Commonweal, the Nation, Columbia Journalism Review, and the Jewish Week, among others. He lives in Great Neck, New York.

Thomas E. Woods, Jr., is a senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. His numerous books include the New York Times bestseller The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History. Woods lives in Auburn, Alabama, with his wife and three daughters.