Waging Peace

Overview

David Hartsough knows how to get in the way. He has used his body to block Navy ships headed for Vietnam and trains loaded with munitions on their way to El Salvador and Nicaragua. He has crossed borders to meet “the enemy” in East Berlin, Castro’s Cuba, and present-day Iran. He has marched with mothers confronting a violent regime in Guatemala and stood with refugees threatened by death squads in the Philippines. Hartsough’s stories inspire, educate, and encourage readers to find ways to work for a more just and peaceful world. Inspired by the examples of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., Hartsough has spent his life experimenting with the power of active nonviolence. Engaging stories on every page provide a peace activist’s eyewitness account of many of the major historical events of the past 60 years, including the Civil Rights and anti–Vietnam War movements in the United States as well as the little-known but equally significant nonviolent efforts in the Soviet Union, Kosovo, Palestine, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. Waging Peace is a testament to the difference one person can make; however, it is more than one man’s memoir: it shows how this struggle is waged all over the world by ordinary people committed to ending the spiral of violence and war.

Reviews

"Peace will only come when all of us become the change we wish to see in this world. David Hartsough became that change and has spent the best part of 60 years working to bring peace to our troubled world. His book is one that every peace-loving person must read and learn from."  —Arun Gandhi, president, Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi

"It has been my privilege to work with David Hartsough over the years and to be arrested and jailed with him for nonviolent civil disobedience. I highly recommend Waging Peace to every American who wishes to live in a world with peace and justice and wants to feel empowered to help create that world."  —Daniel Ellsberg, The Pentagon Papers

"When great events happen, such as the falling of the Berlin wall, we must never forget that people like David Hartsough and many others have worked hard to prepare the ground for such 'miracles.' David's belief in the goodness of people, the power of love, truth, and forgiveness and his utter commitment to making peace and ending war will inspire all those who read this book."  —Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate, Peace People, Northern Ireland

"If you want to know what it means to live a 'life well lived,' read David Hartsough's masterful book. It is not only a page turner, but it will probably transform the way you look at your own life—your priorities, your lifestyle, your future."  —Medea Benjamin, cofounder, Code Pink and Global Exchange

"Waging Peace ought to be required reading for every U.S. citizen befogged by the crude polarization between Islamic extremism and the equally violent, ineffective, but seemingly endless Western military reaction it has elicited." —Winslow Myers, worldbeyondwar.org

"David has rooted his lifelong pilgrimage of peace in a simple conviction: that all life is precious. He has helped spark and build one campaign after another when that preciousness is forgotten or undermined." —Ken Butigan, wagingnonviolence.org

"Waging Peace is a major contribution to understanding the inspiration and dynamics of the nonviolence movement in the years since the 1950s." —Robert Dockhorn, Friends Journal

"This book is a valuable resource as well as a radical and powerful testament to the effectiveness of committed nonviolent peace work." —Henrietta Cullinan, Peace News

Author Biography

David Hartsough is the executive director of Peaceworkers and a cofounder of the Nonviolent Peaceforce. He lives in San Francisco. Joyce Hollyday is a cofounder and copastor of Circle of Mercy, an ecumenical faith community. She served for 15 years as the associate editor of Sojourners magazine and is the author of several books, including Clothed with the Sun: Biblical Women, Social Justice, and Us and Then Shall Your Light Rise: Spiritual Formation and Social Witness. She lives in Asheville, North Carolina. John Dear is an internationally known voice for peace and nonviolence. He is the author/editor of 30 books, including The Nonviolent Life. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. George Lakey is a visiting professor of peace and conflict studies at Swarthmore College and was recently named Peace Educator of the Year by the Peace and Conflict Studies Association. He is the author of Toward a Living Revolution and writes a weekly column "Living Revolution" on WagingNonviolence.org. Ken Butigan is the director of Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service and teaches in the peace, justice, and conflict studies program at DePaul University. He lives in Chicago.