Books about Pacifist from Amazon.com

When war broke out in August 1914, 21-year-old Vera Brittain was planning on enrolling at Somerville College, Oxford. Her father told her she wouldn't be able to go: "In a few months' time we should probably all find ourselves in the Workhouse!" he opined. Brittain had hoped to escape the Northern provinces, but the war seemingly dashed her plans. "It is not, perhaps, so very surprising that the War at first seemed to me an infuriating personal interruption rather than a world-wide catastrophe."

Her father eventually relented, however, and she was allowed to attend. By the end of her first year, she had fallen in love with a young soldier and resolved to become active in the war effort by volunteering as a nurse--turning her back on what she called her "provincial young-ladyhood." Brittain suffered through 12-hour days by reminding herself that nothing she endured was worse than what her fiancé, Roland, experienced in the trenches. Roland was expected home on leave for Christmas 1915; on December 26, Brittain received news that he had been killed at the front. Ten months later Brittain herself was sent to Malta and then to France to serve in the hospitals nearer the front, where she witnessed firsthand the horrors of battle. When peace finally came, Brittain had also lost her brother Edward and two close friends. As she walked the streets of London on November 11, 1918--Armistice Day--she felt alone in the crowds:

For the first time I realised, with all that full realisation meant, how completely everything that had hitherto made up my life had vanished with Edward and Roland, with Victor and Geoffrey. The War was over; a new age was beginning; but the dead were dead and would never return.

First published in 1933, Testament of Youth established Brittain as one of the best-loved authors of her time. Her crisp, clear prose and searing honesty make this unsentimental memoir of a generation scarred by war a classic. --Sunny Delaney.
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With words of wisdom by everyone from Socrates and Thomas Jefferson to Anne Frank, Alice Walker, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bono, The Anti-War Quote Book features more than 250 inspiring and thought-provoking arguments for peace. Here's just a small sample:

On propaganda: "The first casualty, when war comes, is truth." —Hiram Johnson

On empires: "Government is a tool, like a hammer. You can use a hammer to build with or you can use a hammer to destroy with." —Molly Ivins

On victory: "One is left with the horrible feeling that war settles nothing, that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one." —Agatha Christie

On peace: "I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it." —Dwight D. Eisenhower

Featuring a big, bold graphic design, archival photographs of peace rallies, and images of classic protest posters from around the world, The Anti-War Quote Book is guaranteed to fuel conversations as the election of 2008 unfolds..
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In the spring of 2004, human rights activist Kathy Kelly, twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, was sent to Pekin Federal Prison for leading a protest at the School of the Americas While in prison, Kelly's organization, Voices in the Wilderness, was targeted by a US State Department lawsuit charging that Kelly violated US-imposed sanctions when she took humanitarian aid to Iraq during numerous visits over the last five years.

In this fiercely eloquent book, Kelly recounts such trips to Iraq, tells the largely unknown story of the School of the Americas and describes daily life inside a federal prison, where America's poor are warehoused. Like Martin Luther King's Letter from Birmingham Jail, Kelly's powerful narrative gives voice to the unheard millions suffering at home and abroad.

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When an impending labor strike in Bradleyville threatens violence, Jessie, an avowed pacifist, finds her loved ones--and herself--drawn into the center of the storm. Book One of the Bradleyville Series..
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Studying the individual faces and personal essays of these 75 peacemakers we discover a simple truth: making peace is an act of courage. Put them all together in a volume as elegant as this one and a higher truth emerges: making peace is the world's next spiritual calling. Photographer Michael Collopy did an excellent job of bringing forth each of his subject's integrity, grit, and humanity. In the clear and gentle eyes of Vietnam veteran and author Ron Kovic we see the healing that it took to transcend the wounds of the battlefield and write Born on the Fourth of July. Maried Corrigan Maguire lost two nephews and a niece in an IRA and British car chase. Soon after, Maguire's grief-stricken sister committed suicide. As a result she founded Peace People, an organization to end sectarian violence. In her strong jaw and sad eyes we see every woman who has ever turned grief into activism.

Many of the faces are familiar ones--Carlos Santana, Cezar Chavez, Thich Nhat Hanh, Dr. Maya Angelou, Coretta Scott King. Yet there are numerous quiet heroes as well. The personal essays are mostly brief (one page) but offer compelling reasons why we all should give peace a chance. --Gail Hudson.
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Belle W. Baruch (1899-1964) could outride, outshoot, outhunt, and outsail most of the young men of her elite social circle--abilities that distanced her from other debutantes of 1917. Unapologetic for her athleticism and interests in traditionally masculine pursuits, Baruch towered above male and female counterparts in height and daring. While she is known today for the wildlife conservation and biological research center on the South Carolina coast that bears her family name, Belle's life story is a rich narrative about one nonconformist's ties to the land. In Baroness of Hobcaw, Mary E. Miller provides a provocative portrait of this unorthodox woman who gave a gift of monumental importance to the scientific community. Belle's father, Bernard M. Baruch, loomed large in his daughter's life. Known as the "Wolf of Wall Street," he held sway over the financial and diplomatic world of the early twentieth century and served as an adviser to seven U.S. presidents. In 1905 he bought Hobcaw Barony, a sprawling seaside retreat where he entertained the likes of Churchill and FDR. Belle grew up at Hobcaw, and ultimately her understanding of its value led to the protection of the last pristine estuary on the southeastern U.S. coast. Belle's daily life reflects the world of wealthy northerners, including the Vanderbilts and Luces, who bought tracts of southern acreage. Miller details Belle's exploits--fox hunting at Hobcaw, show jumping at Deauville, flying her own plane, traveling with Edith Bolling Wilson, and patrolling the South Carolina beach for spies during World War II. She recounts Belle's efforts to win her mother's approval and her father's attention, as well as her unraveling relationships with friends, family, employees, and lovers--both male and female. Miller describes Belle's final success in saving Hobcaw from development as the overarching triumph of a tempestuous life..
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In this illuminating journey around the globe, Scott A. Hunt takes us face to face with true heroes including: the Dalai Lama; the famed dissident of Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi; and the activist who brought peace to Latin America, Oscar Arias of Costa Rica, who share their historic struggles and show us how to find optimism in the face of anguish, and compassion in the place of animosity.

What does it mean to fight for peace? From the riotous streets in Burma to a prison cell in Vietnam, from the bombed–out streets of Belfast to the refugee camps of Palestine, Scott A. Hunt travels across the globe, often under arduous conditions, to report from the major battles that shaped and continue to shape our world.

Recounting histories that were not taught in school, and uncovering lessons which may have been brushed aside, Scott A. Hunt coaxes out in intimate conversations staggering stories from Vietnam's leading dissident Thich Quang Do, famed primate specialist and humanitarian Dr. Jane Goodall, Cambodia's Supreme Patriarch Maha Ghosananda, Ireland's Nobel Peace Laureate John Hume and other great leaders who have battled to end the brutality against the people and causes they cherish.

In the end, The Future of Peace reveals what it means to remain steadfast to a vision of compassion, to be a leader, and to preserve peace in our own day–to–day lives.

The Future of Peace is an extraordinary investigation that offers far–ranging insights and invaluable lessons – a book that changes the way we think about the world and our responsibility toward one another.

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