Nonviolent Social Change Archives

Gandhi and Beyond: Nonviolence for a New Political Age (2d. ed.)

By David Cortright

Book — 2009

In the second edition of this popular book, a new prologue and concluding chapter situate the message of nonviolence in recent events and document the effectiveness of nonviolent methods of political change. Cortright’s poignant “Letter to a Palestinian Student” points toward a radical new strategy for achieving justice and peace in the Middle East. This book offers pathways of hope not only for the United States but for the world.

Peace: A History of Movements and Ideas

By David Cortright

Book — 2008

Veteran scholar and peace activist David Cortright offers a definitive history of the human striving for peace and an analysis of its religious and intellectual roots. This authoritative, balanced, and highly readable volume traces the rise of peace advocacy and internationalism from their origins in earlier centuries through the mass movements of recent decades: the pacifist campaigns of the 1930s, the Vietnam antiwar movement, and the waves of disarmament activism that peaked in the 1980s. This is history with a modern twist, set in the context of current debates about “the responsibility to protect,” nuclear proliferation, Darfur, and conflict transformation.

Gandhi and Beyond: Nonviolence for an Age of Terrorism (1st ed)

By David Cortright

Book — 2006

This book examines the ingredients of social movement success, and it attempts to forge a synthesis among a wide range of sometimes-diverse thinkers and doers in the field of social change. It is an interpretation of past movements and a response to present events. It combines into one analytic framework the ideas of Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez, Dorothy Day, Barbara Deming, Gene Sharp, Saul Alinsky, and many others.

Soldiers in Revolt: GI Resistance During the Vietnam War

By David Cortright

Book — 2005

An account of the rebellion among U.S. soldiers opposed to the Vietnam war. Originally published in 1975, the book now includes a chapter that examines the enduring imprint of this period on the U.S. military and the lessons this era holds for the U.S. occupation in Iraq.

A Peaceful Superpower: The Movement against War in Iraq

By David Cortright

Book — 2004

Author David Cortright writes as an engaged activist who was intimately involved in many of the activities described in A Peaceful Superpower. He helped to create the Win Without War coalition, wrote articles and reports challenging the justification for war, and participated in numerous efforts to build the opposition movement. This is the story of that movement, offered as both testament to history and assessment of impact and relevance.