31. WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, JULY 21, 2021
WAR AND PEACE
EMPIRE, PEACEMAKING, PEACE CALENDAR
CHRISTOPHER
KELLY, STUART LAYCOCK.HOW
WE'VE INVADED OR BEEN MILITARILY INVOLVED WITH ALMOST EVERY COUNTRY ON EARTH. Book Publishers Network,
2014. 396.
The authors posit what
many have long suspected: the United States has invaded or been militarily
involved with almost every country on the globe.
Kelly, a longtime
military-history buff, readily admits in his introduction that he drew
inspiration for his first book from Laycock’s previous work (All the
Countries We Invaded: And a Few We Never Got Round To, 2012), which covers
Great Britain’s overseas excursions. The two got to talking and discovered that
the U.S. offered even greater fodder for such a compilation. It has invaded 84
out of the 194 countries recognized by the United Nations and has been
militarily involved with 191 of those. (The holdouts, the authors note, are
Andorra, Bhutan, and Liechtenstein.) Military action is never too far away for
America, as Kelly notes: “Americans are always hoping for peace but usually
preparing for war. The American Eagle is an ambivalent bird holding arrows in
the talons of one foot and an olive branch in the other.” A work such as this
has the potential for being academically stodgy, but Kelly and Laycock deftly
avoid that trap. Instead, they find colorful, obscure episodes from each
country’s past. Take, for example, Panama’s Watermelon War of 1856: “It was
really more of a Watermelon Riot, which was triggered by an intoxicated
American railroad traveler who took a slice of watermelon from a Panamanian
fruit merchant and refused payment. Fifteen Americans were killed in Panama
City, and we sent our troops in to restore order.” One drawback is that readers
can get cast adrift on the sea of military and political acronyms in the book,
but the authors do provide supporting materials, such as a glossary, maps, and
a comprehensive index, at the back of the volume to provide perspective for
those seeking clarification. Still, for a dedicated history fan, this is an
invigorating travelogue, taking readers around the world and backward and
forward through time.
An intensive compendium of America’s
interactions, both good and bad, with other countries that rightly leaves out
the philosophizing.
Publisher:
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March
15, 2015
Review
Program: KIRKUS
INDIE
PEACEMAKING AND PEACEMAKERS
Kathy Kelly. Bending the
Arc: Striving for Peace and Justice in the Age of Endless War.
Publisher’s description
Bending the Arc: Striving for Peace and Justice in the Age of Endless War is an inspiring collection narrating how peace
activists found their calling and why the world still needs peace activism.
Since the late 1990s the annual Kateri Tekakwitha Interfaith Peace Conference
in upstate New York has grown to become the region’s premier peace
conference. Bending
the Arc provides a history of the conference and brings
together the inspiring, personal stories from such well-known participants as
Medea Benjamin, Blase Bonpane, Kathy Kelly, Bill Quigley, David Swanson, and
Ann Wright, among others. Drawing from diverse philosophical and spiritual
traditions, contributors share their experiences of working for peace and
justice and discuss the obstacles to both. They address a wide range of
contemporary problems, including the war on terror, killer drones, the
invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, mass surveillance, the human
cost of war, political-economic impediments to peace, violent extremism, the
role of women in peace-building, and the continued threat of nuclear weapons.
With its stories of how peace activists found their calling and its exploration
of why the world still needs peace activism, the book offers a vision rooted in
human community and hope for the future.
“The book provides a fascinating look into the motivations and visions of
contemporary peace activists.” — CHOICE
“This collection of activist voices is enjoyable, interesting, and moving to
read, and it will help readers understand why and how people actually get
involved with peace work.” — Jason Del Gandio, coeditor of Educating for Action: Strategies to Ignite
Social Justice
About the Book: Bending the Arc: Striving for Peace and
Justice in the Age of Endless War is an inspiring collection
narrating how peace activists found their calling and why the world still needs
peace activism. Since the late 1990s the annual Kateri Tekakwitha Interfaith
Peace Conference in upstate New York has grown to become the region’s premier
peace conference. Bending the Arc provides
a history of the conference and brings together the inspiring, personal stories
from such well-known participants as Medea Benjamin, Blase Bonpane, Kathy
Kelly, Bill Quigley, David Swanson, and Ann Wright, among others. Drawing from
diverse philosophical and spiritual traditions, contributors share their
experiences of working for peace and justice and discuss the obstacles to both.
They address a wide range of contemporary problems, including the war on
terror, killer drones, the invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq,
mass surveillance, the human cost of war, political-economic impediments to
peace, violent extremism, the role of women in peace-building, and the
continued threat of nuclear weapons. With its stories of how peace activists
found their calling and its exploration of why the world still needs peace
activism, the book offers a vision rooted in human community and hope for the
future.
“The book provides a fascinating look into the motivations and visions of
contemporary peace activists.” — CHOICE
“This collection of activist voices is enjoyable, interesting, and moving to
read, and it will help readers understand why and how people actually get
involved with peace work.” — Jason Del Gandio, coeditor of Educating
for Action: Strategies to Ignite Social Justice
Peace
Calendar
June 18,
1979, Presidents Carter and Brezhnev signed the SALT II agreement to limit
long-range missiles and bombers.
June 19, 1865, African-Americans still enslaved in Galveston, learned they had
been legally freed 2-1./2 years earlier.
June 20, UN World Refugee Day.
June 23, UN Public Service Day to celebrate people who serve the common good.
June 25, 1918, Eugene Debs was arrested for speaking against US participation
in
WWI.
When he ran for Pres. from his jail cell in 1920, he received nearly a
million
votes.
June 26, each year the UN’s International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
No comments:
Post a Comment