In many modern wars, there have been those who have chosen not
to fight. Be it for religious or moral reasons, some men and women
have found no justification for breaking their conscientious
objection to violence. In many cases, this objection has led to
severe punishment at the hands of their own governments, usually
lengthy prison terms. Peter Brock brings the voices of imprisoned
conscientious objectors to the fore in "These Strange
Criminals."
This important and thought-provoking anthology consists of
thirty prison memoirs by conscientious objectors to military
service, drawn from the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada,
Australia, and New Zealand, and centring on their jail experiences
either during the first or second world wars or in Cold War
America. Voices from history - like those of Stephen Hobhouse, Dame
Kathleen Lonsdale, Ian Hamilton, Alfred Hassler, and Donald Wetzel
- come alive, detailing the impact of prison life and offering
unique perspectives on wartime government policies of conscription
and imprisonment. Sometimes intensely moving, and often inspiring,
these memoirs show that in some cases, individual conscientious
objectors - many well-educated and politically aware - sought to
reform the penal system from within either by publicizing its
dysfunction or through further resistance to authority. The
collection is an essential contribution to our understanding of
criminology and the history of pacifism, and represents a valuable
addition to prison literature.
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