Great Peacemakers Hardcover – 12 February 2008

The diversity group that I am involved in used this group to build our discussion topic for Martin Luther King day. It contains brief information and quotes from 20 peace makers. It is well written and was a great resource.

This is a wonderful book. It brings joy to my heart every time I pick it up. It helps to wash away any sense of hopelessness or despair which is regularly feed by reading the newspaper or watching TV.

The book looked in good shape and it's for my book club reading.

A fine set of well-organized narratives on famous and not-so-famous peacemakers over a vast time-frame and across the world,; we found the clear and consistent format, narrative review of the peacemakers biography in five pages, a photo and "mantra" for each, and selected quotations at the end of each chapter to be a first-rate foundation for discussion about ever kind of peacemaking--civil, political, military, environmental, and animal welfare. Excellent Introduction and discussion questions add to the usefulness and value of this book.

Great Peacemakers is not a book about guns. It is a book about people who resolved conflict or worked for a better planet through non-violent means. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi are included along with 18 others, some of whom are still working. A pleasant surprise to me was David Suzuki's story. Many if not most biology students will remember David Suzuki from classroom biology films. In the chapter about Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias, we find that following Costa Rica's example, Panama abolished its military in 1994 and Haiti abolished its military in 1995. The most exciting story in the book is the story of Brazilian musician Anderson Sa, who turned his own life away from drugs and violence, then survived a broken neck from a surfing accident, then lead an AfroReggae movement that has lead thousands of young people away from drugs and violence. Others included are, Henry David Thoreau, Mother Theresa, Thich Nhat Hahn, Colman McCarthy, Bruno Hassar, Desmond Tutu, Riane Eisler, The Dali Lama, Henry Salt, Albert Schweitzer, Astrid Lindgren, Jane Goodall, Rachel Carson, Nadar Khalili, and Wangari Maathai. I eagerly await Volume II. Some possibilties are St. Francis of Assisi and Sojourner Truth. Everyone should learn this history so that it can be repeated. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. read the words of Jesus, Thoreau, and Gandhi and built from there. What can we build if we start with these 20 peacemakers? I delayed writing a review of this book because I could see that it's popular enough without my help. Amazon offered to buy back my copy for the used book section but no, I'm keeping it. Besides, if more people buy it new maybe there will be a volume II.