Human progress and prosperity depend on a peaceful environment, and
most people have always sought to live in peace, yet our perception
of the past is dominated too often not by stories of peace but by
tales of war. In this path-breaking study, former Guardian East
Asia Editor John Gittings demolishes the myth that peace is dull
and that war is in our genes, and opens an alternative window on
history to show the strength of the case for peace which has been
argued from ancient times onwards. Beginning with a new analysis of
the treatment of peace in Homer's Iliad, he explores the powerful
arguments against war made by classical Chinese and Greek thinkers,
and by the early Christians. Gittings urges us to pay more
attention to Erasmus on the Art of Peace, and less to Machiavelli
on the Art of War. The significant shift in Shakespeare's later
plays towards a more peace-oriented view is also explored. Gittings
traces the growth of the international movement for peace from the
Enlightenment to the present day, and assesses the inspirational
role of Tolstoy and Gandhi in advocating non-violence. Bringing the
story up to date, he shows how the League of Nations in spite of
its "failure" led to high hopes for a stronger United Nations, but
that real chances for peace were missed in the early years of the
cold war. And today, Gittings argues that, instead of being
obsessed by a new "war on terror" we should be seeking peaceful
solutions to the challenges of nuclear proliferation, conflict and
extremism, poverty and inequality, and climate change. This
paperback edition includes a new preface, in which Gittings looks
at how the world is confronted with new dangers to peace, as the
election of President Trump highlights the continuing
unpredictability and irrational nature of a system of international
relations which could lead to new wars and even nuclear disaster.
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