In light of the United States' "age of terrorism" and the controversial involvement in the war in Iraq, U.S. policies toward diplomatic peace education are coming under increasing scrutiny. This book evaluates the prospects for effective U.S. peace education in the context of post??????1945 U.S. foreign policy. The work first documents the disparity between U.S. pronouncements about protecting human rights and the country's systematic erosion of those rights in the international arena. Second, it evaluates the challenges that the war on terrorism poses for peace education and explores the importance of international treaties in upholding security. A final section explores new ways of thinking and relating that are ultimately necessary for the realization of nonviolent peacekeeping efforts. Designed as a resource text for U.S. educators, the text offers concrete proposals for addressing contentious foreign policy issues in the classroom and includes an appendix of primary documents and sample questions for easy use.

Alice and Staughton Lynd have devoted their lives to the struggle for social justice. Carl Mirra began the history of the Lynds with his biography, Admirable Radical: Staughton Lynd and Cold War Dissent, 1945-1970 (The Kent State University Press, 2010). Side by Side picks up the Lynds' story as they move to Youngstown, Ohio, to begin a new chapter in their lives. Throughout their narrative, authors Mark Weber and Stephen Paschen examine the idea of accompaniment, a form of political activism that differs from the traditional strategies used by labor and community organizers. Rather than moving from fight to fight, the Lynds lived within the community in need, helping steelworkers and residents cope with the devastating closures of the major steel mills in Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley. Working with clergy, laborers, and civic leaders, Staughton Lynd advanced the idea of a worker-community-owned steel mill that would provide employment for some of the thousands of workers whose jobs had been lost. The dramatic if unsuccessful attempt to launch a cooperatively owned manufacturing enterprise was the first of a number of efforts by the Lynds to put their knowledge and experience at the service of those who have no voice. Quakers Alice and Staughton Lynd worked in Central America and Israel, where they championed the rights of Palestinian Arabs living in the West Bank. They took up the cause of prisoners' rights following the April 1993 Lucasville, Ohio, prison uprising-the longest such rebellion in American history-working to improve the living conditions of the five inmates who were convicted of leading the rebellion. Together with Jules Lobel of the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Lynds filed suit on behalf of death row inmates who were kept in solitary confinement in Ohio's prisons. Their lawsuit contributed to a landmark decision that improved living conditions for inmates in solitary confinement and established that prisoners have due process rights that have to be observed before they can be sent to solitary confinement. Through its exploration of the Lynds and their practice of accompaniment, Side by Side makes an important contribution to the study of social justice and grassroots activism.

Son of famous sociologists Helen and Robert Lynd, Staughton Lynd was one of the most visible figures of the New Left, a social movement during the 1960s that emphasized participatory democracy. His tireless campaign for social justice prompted his former Spelman College student, Alice Walker, to remember him as "her courageous white teacher" who represented "activism at its most contagious because it was always linked to celebration and joy." In this first full-length study of Lynd's activist career, author Carl Mirra charts the development of the New Left and traces Lynd's journey into the southern civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements during the 1960s. He details Lynd's service as a coordinator of the Mississippi Freedom Schools, his famous and controversial peace mission to Hanoi with Tom Hayden, his turbulent academic career, and the legendary attempt by the Radical Historians' Caucus within the American Historical Association to elect him AHA president. The book concludes with Lynd's move in the 1970s to Niles, Ohio, where he assisted in the struggle to keep the steel mills open and where he works as a labor lawyer today. The Admirable Radical is an important contribution to the study of social history and will interest both social and intellectual historians.