Nonviolence
The History of a Dangerous Idea

In this timely, highly original, and controversial narrative, New York Times bestselling author Mark Kurlansky discusses nonviolence as a distinct entity, a course of action, rather than a mere state of mind. Nonviolence can and should be a technique for overcoming social injustice and ending wars, he asserts, which is why it is the preferred method of those who speak truth to power.

Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and, most impressively, the Mennonites and the Quakers - all have passages in their major teachings rejecting warfare as immoral. 'Nonviolence' is a sweeping yet concise history that moves from ancient Hindu times to present-day conflicts raging in the Middle East and elsewhere, asking such provocative questions as: Is there such a thing as a 'just war'? Could nonviolence have worked against even the most evil regimes in history?

Kurlansky draws from history twenty-five provocative lessons on the subject that we can use to effect change today. He shows how, time and again, violence is used to suppress nonviolence and its practitioners - Gandhi and Martin Luther King, for example; that the stated deterrence value of standing national armies and huge weapons arsenals is, at best, negligible; and, encouragingly, that much of the hard work necessary to begin a movement to end war is already complete. It simply needs to be embraced and accelerated.

Engaging, scholarly, and brilliantly reasoned, 'Nonviolence' is a work that compels readers to look at history in an entirely new way. This is a manifesto for our times and a book whose time has come.

Format: 135 x 190 mm, 203 pages, hardcover

About the Author
Mark Kurlansky is the New York Times bestselling and James A. Beard Award-winning author of 'Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World'; 'Salt: A World History'; '1968: The Year That Rocked the World'; 'The Basque History of the World'; and 'The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell'

"... this book should not only attract attention, but have a profound effect on those who read it."
From the foreword by the Dalai Lama