Category Archives: Royal Book of the Week

antiwar, Nonviolence, Peace, Royal Book of the Week

Immorality of War: Pauling & Ikeda

December 25, 2013 Peace Couple 1 Comment

The excerpt from Linus Pauling & Daisaku Ikeda‘s 1992 book A Lifelong Quest for Peace is the twentieth chapter of The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace. This dialogue continues the Post-Vietnam to the Present (1975- ) section of the book. Linus Pauling — who died 2 years after co-authoring his book — was a chemist, biochemist, pacifist, author, and teacher. Ikeda is the founder and current president of Sōka Gakkai International (SGI), an international lay Buddhist association which focuses on peace, cultural and educational activities. He is the recipient of the 1983 United Nations Peace Award and has written over 80 books.

In his amazing career, Pauling won the 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize. When he was awarded the Peace Prize the Nobel peace Prize committee issued the following statement: Continue reading Immorality of War: Pauling & Ikeda →

antiwar, Nonviolence, Occupy Wall Street, Peace, Royal Book of the Week

Schell: Complete Disarmament is the Only Sane Path

December 21, 2013 Peace Couple Leave a comment

The excerpt from Jonathan Schell‘s 1982 book The Fate of the Earth is the nineteenth chapter of The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace . This dialogue continues the Post-Vietnam to the Present (1975- ) section of the book. The essay centers on Schell’s lifelong quest to abolish nuclear weapons. The Fate of the Earth is based on a series of essays that Schell wrote for The New Yorker in the early 1980s. It won the Los Angeles Times Book prize.

Sadly, despite the fall of the Soviet Union, Schell’s arguments for the only path to a safe world still hold. He sees nuclear weapons as the greatest “predicament” that mankind has faced. With the benefit of current knowledge, I would argue that global climate change has overtaken nuclear weapons as humankind’s worst self-imposed threat. Yet even at number two, the abolition of nuclear weapons must be accomplished for our survival. I would also argue that the two are intertwined under former US President Eisenhower’s “military-industrial complex.” Continue reading Schell: Complete Disarmament is the Only Sane Path →

antiwar, Nonviolence, Occupy Wall Street, Peace, Photos, Royal Book of the Week, Shopping, Social Justice

New eBook by The Wilders… Occupy Wall Street: What Just Happened?

October 29, 2013 Augustus Leave a comment

The Occupy movement is over two years old! Kimberly and Ian Wilder of Peace Couple are excited about their new eBook: Occupy Wall Street: What Just Happened? In the eBook, Occupy is explored through original reporting, photographs, cartoons, poetry, essays, and reviews. OWS:WJH? includes an essay analyzing the “One Demand” concept, and its relationship to peace as a platform item. The collection of essays and blog posts records the unfolding of Occupy into the culture from September 2011 to the present. Authors Kimberly Wilder and Ian Wilder were early supporters of Occupy, celebrating the occupation with their websites, YouTube videos, Flickr photos, and more. The Wilders are proud to reflect on and celebrate the changes created by the American Autumn.

The eBook is currently available on Amazon for Kindle; Barnes & Noble Nook; iTunes iBookstore; and Smashwords independent EBook seller for only 99¢, and anyone can read it using their Kindle/Nook Reader, smart phone, or computer. and now More platforms to come.

A list of free eBook readers for computers and mobile devices is at the bottom of this post.

The Introduction to the eBook begins as follows:

Is Occupy Wall Street dead?

The short answer is “No.” Occupy is very much alive. Continue reading New eBook by The Wilders… Occupy Wall Street: What Just Happened? →

Food, Nonviolence, Occupy Wall Street, Peace, Royal Book of the Week, Social Justice

Review: “Share or Die!”, Millennials’ Response to Scarcity

June 14, 2013 Augustus Leave a comment

The world view envisioned in the anthology of essays, Share or Die!, Voices of the Get Lost Generation in the Age of Crisis, is one in which human interaction is re-shaped by Generation Y (the Millennials). This new kind of interaction is to be based upon sharing, using a mixture of high-tech and high-touch. Serendipitously, about the same time as our review copy of the book appeared in the mail, an example of what the book was hoping to achieve also arrived in the mail.

Read the rest of the review at onthewilderside.com Continue reading Review: “Share or Die!”, Millennials’ Response to Scarcity →

antiwar, Nonviolence, Peace, Royal Book of the Week, Social Justice

Daniel Berrigan & Thich Nhat Hahn discuss Communities of Resistance

March 9, 2013 Augustus 1 Comment

Daniel Berrigan and Thich Nhat Hahn‘s 1975 dialogue Communities of Resistance: A Conversation is the eighteenth chapter of The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace . This dialogue leads off the Post-Vietnam to the Present (1975- ) section of the book. Hahn and Berrigan’s hopes for communities of resistance springs from their own experience with religious communities in the Buddhist and Catholic faiths, respectively, and with the experiences of their late mutual friend Thomas Merton.

We have already discussed Merton’s essay The Root of War is Fear from a previous chapter in the same book. In it, Merton defines the calling of a Christian to “work for the total abolition of war.” Merton reminds us that the place to end war is within ourselves. My comments in the post about Merton’s essay could easily be applied to Berrigan and Hahn: Continue reading Daniel Berrigan & Thich Nhat Hahn discuss Communities of Resistance →

antiwar, Nonviolence, Peace, Royal Book of the Week, Social Justice

Oliver Stone discusses Pacifist Presidential Candidate Henry Wallace on DN!

November 17, 2012 Augustus Leave a comment

Democracy Now! aired a report on how “Academy Award-winning Oliver Stone has teamed up with historian Peter Kuznick to produce a 10-part Showtime series called “Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States.'” They have also produced a book of the same name.

The series centers on the effect that the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan had on the history of the US. In questioning whether it was necessary to drop the A-bomb, Stone and Kuznick explore the different path the United States almost took if the pacifist Henry Wallace had remained as Franklin D. Roosevelt‘s Vice President and had won 1944 Presidential nomination of the Democratic Party. In the interview, Stone discusses the success of the progressive policies of Wallace as FDR’s Secretary of Agriculture prior to becoming his second Vice President:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO-Y8wNwbuA&t=8m13s] Continue reading Oliver Stone discusses Pacifist Presidential Candidate Henry Wallace on DN! →

antiwar, Nonviolence, Occupy Wall Street, Royal Book of the Week

Howard Zinn’s The “Moral Equation” of War is Wrong

September 2, 2012 Augustus Leave a comment

Howard Zinn‘s 1970 essay Vietnam: The Moral Equation is the seventeenth chapter of The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace . I am proponent of Zinn’s People’s History of the United States, and especially the graphic novel version, A People’s History of American Empire. And Zinn seems to be a force behind this book of pacifism, including contributing the introduction.

Yet, here I go committing heresy: Howard Zinn is wrong. In the first few paragraphs of this essay he gives away the whole pacifist store. Now I am all for the concept of free, but not when it means surrendering my pacifism from the get-go. Zinn starts by giving up on pacifism:

I would start such a discussion from the supposition that it is logically indefensible to hold an absolutely nonviolent position . . . . Continue reading Howard Zinn’s The “Moral Equation” of War is Wrong →