610 - Peace Heroes in Twentieth-Century America

Peace Heroes in Twentieth-Century America

Edited by Charles DeBenedetti

Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1986. 276 Pp. $22.50.

DeBenedetti is the author of two works on pacifism in American history. In this volume, he has compiled a series of excellent biographical appraisals of the key figures of twentieth century American pacifism, and the effort is unabashedly apologetic and laudatory of these individuals and the ends they sought.

DeBenedetti's introduction sketches the course of the twentieth century peace movement and sets the framework for the essays on Jane Addams, Eugene V. Debs, Norman Thomas, Albert Einstein, A. J. Muste, Norman Cousins, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Daniel and Philip Berrigan. The biographical approach is particularly useful for studying the peace movement, for its diverse, if not splintered, character has been due in part to the strong individuals who have led it and the organizations which

 

611 - Peace Heroes in Twentieth-Century America

have contributed to a discussion of world peace.

A brief but eloquent afterword by the dean of peace historians, Merle Curti, honors the legacy of each of these individuals. Curti emphasizes the importance of individuals and leaders in producing social change, and he also points out the importance of the religious vision which informed each peace leader's approach to violence and war. Each had, according to Curti, what William James called "a receptive moment" in which moral and/or religious insight and contemporary social analysis suddenly crystallized into a compelling vocation.

This book can be sampled slowly. It should be a helpful addition to anyone teaching in the area of Christian social ethics, American religious history, or American history generally. It is a compelling reminder that history's heroes may be minority witnesses to unpopular causes and the imperative of peace in an age of potential mass destruction.

John M. Mulder, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky.